A Good Investment

Choosing to earn an art and design degree with Columbus College of Art & Design means choosing a creative future that is satisfying and is an investment in future financial success. You can find our alumni using their creative skills in small businesses, multinational corporations, nonprofits, and even in such fields as banking, healthcare, and insurance. Today’s economy needs the creativity and drive that comes with a CCAD education. 

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  • CCAD is located in the heart of Columbus, which is the No. 4 best city to start a business, according to Inc.com.
  • Columbus is the No. 5 best job market for college graduates, according to Trulia and LinkedIn.
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  • CCAD is considered one of the best values when choosing a college, according to money.com and Best Value Colleges.
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  • The majority of CCAD’s undergraduate alumni who responded to a 2019 survey by our Career Services department said they completed at least one internship, co-op, assistantship, or other form of service learning while working on their degree.
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  • 100% of students who received job offers from the places they’d interned at while at CCAD were in paid internships with those organizations.
  • 73.7% of students say their internships while at CCAD were paid.
  • 87.2% said their internship helped prepare them for their workplace and their careers.

What our alumni say (according to the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project):

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  • “CCAD made me feel confident in my ability to be resilient and able to pick myself up when things do not go as planned” — 88% agree or strongly agree
  • “CCAD taught me to market and promote my work and my talents” — 90% agree or strongly agre
  • “CCAD helped me to develop creating thinking and problem solving” — 67%
  • While enrolled at CCAD alumni say they participated in the following activities:
    • 64% took part in community service (nonprofit volunteer work) while at CCAD.
    • 56% participated in student activities and organizations outside of the classroom while at CCAD.
    • 91% had serious conversations with fellow classmates who are different from themselves in terms of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, political opinions, or personal values, bettering them for success in an increasingly more diverse workforce.
  • CCAD alumni say that the following skills—which are core in CCAD’s curriculum—are important in their careers and work life:
    • Critical thinking and analysis of arguments and information —  95%
    • Improved work based on the feedback from others — 95%
    • Creative thinking and problem solving —  98%
    • Project management skills —  96%
    • Leadership skills— 91%
    • Networking and relationship building — 93%

Source: 2019 survey of 2018 CCAD graduates; SNAAP 2016 

See more companies CCAD grads touch

A snapshot of success.

Keeping up with our alumni success is an ongoing challenge. (In the best way.) We have more than 13,000 alumni around the globe making the world a better place through art and design. CCAD alumni can do anything that they put their minds to—and they have meaningful and financially successful careers to show for it.

Our alumni are on screen. Our grads have gone on to work at Animal Logic, Bento Box, Disney, Dreamworks, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Film Roman, ILM - Singapore studio, Illumination Entertainment, Ohio Film Group, Pixar, Raserfox, Sony Animation, and Warner Brothers Animation, providing their talents to classic and upcoming films such as Big Hero 6, Chicken Run, Despicable Me: 2, Despicable Me: Minion Madness, Ferdinand, Frozen, Frozen 2, Hercules, How to Train Your Dragon, The Lego Movies, The Lion King, The Lorax, Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, XMen: First Class, Zootopia, and Disney’s 2021 release Raya and the Last Dragon

You can find their work on television, as well, from The Simpsons to Robot and Monster to Looney Tunes

Their independent films have screened at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival. And they’ve been shown at Brooklyn’s Microscope Gallery.

Our alumni are paving the way for new mediums and technologies. A CCAD education has allowed our alumni to be at the forefront of new technologies like virtual and augmented reality, user experience and interaction design, and bringing animations for the first time to game design for Sony Playstation. 

Our alumni are being recognized. They’ve won Academy Awards, been recognized as members of The 30 New and Emerging Photographers for 2020, and present in their fields at prestigious events such as the architecture-based Archiprix International Competition in Madrid.

