This program focuses on graphic design with multimedia as a complementary component reflecting the realities of contemporary practices in the creative industries. More specifically, the program covers topics such as visual communication, typography, print and digital media, web design, interface design, branding, corporate identity and the design of linear and interactive narratives. This program normally leads to a variety of professional design destinations, related to the study experience and content, such as working for a design studio across print and digital media. The learning and teaching methods enhance creative and imaginative thinking, with graduating designers able to move into other related areas such as marketing, advertising, and promotions. The program enhances the continuing personal and professional development of students in the workplace, and the pursuit of further studies. It offers the skills and competencies needed for graduates to succeed as graphic and multimedia designers in the global economy and the ever changing workplace environment. The program adopts creative processes from conception to dissemination that employ a range of tools and principles for application of the visual language across a number of media (print and digital); knowledge of time dimension, narrative, sound and interactivity are essential components of this process. It provides students with learning and teaching experiences that support creativity, innovation, critical analysis, inquiry, self-direction and independent learning, and is complemented with a well-resourced study environment. The program in informed by the most recent standards (October 2009)set out by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).Consistent with NASAD guidelines, the primary and secondary areas of focus (graphic design and multimedia design) cover more than sixty-five percent of the course, with the remaining consisting of art and design history and contextual studies, plus compulsory general studies units some of them in the form of electives offered by the University of Sharjah to all undergraduate programs. The overview of each stage below, describes the scaffolding approach adopted in structuring the teaching and learning experience, leading in the latter stages towards more independent learning and refinement of professional practice.