SVC students have been learning from the pros since 1971.

cherry and DICK brown had a great idea 52 years ago.

Cherry and Dick were two highly successful commercial illustrators teaching at a Seattle-based college where they were surrounded by lifelong academics. That’s when they heard that the School of Visual Arts in New York was experimenting with having only working professionals do the teaching. They built on that idea, paid homage to SVA with the name “School of Visual Concepts,” and kicked off a 50-plus-year run of teaching design, writing, and marketing classes in Seattle. What SVC teaches has changed greatly over the years. But how we teach, and who does that teaching are exactly the same.

THE SVC DIFFERENCE:
The pros who teach.

Every instructor at SVC is a working professional with a minimum of five years of industry experience. So they bring you up-to-date knowledge, real-world examples, and the connections you can only build from being an expert in the business.

who goes here and why.

Here are the kind of people who will be your classmates at SVC: People who want to change their career path or upgrade their performance in the job they already have. It’s a diverse lot, including both those who have some experience in design or tech and those who are completely new to the field. Meanwhile, in our custom corporate workshops your classmates will be your colleagues — people who want to pick up a new set of skills to make your team run more smoothly and successfully.

they ushered SVC into the modern age.

When Linda Hunt and Larry Asher took over the leadership of SVC in 1994, the school had a strong presence in teaching graphic design, art direction, and ad copywriting. Then, around the time Pagemaker landed, SVC expanded its digital offerings and — eventually — user experience, content design, and other pillars of product development. Under Linda and Larry, SVC began offering certificate programs — led, as always, by experienced, senior professionals.