Online Graphic Design Classes for High School Students

Graphic Design Topics

When searching for a graphic design course, you want a class that covers graphic design comprehensively, including the industry-standard design applications, graphic design theory, and portfolio development. You can also choose to focus on a specific application within graphic design, including popular apps like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, or related fields like visual design or UX design.

Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the most popular photo-editing app, but it's also a popular design app. Allowing you to edit, refine, sharpen, brighten, and retouch photos, Photoshop is popular among photographers as well as graphic designers. Going beyond photo editing, designers use Photoshop to design graphics for social media, websites, presentations, print layouts, animated GIFs, and much more.

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InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the industry-standard app for professional print design. Designers use InDesign to create books, magazines, flyers, brochures, business cards, posters, PDFs, and more.

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Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is used by graphic designers and digital artists to draw vector graphics. It's used to create logos, icons, illustrations, product packaging, fashion designs, and much more. It's often used in combination with InDesign, Photoshop, After Effects, and more.

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Visual Design

Graphic designers that focus on digital products (such as websites, apps, and more) are often called visual designers. Visual design is the strategic use of aesthetic elements to communicate a message to a given audience. Visual designers use their expertise in typography, composition, hierarchy, contrast, scale, color, etc. to evaluate visual impact and make attractive and usable designs. Visual designers understand best practices in functionality and aesthetic consistency and apply this knowledge to their designs.

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UX Design

Making a product (website, app, etc.) attractive, functional, navigable, and effective requires special skills and knowledge. User experience (UX) design requires both technical and creative skills. Responsible for product research, creating personas, defining the information architecture, developing wireframes, prototyping, and user testing, UX designers work in an environment of continuous improvement. Each testing cycle informs the next round of iterations, ensuring a product's ongoing functionality and effectiveness. Graphic designers, typically called UI (user interface) or visual designers, often work with UX designers and focus on how the product looks. Graphic designers who understand both UX and UI can design both aspects (how it works and how it looks).

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Live Online Graphic Design Courses by School

Here are some of the top Live Online schools offering Graphic Design training, including NextGen Bootcamp (8 courses), UMass Summer Pre-College (2 courses), and Designer Camp (1 course).

NextGen Bootcamp

NextGen Bootcamp, a subsidiary of Noble Desktop, is a computer science education company dedicated to providing middle and high school students with a state-of-the-art education in coding and digital design. Its courses are available live online or in-person in New York and New Jersey. NextGen's programs include hands-on, immersive summer camps as well as both in-school and after-school courses that are customized to meet student needs.
NextGen’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- UX & UI Design Summer Program Online
  - 25 Hours
  - $1,499
  In this live online summer course, high school and college students will learn the fundamentals of user-centered app and website desig. After learning fundamental concepts for good UX and UI design, students will create their own clickable prototypes to test.
- Graphic Design Summer Program
  - 30 Hours
  - $1,299
  This graphic design summer camp teaches students how to use Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. They will learn how to retouch photos in Photoshop, create page layouts in InDesign, and create vector graphics in Illustrator. This immersive program is perfect for high school and college students.
- Graphic Design Summer Program Online
  - 30 Hours
  - $1,299
  Students in this live online graphic design summer camp will hone their skills with the three major design applications: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. They will learn how to retouch photos in Photoshop, create page layouts in InDesign, and create vector graphics in Illustrator. This course is designed for high school and college students who want to prepare to learn design in college, launch a career, or start a new hobby.
- UX & UI Design Summer Program
  - 25 Hours
  - $1,995
  In this summer program, high school and college students will learn the fundamentals of user-centered app and website desig. After learning fundamental concepts for good UX and UI design, students will create their own clickable prototypes to test.
Designer Camp

Designer Camp provides design summer camps to preteens and teenagers in locations around California and via live online classes.
Designer Camp’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- Digital Designer Camp 101
  - 1 Week
  - $495
  This weeklong virtual camp introduces students ages 11-17 to the design industry. Students learn about fashion and interior design as well as photography and personal branding from industry professionals as they create their own digital design portfolios.
UMass Summer Pre-College

UMass Amherst offers pre-college education for high school students as part of its University Without Walls (UWW) programming.
UMass Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- Summer Design Academy
  - 3 Weeks
  - $1,877
  High school designers in this course develop proficiency with the digital tools that real-world architects and interior designers use on the job. Students learn to draft and model, create graphic designs, and offer and incorporate useful feedback as they work on their capstone architectural design project.
- Summer Design Academy II Not currently offered
  - 2 Weeks
  - $1,877
  This course builds on the skills and projects students developed in Summer Design Academy. High school designers learn to advance and apply their knowledge from the previous course for their capstone project in architectural design.
Tufts Pre-College Program

Boston location: 108 Packard Ave, Medford, MA, 02155 US

Tufts University provides pre-college education for high school students as part of its University College programming.
Tufts Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- Graphic Design Bootcamp
  - 1 Week
  - $2,000
  High school students discover the field of graphic design in this weeklong immersive course. As they build skills in digital graphic design with Adobe Creative Cloud products, students discover careers in visual communications, marketing, and photography.
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes

Stanford University's Pre-Collegiate Summer Institues prepare students in grades 8 through 11 to enter college with small, intensive classes.
Stanford Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- Product Design
  - 2 Weeks
  - $2,700
  This course introduces high school students to design from an engineering perspective. Students learn the principles of product design as they begin to build their own design portfolios.
iD Tech

Founded in 1999, iD Tech offers summer camp and school-year programs that cater to teens with in-person and online classes.
iD Tech’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses
- Creative: Design with Adobe & YouTube Not currently offered
  - 10 Weeks, 1 hr/wk
  - $649
  In this program, students learn Adobe skills for making YouTube videos. Students advance through certifications in animation, short filmmaking, artistic process, and branding and social media.

