Northern Illinois University in DeKalb is about 60 miles west of Chicago. Students in the Barb City -- barbed wire was invented in DeKalb -- can choose from many degree tracks in NIU's viscom major. Whether you're interested in ceramics, drawing or time arts, or would rather focus on photography, metals or museum studies, NIU's School of Art has all of these and more within its visual communication degrees. The university's proximity to Chicago is a boon to the school, as well, as it helps students get their name out to a much broader audience than just that in northern Illinois.
Illinois State University is in the twin cities of Bloomington-Normal, about three hours outside Chicago in central Illinois. ISU's visual communication major is included in its School of Communication, along with its broadcast and news and editorial journalism majors. ISU considers viscom majors to be interested in taking classes in photography and graphic design, as well as Web design and and web-casting. ISU serves students from across Illinois, as it is centrally located from all four corners of the state, and as such, it is one of the largest schools in the Land of Lincoln.
Loyola University Chicago is in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. The private Jesuit Catholic school offers classes to visual communication majors as part of the school's Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Students studying viscom take classes in drawing, computer graphics and photography. During their senior year, they take part in a senior exhibition, showing off their best work.
The Illinois Institute of Art Chicago is in downtown Chicago in Merchandise Mart, just north of the Loop. The Institute of Art considers its visual communication majors students who are looking to learn graphic design for both print and online media. The school prepares its students to become art directors at newspapers and publishing houses, as well as advertising agencies and Internet companies. The final year, viscom majors create a portfolio to demonstrate they have learned the information necessary to be successful in the working world.