Spatial Experience Design

Whether for retail, exhibits, movie or theater sets, or special events like holiday spectacles, displays and experiences set the mood, tell the story, and inspire audience engagement. This program — the only one of its kind in the country — provides you with the in-depth, interdisciplinary education needed for this fast-changing field.

You’ll master hands-on building skills, and construct props and installations. The industry continues to innovate to include virtually immersive environments, so you will gain digital skills in 3D modeling, CAD, rendering, graphics, and animation. You’ll graduate prepared to design for a range of places and spaces, from stores and pop-up shops to museums and theme parks.

Beginning in fall 2022, new students will be admitted to the Spatial Experience Design program. Students admitted prior to fall 2022 were admitted to the Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design program.

FIT student painting wall in Spatial Experience Design course

This program combines spatial design, graphic design, electronic media, lighting, and custom fabrication to create installations for stores, museums, special events, and other environments. You’ll receive training in the techniques, equipment, and materials of visual merchandising; develop freehand drawing and drafting skills; use computer graphics programs to create displays, models, and other 3D presentations; and learn fabrication and installation skills. You’ll gain hands-on experience through a required internship, building displays and exhibits, and a major capstone exhibition.

Keep in mind that to be eligible to apply to the Spatial Experience Design BFA, you will need an AAS, either in Communication Design Foundation or another School of Art and Design program. Transfer students may also apply. Learn more about eligibility for this program.

Degree Details

If we can dream it, we can design it — and then we can build it.

SED students create holistic experiences that combine space design, fixtures, visual merchandising and graphics.

Cecilia Porras Estrada and Lea Villafana Retail Sense+-ory³ Design Project competition

Cecilia Porras Estrada and Lea Villafana created a display for Sephora as part of the Planning and Visual Education Partnership’s Retail Sense+-ory³ Design Project competition in Las Vegas.

Christiane Coubertier ’19 moved straight into the field upon graduation, taking a job as a design coordinator after finishing her internship. “Everything we did in school is exactly what we do in my job,” she said.

Watch this space … We create journeys in a particular place and time. But people remember them long after.

Whether it’s a window or an in-store experience, there has to be a ‘Hello!’—a way to engage the [audience’s] imagination.

James DamianDisplay and Exhibit Design ’73

Students have interned at Macy’s, Tiffany & Co., and the New-York Historical Society. Graduates create environments and displays for a wide range of businesses and institutions, from retailers, special event companies, and museums. After 10 years, many alumni have senior leadership positions as design directors, creative managers, and CEOs.

Beyond Graduation

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Our faculty are experienced professional designers and dedicated mentors who bring industry expertise into the classroom. Meet more Spatial Experience Design faculty.

Anne Kong

Kong specializes in visual presentation, exhibition, and special events. An associate professor in Communication Design, she freelanced before deciding upon full-time academia. Kong is pleased with her chosen path, especially enjoying the frenzied excitement of senior show preparations and the surge of creativity that emerges from student collaboration.

Craig Berger

Berger is chair of the Communication Design Pathways and Spatial Experience Design departments. His areas of expertise are innovation program management, wayfinding, education program development, and talent management.

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