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Learn More About Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Graphic design is the craft of using images to communicate a message or to accomplish a goal. A graphic designer is a person who creates these images. They use a combination of fonts, photos, and colors to communicate ideas. Graphic design is so embedded into our daily lives that you probably don’t even notice it most of the time. The box you eat your cereal from was designed with a graphic designer. All of the apps you use on your phone were designed with a graphic designer. The work of graphic designers communicates with us every time we browse the shelves in a store or look at a website.

We all care about how something functions, but we also care about what it looks like. For example, a website can function properly, but it isn't doing its job if it doesn’t look appealing. If your newsletter has excellent information but looks terrible, no one will read it. Graphic designers combine function with form to provide a compelling mix of usability and beauty.

Why High Schoolers Should Learn Graphic Design

Graphic design is more commonly associated with the medium of print. However, the internet has altered what graphic designers do as they use their skills to create images for digital media such as websites, social media, brand logos, email newsletters, and online advertisements.

The average salary for a graphic designer in the United States is $49,000 a year. Graphic designers who specialize in moving images or user experience (UI) make an average of $84,000 per year. Digital designers can make an average salary of $94,000 a year.

This career path has the potential to earn more with time and experience; graphic designers who move into management positions make an average of $139,000 as a Design Director.

If you’re interested in pursuing graphic design as a career, beginning your training in high school is a great idea. You’ll be able to explore your interest in design to more easily to uncover the right design path for you. Graphic designers are needed in almost every industry. This means you could develop your design skills while training in the industry of your choice, such as marketing, music, computer science, FinTech, or product design.

Your newfound design skills can also help you secure an internship or a part-time position as a graphic designer to help fund your college education. For example, many of your college classmates might want help building a website for themselves. Or, you could impress potential employers with a portfolio of everything you designed while still in high school. If you’re planning to attend a design college, developing your skills while still in high school will give you a valuable head start. Even if you end up switching to a different medium later, your training in graphic design will still be profitable.

Virtual Graphic Design Classes at NextGen Bootcamp

Virtual graphic design classes allow you to start studying graphic design from anywhere, and they often provide the same features as an in-person graphic design course. Your instructor will be teaching the course live, so you’ll be able to interact with them in real-time and ask questions whenever you need. You also won’t be limited to courses located in your hometown which, depending on where you live, can be challenging to find. With virtual courses you have the opportunity to study with experts who are leaders in graphic design. Virtual classes also allow you to work on group projects and receive hands-on feedback on your work via screen-sharing software. You can also choose a virtual graphic design course specially designed for high school students. Schools like this will give you a curriculum geared toward your goals and provide you with a community of other teenage graphic designers so you can share ideas.

NextGen Bootcamp offers graphic design summer courses for high schoolers live online. All of NextGen Bootcamp’s courses are designed specifically for high school students, have guaranteed small class sizes, and are taught by instructors who are experts in their field. All of NextGen Bootcamp’s courses combine micro-lectures with guided practice: students will learn about a topic in a short, interactive lecture, and then they will be immediately guided in practicing the skills from the micro-lectures through a hands-on activity. NextGen Bootcamp also has a free retake policy which allows students to retake a course within a year to continue developing their coding skills. This means that you can review the materials and create new projects using your more advanced skills.

NextGen Bootcamp’s Graphic Design Summer Camp is designed to help high school students increase their graphic design skills. Students practice design thinking through a series of hands-on projects that provide a comprehensive understanding of Adobe’s graphic design software tools: Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. First, students will learn to edit and create photos using Adobe Photoshop. Next, students will gain proficiency in creating page layouts using Adobe InDesign. Finally, students master digital drawing and vector graphics with Adobe Illustrator. Graduates have projects to include in a design portfolio and a certificate of completion to use for internships or applications to design colleges.

In their Web Design Summer Camp, NextGen Bootcamp combines design skills with coding skills. High school students receive hands-on instruction in designing websites in Sketch and then coding the site they designed in HTML and CSS. Students will learn to code by hand in HTML and CSS, using HTML to mark up web content and CSS for adding style to the website’s content. Graduates will have a portfolio website and a certificate of completion to use for internships or on college applications. They will also have a good foundation for pursuing web design professionally or working part-time in web design while in college.

