Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree may choose courses which progress through a structured curriculum in Painting + Drawing, or choose to gain skills in a variety of media (interdisciplinary Visual Arts), which can then be synthesized into a coherent approach to visual expression. Students develop a deep understanding of historical and contemporary issues related to artistic practice, art history and visual culture, while benefiting from broad study across diverse learning communities at the University of Washington. Bachelor of Arts students are prepared for a range of career paths in the creative arts through experiential learning.

Art History is the study of art and visual culture as instruments of knowledge and methods of human expression that operate in many arenas of history, tradition and the contemporary environment. The faculty in this department are engaged in the study of a broad geographical, temporal, and ethnic range of cultures, alert to the variety of ways in which visual artifacts are used to express and convey the diverse values of society.

The Industrial Design program at the University of Washington, one of several undergraduate programs in the School of Art, has evolved over the past forty years. It is a professional program aimed primarily at industrial design practice in the corporate and institutional innovation sector where new technologies lead to the development of new forms of products, processes, and service from a human-centered design perspective. The ID course of undergraduate study is an intensive program emphasizing the development of form that is derived from patterns of use, requirements for function, constraints imposed by industrial manufacturing and aesthetics driven by social context. Key aspects in this view on design are understanding the interactions between people and technology. Students are trained to identify design challenges and to envision promising strategies for design responses, communication, documentation, and organizational skills to conduct the design process from project brief to design implementation.

Interaction Designers define the structure and behavior of interactive products and services. Interaction Designers create compelling relationships between people and the interactive systems they use, from computers to mobile devices to appliances; Interaction Designers lay the groundwork for intangible experiences. The need for interaction designers for the development of new interactive products, systems and services has increased exponentially in recent years in virtually all industries. Interactive systems are present in many areas in everyday life where people coordinate tasks and engage in activities in collaboration with others, facilitated through technology. Examples range from mobile phones to computer software, from GPS systems for cars or navigation in the open ocean, and information systems that support the work of expert practitioners in technology-driven domains such as aviation, medicine, and process control.

The Visual Communication Design program educates and trains designers for the communication needs of industry and society. Emphasis is placed on the conception, creation, planning and realization of visual solutions to complex problems in contemporary culture. Students integrate methodology, prototyping, aesthetics, human factors, technology, materials, context and audience to develop strategies and solutions that give form to print, screen and the built environment. Faculty emphasize the objectives of design rather than the process of production, and encourage innovative visual ideas that inform, interpret, instruct or persuade the intended user across the spectrum of application.