 

Our alumni are leading the way in Columbus. CCAD alumni take on leadership roles at Abercrombie & Fitch, Bath & Body Works, Columbus Museum of Art, Designer Shoe Warehouse, EXPRESS, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, JPMorgan Chase, Justice, L Brands,  McGraw-Hill, Nationwide, Ohio Film Group, The Ohio State University, Ologie, Root Insurance, and Safelite. You’ll also find them behind important cultural organizations like Creative Control Fest, the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts, and the CCAD Board of Trustees. 

Our alumni are on top of pop culture. They’re animating for Death Cab for Cutie. They’re directing commercials and music videos. They’re entertaining the world on YouTube and documenting New York Fashion Week for TikTok. Their photography graces the cover of Vogue and their illustrations are on the cover of Scientific American. They’re partnering with GQ and SXSW. And you’ve seen their illustrations promote such musical acts as Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Caamp, Dave Matthews Band, The Flaming Lips, Greensky Bluegrass, If These Trees Could Talk, Iggy Pop, Ray LaMontagne, M83, MGMT, Parker Milsap, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, OAR, Old Crow Medicine Show, Rilo Kiley, Charlie Parr Schmitt, Allen Stone, TAUK Frank Turner, Van Morrison, Jack White, and Wilco.

Our alumni work for big names. They’re artists, designers, and visual storytellers for American Greetings, Coco Chanel, Dior, EXPRESS, Eileen Fisher, Facebook, Fenty, Google, Gucci, H&M, The Honest Company, Jack Daniels, LL Bean, Nautica, Nike, Nordstrom, Orvis, Outdoor Voices, The Ritz-Carlton, Subaru, Target, Telluride (Colorado) tourism, the U.S. Army, Verizon, Woodford Reserve, and Zappos.

Our alumni are all over the media. Our photo alumni shoot for ESPN, The Food Network, HBO, Lifetime, National Geographic, The New York Times, and TLC. They’ve provided breathtaking portraits of Awkwafina, Morgan Freeman, LeBron James, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sigourney Weaver. 

 

Our alumni make the world a better place. They bring virtual reality simulations to nurses, first responders, and firefighters. They’re cultivating gardens for their community, giving away both food and art. They’re building nonprofits like Solutions By The Sea, an organization developed to help adults struggling with substance abuse. And they’ve helped in the fight against COVID-19 by designing and manufacturing ventilators, creating masks, and leading marketing campaigns regarding mask-wearing. 

Our alumni are taking over the art world. They’ve been invited to residencies at such places as Mildred’s Lane, Flux Factory, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Artists' Cooperative Residency & Exhibitions (ACRE), Headlands Center for the Arts, and the American Film Institute’s Summer Women’s Program. And they attend prestigious graduate schools like University of California, Los Angeles; New York University; Virginia Commonwealth University; California College of the Arts; and University of Michigan.

Their artwork has been shown in Hyperallergic, Communication Arts, Scientific American,  and Dwell. And they’ve participated in solo and group shows all over the world, from The Ne’-Na Contemporary Art Space in Chiang Mai, Thailand to Fisher Gallery at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Their work has graced the walls of The Growlery in San Francisco. 

They curate and support the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles; Wexner Center for the Arts; Fresno City College; and Columbus State Community College. And they’re running their own galleries and arts organizations to help future generations of artists.


Hear it from some of the many employers who are hiring CCAD alumni:

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“It’s an approach to work that the most skilled people in any field use … we start every task with, ‘How can I do this better?’ And that’s a creative endeavor no matter what you’re doing. Artists just happen to be taught and are expected to make things better every time they do something. The CCAD grads I’ve worked with will give everything they’ve got to make it right. It’s this deep work ethic—that ready-to-jump-in-and-work mentality—that I think a CCAD grad embodies.”

Jeni Britton
Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

 

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“Not only is a creative career personally fulfilling and soul-satisfying but it can also be quite lucrative. I’m always looking for thoughtful, creative talent who views the world through a unique lens and can help bring interesting and innovative ideas to life.”

Amy Stevenson
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Designer Shoe Warehouse