Undergraduate Minors
Your major is just the beginning. Add a minor to expand your practice, diversify your portfolio, and open new career paths.
Overview
A minor makes your portfolio stand out
Broaden your creative range and career potential
Adding a minor at CCA is a powerful way to personalize your education and prepare for a career that’s uniquely yours. It lets you explore another area of interest, work across disciplines, and build a portfolio that shows range and originality. You’ll have even more tools to shape the kind of creative career you want.
Pair Illustration with Writing & Literature to deepen your narrative voice. Combine Interaction Design with Computational Practices to build digital tools for the communities you care about. Connect Architecture with Ecological Practices to design spaces that prioritize sustainability and environmental justice.
However you mix and match, a CCA minor helps you approach your work from new angles and build a career that reflects all of who you are.
No extra time commitment is required
You can earn a minor without extending your time at CCA. It’s simply a flexible, efficient way to follow another passion or sharpen skills that will support your future career.
A minor won’t add to your total unit requirement for graduation, and it won’t reduce the number of classes you take in your major or other required areas — so you don’t need to worry that you’ll miss out on anything from your major program.
Some minor courses can even fulfill other degree requirements, allowing you to graduate with multiple degrees in the same amount of time.
How it works: Choose a path that fits your goals
Whether you’re looking to grow your creative perspective or specialize in a career-focused pathway, we offer two types of minors to help you tailor your education:
- Subject-based minors are open to students in any major and help you connect ideas across disciplines. These minors complement any studio practice and are designed to help add contemporary relevance and future-focused value to your work.
Program-specific minors are designed to pair with our majors in Industrial Design, Furniture, or Illustration. These minors let you work across disciplines while building a portfolio that sets you apart.
Subject-Based Minors
Expand your skills, explore your interests
Our subject-based minors are open to students majoring in any program at CCA. They are designed to broaden your perspective — and creative range — for decades to come.
Ecological Practices
Merge creative practice with climate awareness
As climate change becomes more urgent, artists and designers with the skills to address environmental and social justice will be increasingly in demand. A minor in Ecological Practices empowers you to confront these challenges head-on. Learn how to combine creative action with scientific ecological knowledge and channel your talents toward a more sustainable and equitable future.
In the nearby Mission District, streets and alleys feature murals on themes of social justice and civil rights.
Critical Ethnic Studies
Build a future rooted in equity and resistance
CCA’s Critical Ethnic Studies minor is the only one of its kind at an art and design college in North America. Explore topics like colonialism, decolonization, white supremacy, and the nation state and examine how power, identity, and resistance shape culture. Adding a critical, socially engaged lens to your practice equips you with skills in cultural analysis, ethical decision-making, and inclusive thinking — assets coveted across industries today.
Computational Practices
Experiment with code, tools, and emerging tech
Create generative art using code. Design custom software for a gallery installation. Build responsive environments with sensors. Develop socially conscious apps that challenge tech norms. There are many ways creative coding can enhance your work, and the Computational Practices minor gives you the technical skills and conceptual frameworks to make it happen.
History of Art & Visual Culture
Sharpen your skills in critical analysis and research
Explore how images, objects, and systems shape perception while building transferable skills in research, writing, and critical analysis. A minor in History of Art & Visual Culture will give you a strong foundation in critical analysis, which supports careers in curation, arts writing, teaching, design strategy, and any creative field that calls for cultural insight and clear communication.
Writing & Literature
Tell stories that move people, no matter your field
Whether you use narrative to deepen character design, shape immersive worlds in game development, or bring a personal voice to community-based work, writing strengthens the emotional and conceptual impact of whatever you create. In our Writing & Literature minor, learn from award-winning practitioners and explore fiction, poetry, memoir, comics, screenwriting, and more.
Program-Specific Minors
Shape your career, your way
Students majoring in Furniture, Industrial Design, or Illustration can take a specially curated minor that broadens their career possibilities. These program-specific minors let you work across disciplines without adding units — so you can graduate on time while building a portfolio that sets you apart.
BFA Furniture and Minor in Industrial Design
Bring your craft into the world of production
Gain the technical and conceptual skills needed for manufacturing and product development. Learn digital modeling, workflows, and industry-ready tools so you can move from handcrafted one-offs to scalable designs. Whether you’re an independent maker, an entrepreneur, or aiming to join a design team, this minor gives you the professional tools and production knowledge that today’s furniture industry demands.
BFA Industrial Design and Minor in Furniture
Learn to build your product prototypes
Add depth to your product design work by learning to build with real materials. This minor focuses on hands-on prototyping, craft techniques, and a strong grounding in form and function, helping you move ideas off the screen and into the studio with confidence and precision. You'll graduate with a deeper understanding of materials and the practical skills that add value to any industrial design role.
BFA Illustration and Minor in Visual Development
Design the worlds your characters live in
Created for illustrators who dream of working in animation, games, or film, this minor focuses on character design, environment creation, storyboarding, and visual storytelling for motion-based media. These are all essential skills for entering the entertainment industry as a visual development artist.
BFA Illustration and Minor in Comics
Take your storytelling to the next level
Deepen your storytelling skills by exploring layout, character design, pacing, and visual narrative techniques that bring your illustrations to life. For illustrators aiming to work in editorial, publishing, or independent comics, this minor helps you build a narrative-focused portfolio ready to compete in a story-driven industry.
Find your creative community at CCA