Creative Industries: Media, Arts, Architecture & Games

Architects and landscape architects play a critical role in solving the world’s most complex problems, from climate change and urban density to social equity and cultural preservation. Northeastern’s programs in architecture, architectural studies, and landscape architecture furnish students with a deep understanding of design fundamentals while developing a holistic perspective on the field’s vast scope and civic impact.

Students work at the intersection of building and environmental performance, exploring how designed environments shape the cities and communities we inhabit. Landscape architects bring this same rigor to outdoor environments, designing parks, campuses, urban plazas, and ecological systems that support sustainable and equitable communities.

Architecture careers require technical precision, creative vision, and strong project management skills. Use Jobscan to align your resume with the language of architecture and design job postings, explore the American Institute of Architects and other professional associations in our resources library, and practice articulating your portfolio and design process with Big Interview. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Architecture guide for design scholarship, urban planning research, and sustainability resources, and more tools like the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (ProQuest) for journal articles on architecture, landscape, and interior design, DETAIL Inspiration for 4,000+ international project documentations with drawings and details, and Building Green for sustainable design practices and green building materials.

Resources: Jobscan | Big Interview | Library Guides

For more information, visit the School of Architecture website.

Design is a practice-based discipline that raises important questions about how we live and communicate. At Northeastern, students in design and media arts programs explore graphic and information design, interaction design, experience design, and media arts. Graphic design uses visual form and the integration of text and image to create meaning and tell stories. Information design visualizes complex data to enhance understanding. Interaction design creates navigable interfaces that connect people to information and to each other. Media arts combines moving image, sound, and digital tools to create work across screens and platforms.

Graphic design careers reward visual thinking, technical software proficiency, and the ability to communicate concepts clearly. Use our cover letter examples and Jobscan to tailor your application materials to creative roles, build your professional profile with LinkedIn, and explore design-specific professional associations in our resources library. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Art and Design guide for design theory, history, and visual reference, and more tools like the Art, Design, and Architecture Collection (ProQuest) for scholarly and trade design articles, Artstor for a high-resolution image database covering design and visual culture, and Oxford Art Online for biographies and subject entries on artists and design movements.

Resources: Cover Letter Examples | Jobscan | LinkedIn | Library Guides

For more information on the Graphic Design concentration, please visit the department website.

Games have grown to become an inextricable part of our culture, with game design experiencing explosive growth into a multi-billion dollar industry. Through the medium of games, people express themselves, engage socially with others, and creatively explore problems in a way that nurtures learning and critical thinking.

No longer solely a proprietor of entertainment, games now are used for serious applications such as training, education, and healthcare, thereby putting games at the forefront of having a real social impact by delivering experiences for cultural and societal benefit.

Game design careers combine creative storytelling, technical development, and systems thinking. Explore game industry job boards including Game Jobs in our resources library, build your professional presence on LinkedIn, and use Big Interview to practice articulating your design process and portfolio work to employers. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Computer Science guide for software, gaming, and information security research, and more tools like O’Reilly for Higher Education for books and videos on Unity, Unreal, and C++, ACM Digital Library for game design and HCI research from leading conferences, and Communications & Mass Media Complete (EBSCOhost) for game studies and interactive media scholarship.

Resources: Big Interview | LinkedIn | Library Guides

For more information on the Game Design concentration, please visit the department website.

Media and Screen Studies is devoted exclusively to the study and production of media. Through a wide range of courses, students are exposed to different ways to think about media content, media platforms, and media production. When they graduate, students who major in Media and Screen Studies will be equipped with more than a set of practical skills; more importantly, as they enter the work environment MSCR majors will have the knowledge to think critically about a continually changing and volatile industry and the complicated relationships that exist between media, culture and society.

Our courses are organized around objects and issues central to understanding media. Reflecting the way in which media has traditionally been taught on campus, courses are organized around key media forms: television, film, and popular music. We also offer courses devoted to the media industries and their audiences. Other courses focus on the importance of media representations in cultural understandings of identity and the organization and content of media in the globalized markets and cultures of the 21^stcentury.

