Graphic Design Courses Online That Can Boost Your Career
As technology advances and the internet provides increased opportunities for online learning, there are many options for graphic designers to hone additional skills to amplify their resumes or attract new clients. Whether you are newly embarking on your career as a graphic designer or a seasoned artist looking to develop skills in a new area, there is an online course to meet your needs.
California Institute of the Arts: Coursera
CalArts offers a Graphic Design Specialization on Coursera that includes 5 courses intended to provide you with the basics for embarking on your career as a graphic designer. Each course takes between 8 to 11 hours to finish and covers a different aspect of the field and can be taken in any order. Upon completion of each class and a hands-on project submitted to the instructor, you will receive a certificate that can be included on your resume or given to your employer in order to advance your career and financial opportunities.
Fundamentals of Graphic Design is intended for learners with a basic understanding of the programs in Adobe. The course teaches the foundational skills of the field, including typography, color, shape, composition, and image-making. In addition to direct instruction through tutorials, you will have lots of opportunities for hands-on practice.
The second course in the series is Introduction to Typography, followed by course three, Introduction to Imagemaking. Each of these classes will teach you how to manipulate type and images, respectively, and both will expand your understanding and ability of how to discuss your work and visions with others, especially clients.
Ideas from the History of Design covers four periods in the evolution of design and how these key events have influenced the choices that current designers make in their work. Additionally, the course will approach problem-solving with your projects through the lessons learned from the evolution of design
While you can take this course as a standalone, especially if you have experience in the field, Brand New Brand is the culminating class in the Graphic Design Specialization. This course is intended to pull together all of the information taught in the other four classes in order to apply it to creating your own brand as a graphic designer.
New York Institute of Art and Design
This fully accredited art and design school offer Learn Graphic Design, a self-paced course that helps you to master all of the basics needed to launch your career as a graphic designer. In addition to providing video instruction and tutorials on the fundamentals of color theory, layout, and topography, the syllabus also includes preparation and eligibility for the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator certification exams.
As you complete design projects to demonstrate what you have learned, you will have access to one-to-one support from graphic design experts and receive specific and thorough feedback from your mentor.
Canva Design School
This online platform dedicated to providing graphic design resources for both amateurs and professionals offers several courses through its design school. Each of these free courses consists of about a dozen brief video tutorials that guide participants through the dedicated subject matter.
If you are just entering the field, Graphic Design Basics cover the fundamentals of how to effectively communicate through art and design. Beginning with lessons on how to channel ideas and creativity for a given project, the course culminates with videos that teach you how to fine-tune your product to make sure it’s conveying your intended message.
Sharing your work and vision with teammates or clients is a crucial part of graphic design, and Presentations to Impress guides you in conveying a focused and clear message. Initial lessons in the course help you to identify the key information that you want to share, while the final classes in the series focus on the finishing details, such as font, color, and speaking tips.
The class lineup for Social Media Mastery is intended to support you in creating your brand and sharing it on social media platforms in order to attract attention to your business. The initial lessons are focused on identifying and setting your goals, style, and vision. Then, the remainder of the course assists you in creating content that is faithful to your brand in order to cultivate a community following to increase your client base.
Creative Live
The Creative Live website provides over 50 art and design courses, each with a focus on a specific area. For a nominal fee, you can take a course on-demand, which includes about a dozen individual classes. You also have the option to pay a monthly fee to have access to any of the classes on the site. Most courses are also offered for free on certain days and times, which are listed on the registration page.
Branding Essentials for Designers is a popular course on the site and a staff favorite. The 14 classes in this series are just over 20 minutes each and taught by the former creative director of several well-known brands. Whether you are kick-starting your career or reimaging your brand, this course can guide you through the process of establishing and sharing the vision of your company.
If you are in search of developing more specific software skills, Infographic Elements from Scratch in Illustrator will provide training in creating informational graphics in Adobe Illustrator. By the end of the course, you will be able to create graphics for a variety of projects that incorporate patterns and effects and use the shape builder tool. You will also gain access to a file of images utilized during the course.to use in your future projects.
The Create an Online Portfolio course teaches you how to use Adobe InDesign to layout your images in an appealing and engaging manner to create a sample of your work. You will be able to set up a digital portfolio that is easily customized to attract and interest clients.
Envatotuts+ Design and Illustration Courses
The collection of Envato tutorials offer a wide variety of courses for graphic designers at any stage of their career. From general overview courses to classes in specific programs and concepts, there are hundreds of tutorials available.
The Basics of Print Design features 12 classes that walk beginners through the fundamentals of designing and laying out printed products. Using Adobe InDesign and Publisher, you will learn how to create and arrange a variety of print materials, including magazines, brochures, and books.
The Adobe programs are among the most commonly used in graphic design, and the Adobe Photoshop for Beginners course is the perfect place to begin if you are new to the software. The series of video tutorials begin with touring you through the fundamentals of the program and progresses to additional tools and skills to allow you to utilize more advanced techniques in your designs.
While most online graphic design courses offered tend to focus on print media or still images, How to Animate in After Effects provides tutorials for those who work with animated media. With a basic understanding of how to use Adobe After Effects, this course will teach you how to create an image, animate components of it, and then publish your work.
Regardless of your current skill level with graphic design software or your experience with creating different types of media, any of these courses will offer you the opportunity to add new skills to your resume and impressive samples to your portfolio.
Leverage these graphic design courses to further your skills and leverage our team of graphic designer resume writing experts to showcase the value you can bring to potential employers.