If you can’t decide if graphic or web design is right for you, you can dip your toes into both at the same time with NextGen Bootcamp’s Graphic & Web Design Summer Program. Students in this course learn a diverse array of design and coding topics such as design thinking, app design, HTML, CSS, and using the Adobe graphic design applications InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. These concepts become the basis for creating two projects: a graphic design portfolio and a usable website. Students can display these portfolio projects for potential internships or on college applications. Students can also use their skills to land part-time work or attract clients.

Other Live Online Graphic Design Classes for High Schoolers

If you’re interested in taking virtual graphic design classes for high schoolers, there are more options that you can choose from.

Digital Media Academy offers several career pathways that include groups of courses on that topic. One of their career pathways is creative design which includes courses such as Graphic Design with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, 3D Printing & Product Design, 3D Character Animation with Maya, Classical Animation with Adobe Animate & Premiere Pro. Their Digital Storytelling career pathway includes training in Digital Photography with Adobe Photoshop and Stop Motion & Computer Animation with Toon Boom Harmony.

Several colleges also offer pre-college programs in graphic design. UMass Amherst’s Summer Design Academy gives high school students the chance to develop design skills using the same tools as professional architects and interior designers. Tufts offers a Graphic Design Bootcamp geared toward students interested in design, marketing, and visual communications.

Designer Camp Digital is a boutique design camp based in Los Angeles. They’ve recently begun offering the camp as a digital camp experience. Campers learn in hands-on design workshops with professionals from the design industry and participate in virtual tours of studios, showrooms, design houses, and design businesses. Campers receive a design industry mentor and a digital portfolio upon graduation.

Animation Summer Bootcamp NYC

Animation Summer Bootcamp NYC offers the ideal opportunity for students fascinated by the world of animation and eager to dive into the realm of 2D animation. Throughout the first week, participants embark on a captivating exploration of animation history, uncovering the evolution of this vibrant art form and delving into influential figures and pivotal moments that have shaped the industry. Following this solid foundation, students delve into the principles of design and animation. Through interactive sketching exercises and practical demonstrations, they learn to apply these principles to their own projects, refining their skills and nurturing their creativity with each session.

In the second week, the program elevates the animation journey with advanced concepts and final projects. From mastering cutting-edge animation techniques to honing sound design and timing skills, participants expand their toolkit and refine their craft under the guidance of experienced instructors. The course culminates with the production of a final animation project where students apply their newfound knowledge and skills. Finally, participants have the opportunity to showcase their creations and receive constructive feedback from peers, celebrating their achievements and reflecting on their learning journey. Upon completion of the bootcamp, students will have newfound creativity and confidence, along with a certificate of completion that serves as a valuable credential for college applications and future career endeavors.

Animation Summer Bootcamp Live Online

In Animation Summer Bootcamp Live Online, experienced instructors teach animation in a live, interactive course. This is the ideal bootcamp for students who can’t attend a summer course in NYC. All the cutting-edge content covered in the NYC bootcamp is included in this online experience, from tracing the origins of animation to the forefront of contemporary techniques. Students immerse themselves in design and animation principles with hands-on sketching exercises, state-of-the-art animation techniques, sound design applications, and narrative-driven storyboards. They’ll discover how timing is used to create lifelike projects that convey mood, weight, and power. By the end of the online course, students will be crafting projects with professional polish.

Remote setup assistance is available, and students work on all the same hands-on projects as in-person classes. Using Zoom, participants can watch and hear the instructor’s screen in real time, speak to the instructor using computer audio, phone, or external microphone, and share their screen with the instructor. Students can even allow the instructor to take control of their computer to provide hands-on assistance temporarily. The culminating project is an online showcase of the skills acquired throughout the course and provides a chance to receive feedback from peers and instructors.

How to Choose a Graphic Design Class

Choosing the best graphic design class for you can be tricky. You’ll want to consider your interests and goals first. What kind of design interests you most: graphic design? Web design? Interior design? Architecture? Are you preparing for college, or do you want to gain more practical professional skills? You should also consider factors such as cost, length, difficulty, and the ages allowed in the course.

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Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

NextGen Bootcamp UX & UI Design Summer Program Online Sponsored

Key Insights

Graphic Design Topics

Photoshop

InDesign

Illustrator

Visual Design

UX Design

Live Online Graphic Design Courses by School

NextGen’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

UX & UI Design Summer Program Online

Graphic Design Summer Program

Graphic Design Summer Program Online

UX & UI Design Summer Program

Designer Camp’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Digital Designer Camp 101

UMass Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Summer Design Academy

Summer Design Academy II Not currently offered

Tufts Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Graphic Design Bootcamp

Stanford Pre-College’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Product Design

iD Tech’s Top Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Creative: Design with Adobe & YouTube Not currently offered

Live Online Graphic Design Corporate & Onsite Training Noble Desktop

Learn More About Live Online Graphic Design Courses

Why High Schoolers Should Learn Graphic Design

Virtual Graphic Design Classes at NextGen Bootcamp

Other Live Online Graphic Design Classes for High Schoolers

How to Choose a Graphic Design Class

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NextGen Bootcamp UX & UI Design Summer Program Online
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