What is the Best Course to Learn Design?

Considering the variety of options available, choosing the right design course can be overwhelming for prospective students. You’ll find classes focusing on different aspects of design, from graphic design to user experience (UX) design, and in various formats, such as introductory and advanced short courses, career-focused bootcamps, and on-demand classes. You will want to consider your learning style, career goals, and the specific design skills you wish to develop before enrolling in the class of your choice. Whether you’re looking to get started in a tool like Illustrator, master the essential principles of graphic design, or gain a professional level of expertise in digital design to launch a new career, you can find a course tailored to your needs. This article will walk you through considerations like your current skill level, budget, timeline, and goals to help you find the best training format for your design education journey.

Are You Brand New to Design?

Assessing one’s current design knowledge is an essential step when selecting the best course for them. Beginners with any learning objectives in mind may benefit from introductory classes covering fundamental principles and applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Those with some experience will find intermediate or advanced courses that require some prerequisite knowledge to be a better fit. All of these training options are likely to be in the format of a short course or skill-focused bootcamp, typically featuring a duration between a few hours and a few days. These learning options may be sufficient for many in meaning their design goals, but those wishing to learn a discipline of design to launch a new career may prefer to enroll in a comprehensive career-focused bootcamp or certificate program like Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate or Digital Design Certificate. While Noble Desktop’s certificate programs and many others are beginner-friendly, those with zero experience in the field may wish to take advantage of resources like Noble Desktop’s free design seminars and their educational articles on design in their Learn Hub to ensure they enjoy the topic before committing to a comprehensive program. 

How Much Are You Willing to Pay?

Design education costs vary widely, from free online tutorials to six-figure college degrees. While higher-priced options often offer the most comprehensive training, quality alternatives are available at lower price points, even for those wishing to reach professional mastery of a discipline like graphic design or web design to qualify for their first job in the field. Career-focused bootcamps and certificate programs provide intensive, career-focused training at a fraction of the cost of traditional degrees. A bonus of these programs when compared to many college degrees, is the quality of their career support, including portfolio development assistance and mentorship, including resume building and interview preparation. 

Those with smaller budgets may find their options limited to short courses and skill-focused bootcamps, which are excellent choices for those whose learning goals are less extensive than launching a career as a designer. Compared to a comprehensive certificate program, a professional-level education will almost certainly be more expensive when the learner assembles their own program a la carte with short courses of this kind and lacks the career support of an all-in-one career-prep bootcamp. However, this option may be the best for those whose budgets or calendars require aspiring designers to move through their educational journey at a slower pace. Meanwhile, other learners will find one or two of these short courses sufficient for their design needs, allowing them to master an Adobe Creative Cloud application or essential graphic design theories for personal or professional growth. For those whose budget is nonexistent, several free design learning options are available, though these are generally limited in scope to answering a single question or introducing the design student to a few foundational concepts.

How Quickly Do You Need to Learn New Skills?

The timeline for acquiring design skills depends on several factors, including the intensity of the chosen class and the learner’s dedication. Full-time bootcamps can prepare students for entry-level design positions in as little as a few weeks. Part-time design bootcamps are harder to find, but Noble Desktop allows students to stretch the duration of their certificate programs from several weeks to several months if they wish to attend on a part-time schedule. Comprehensive design bootcamps and certificate programs are a considerably faster path to job readiness than two-year and four-year college degrees, though the latter provide deeper training, especially in areas like theory and history. On the other hand, short courses introduce students to a limited number of design skills in a few hours or days.

On-demand design classes are an option for the most self-driven and dedicated learner who thrives in independent learning situations and prefers to set their own pace in their education. Any lectures in these design classes are prerecorded and packaged with other learning materials, which students will move through on their own in time slots they create in their own calendars. This option can appeal to design learners with varying objectives, as on-demand versions of design classes are available in virtually any discipline and scope one can imagine. However, aspiring designers looking for a comprehensive education will most strongly feel the lack of an expert instructor who can answer their questions and provide guidance in real-time, as well as the minimal—if any—career support available in on-demand versions of design bootcamps. Most learners will find they learn more efficiently with the help of an instructor even when they are interested in introductory and intermediate short courses, but on-demand classes can be an effective option for those who excel at self-directed learning and are looking to explore a new tool or technique of the design field.

Do You Want to Become a Professional Designer?