Media careers require strong storytelling instincts, critical analysis, and adaptability across platforms. Use our cover letter guide and examples to craft application materials that speak to media employers, explore journalism and communications professional associations in our resources library, and use LinkedIn to connect with alumni and professionals in the field. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Media and Screen Studies guide for film, television, and digital media research, and more tools like Communications & Mass Media Complete (EBSCOhost) for film, broadcasting, and new media scholarship, Academic Video Online for documentaries and journalistic content, and Access World News Research Collection (Newsbank) for international newspapers and wire services.

Resources: Cover Letter Guide | LinkedIn | Library Guides

For more information on the Media and Screen Studies concentration, please visit the department website.

Undergraduate majors choose from exciting, rigorous concentrations in Music Industry, Music Technology, and Composition that allow students to explore areas of interest that will prepare them for the broad array of careers in the music industry.

Music industry careers combine artistic skill with business acumen and relationship-building. Use LinkedIn to connect with music industry professionals and alumni, explore music and entertainment professional associations in our resources library, and use Big Interview to practice presenting your experience and artistic vision in professional settings. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Art, Design, Theater and Music streaming media guide for music history and performance resources, and more tools like JSTOR for music scholarship and history journals, Oxford Reference Online for dictionaries and encyclopedias on music history and theory, and Academic Video Online for performance recordings, documentaries, and music education content.

Resources: LinkedIn | Big Interview | Library Guides

For more information on the Music concentration, please visit the department website.

The BA in Art is a studio-based program that offers a broad and deep exploration of what it means to be culturally aware, skilled and productive, the BA in Art balances studio courses in drawing/painting and digital media with art history and visual studies.

The BA in Art with a concentration in Visual Studies incorporates art and design history with a cultural study of seeing. Understanding vision to be as much a product of lived culture and a phenomenon that is as dynamic, creative and social, as it is physical and biological, you will explore differing ways to interpret the visible world that surrounds us.

Studio art careers span education, gallery management, community engagement, and digital media. Use Forage virtual simulations to explore adjacent career paths, connect with arts organizations through LinkedIn, and explore art-specific professional associations and student organizations in our resources library. 

You can also utilize the Library’s Art and Design guide for visual reference, art history, and contemporary practice research, and more tools like Artstor for a high-resolution image database of art, architecture, and design, Oxford Art Online for biographies and subject entries on artists and movements, and the Art and Architecture ePortal (Yale) for scholarly books on art history and visual culture from Yale University Press.

Resources: Forage | LinkedIn | Library Guides

For more information on the Studio Art concentration, please visit the department website.

Northeastern’s theatre programs explore performance as a living art that engages across disciplines to generate new knowledge and understanding. Students blend a vibrant spirit of innovation with rigorous academic inquiry, preparing for careers as actors, directors, designers, technicians, playwrights, stage managers, producers, and administrators. The curriculum develops the fundamental human literacies of creativity, collaboration, and communication through critical creative practice, with co-op partners around the globe providing students with professional experience across performance, design, and production contexts.

Theatre careers span performance, direction, design, stage management, production coordination, playwriting, and arts administration across professional theatre, film, television, and nonprofit arts organizations. Use Big Interview to practice articulating your performance and production experience, explore Showbiz Jobs in our resources library for performing arts industry roles, and connect with arts and entertainment professionals through LinkedIn.

You can also utilize the Library’s Art, Design, Theater and Music streaming media guide for theatre history and performance resources, and more tools like JSTOR for theatre and performance studies scholarship, Academic Video Online for filmed productions, documentaries, and theatre history content, and Communications & Mass Media Complete (EBSCOhost) for theatre criticism, rhetoric, and dramaturgy research.

Resources: Big Interview | LinkedIn | Library Guides

For more information, visit the Theatre department website.