For those aiming to enter the design industry professionally, courses emphasizing real-world projects and supporting students through building a professional portfolio are essential to landing a first job in their chosen field. Career-focused design bootcamps and certificate programs offer these features along with the training and job support students need to succeed in the sector of their choice, be it graphic design, digital design, motion graphics design, or another discipline. In addition to delving significantly deeper into design topics than short courses, these programs tend to cover topics like design thinking, client communication, and industry best practices that are seldom covered in other class formats. Hobbyists and those seeking to enhance their current skill set will usually find these comprehensive bootcamps to be more training than they require, however, and can find shorter, more focused courses that target their specific areas of interest.

How Much Technical Training Do You Need?

No matter the sector, modern design requires a balance of creativity and technical proficiency. Design learners wanting to use their skills at a professional level will need training in industry-standard software like Photoshop and Figma, as well as in foundational design principles such as color theory, balance, and typography. An individual can learn both technical and creative skills in a career-focused certificate-granting program or bootcamp, though college degrees will go deeper into the creative and theoretical side of design. However, bootcamps and certificate programs sufficiently cover these areas for launching a designer career. Short courses usually cover a minimal number of skills, so they tend to feature either technical or creative elements of design—but rarely both. 

Do You Prefer In-Person or Online Training?

While in-person classes offer tangible benefits to those who prefer a traditional learning experience in a brick-and-mortar classroom, live online design courses provide a remarkably similar experience with its own unique advantages. Live online classes combine the flexibility of remote learning with the interactivity of a classroom, allowing students to receive real-time feedback, collaborate with peers, and be part of a learning community. As these courses meet in teleconferencing classrooms, they are excellent options for those who would like to enjoy the benefits of structured learning led by a live instructor without the hassle of a commute. For some design learners, especially those living outside of major metropolitan areas, in-person class options may be extremely limited, making live online classes their only option for accessing quality design training. Neither in-person nor live online courses are objectively better for learning design, but individuals may find one or the other fits their learning style and other circumstances more effectively.

Learn Design Skills with Noble Desktop

Design and coding school Noble Desktop provides a vast menu of design classes led by live expert instructors whether you choose to attend in-person in NYC or live online from anywhere in the world. Their flexible scheduling options allow you to participate as a full-time or part-time student, ensuring you can meet your learning goals no matter your current calendar. Noble Desktop provides classes in a variety of scopes and design-related topics, from beginner-friendly short courses on tools like Photoshop or After Effects to comprehensive career-focused certificate programs in various design disciplines, including graphic design, web design, UX/UI design, motion graphics design, and video editing. Noble keeps their class size small to ensure all learners can receive personalized guidance and immediate feedback from their expert instructors, all of whom are experienced industry professionals invested in the success of their students. In fact, Noble Desktop’s dedication to helping their students achieve their goals is evident in its many perks, including verified digital certificates of completion, free retakes of all their courses within one year, and one-on-one mentorship in all career-focused certificate classes. 

If you’re interested in learning design skills to launch a career as a Graphic Designer, you may wish to enroll in Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate program. Students in this course will learn essential graphic design principles and turn them into practical knowledge through extensive hands-on projects, creating projects such as signage, infographics, product packaging, logos, and branded merchandise. Students will be job-ready by the end of the certificate program, having built expertise in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, and they will have a professional quality portfolio ready to showcase their design skills to prospective employers alongside their impressive verified certificate of completion for the program.

Noble Desktop’s Digital Design Certificate program will arm you with the design skills you need to work in digital design, user interface (UI) design, web design, or graphic design. In this certificate program, you’ll learn the core tools of the trade—Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Figma—and key digital design concepts and theory. With no coding required, this program allows you to focus on what matters to you—designing aesthetically pleasing and functional user interfaces, websites, and other digital products. Like all of Noble Desktop’s Certificate Programs, the Digital Design Certificate features one-on-one mentorship for career support, portfolio-building assistance, and a verified digital certificate of completion.

Noble Desktop’s Motion Graphics Certificate program offers practical training in motion graphics and visual effects using Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Audition, and Cinema 4D in After Effects. With the help of your expert instructors, you’ll develop skills in motion graphics design, animation, and video production. With career support, portfolio-building assistance, and a free retake option, students will be ready to impress hiring managers looking for a new entry-level Motion Graphics Designer.