Design is a vast field encompassing dozens of different skills and various adjacent and complementary ones. You may be wondering how learning design compares to skills you’ve already mastered or debating between learning design and a related skill set. Whatever the reason you’re wondering how learning design compares with other skills, researching complementary and related skills is vital in determining your learning path. Doing so will help you make more informed decisions about what you want to learn, and it will help you decide whether or not learning a specific skill is the right decision for you. You will also learn what skills you want to learn to complement your training later. Read on to learn more about related design training options such as front end web development, video editing, social media marketing, and user experience (UX) design.

What is Design?

Design encompasses a vast array of skills and tools used in visual communication, ranging from logo creation to complex digital animation. It involves the deliberate planning and execution of visual elements to convey messages, solve problems, or enhance user experiences across various media. Modern design often relies heavily on digital tools, with the Adobe Creative Cloud suite being a popular choice among professionals.

The field of design spans multiple disciplines, including graphic design, web design, UX design, user interface (UI) design, and motion graphics. Each specialization requires its own set of skills and software proficiency, but all share a foundation in visual communication principles and problem-solving. Designers work in both the public and private sectors, contributing to advertising campaigns, product packaging, user interfaces, and advocacy materials.

Learning design skills can open doors to diverse career opportunities and personal creative expression. Mastery of tools like Photoshop and After Effects and concepts like color theory and balance can empower individuals to create compelling visual content for professional or personal projects, from designing a brand identity to crafting engaging social media graphics. As visual communication continues to dominate in the digital age, design skills remain in high demand across industries, making them a valuable addition to any professional toolkit.

What Can You Do with Design Skills?

Design skills open a wide range of career opportunities and professional paths. Individuals with solid design capabilities can work in various industries, from advertising and marketing to technology and entertainment. They have the tools to create visually appealing and functional products, including websites, mobile apps, logos, and print materials. This versatility allows designers to contribute to branding, user experience, and communication strategies, making them invaluable assets to any organization.

Design skills also enable professionals to think creatively and solve problems effectively. Designers use their understanding of aesthetics and functionality to innovate and improve user experiences, even when not working under the title of UX Designer. This problem-solving mindset is highly sought after across design sectors and beyond in industries such as marketing, communications, and journalism.

Individuals with design expertise can also use their skills in personal creative endeavors. From crafting custom wedding invitations and creating personal websites to designing unique home decor and personal branding, design skills empower people to make personal projects they can be proud of. Design skills can also help a person make their social media profiles stand out in the crowd, creating eye-catching instapoetry, memorable memes, and other visually engaging posts. With design knowledge, individuals can bring their personal visions to life, producing meaningful and personalized work that reflects their unique style and creativity.

Skills Related to Design

No matter which discipline of design interests an individual, combining design knowledge with adjacent and complementary skills can broaden their career horizons and enable them to bring their creative visions to life, whether personal or professional. Those interested in designing websites may wish to explore front end web development. Meanwhile, aspiring animation or motion graphics professionals may also be interested in video editing. Design and social media marketing will go hand-in-hand for many, while learning the skills of UX design can help any designer optimize users’ experience of their work. 

Front End Web Development

Front end web development is an essential skill for designers looking to create interactive and dynamic web experiences. Understanding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript enables designers to bring their visual concepts to life on the web, ensuring that designs are aesthetically pleasing, functional, and user-friendly. This knowledge allows for better collaboration with developers and a deeper understanding of what is feasible within web projects. 

For those interested in diving into front end web development, Noble Desktop offers a Front-End Web Development Certificate program where they can thoroughly learn the skills to bring their designs to life as dynamic, fully-functional websites. By the end of this program, students have a thorough understanding of front end technologies and web development. Graduates are job-ready for front end development positions and will have a professional portfolio full of projects completed in the program. Designers with front end web development knowledge and developers with design knowledge are both highly sought after, as they can bridge the gap between design and functionality.

Video Editing

Video editing is a powerful skill that individuals can partner with design skills to create engaging multimedia content. From promotional videos and advertisements to tutorials and social media content, video editing skills enable designers to expand their creative repertoire and deliver more dynamic and attention-grabbing work. Mastering video editing applications like Adobe Premiere Pro can significantly enhance a designer’s ability to communicate ideas and tell compelling stories through video.

Those with career aspirations in video editing, animation, or motion graphics may already be aware that design skills are vital for success in any of these areas. Graphic design principles—such as color theory, balance, and typography—are essential for working in any of these fields. Motion Graphics Designers can learn video editing to create animated shorts and films or to begin a new career in video, where motion graphics skills can be used to create memorable title sequences, seamless transitions, and other essential features of dynamic videos. Noble Desktop’s Video Editing Certificate program provides all the training needed to launch a career as a Video Editor or to add skills like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and video editing principles to a designer’s tool kit.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another complementary skill that can significantly benefit designers. Understanding how to create visually appealing and engaging content for platforms like Instagram and Facebook can increase the success of designer’s efforts to build and promote brands effectively. Knowledge of social media algorithms, content strategies, and analytics can also help designers tailor their creations to maximize reach and engagement.

Social media marketing and design can combine to create a rewarding career in social media management, digital marketing, or another field. Programs like Noble Desktop’s Social Media Marketing Certificate program contain all students need to get started in the social media marketing industry. Designers can also use the certificate program and other social media marketing classes to become more versatile, whether in their current positions, their freelance careers, or in promoting themselves on social media.

UX Design

While arguably a subset of design skills, user experience (UX) design features a unique focus on usability and the overall experience of a product involving processes like usability testing and user research that many kinds of designers can apply in their work. UX design skills can help designers understand user behavior, needs, and motivations, which is especially helpful for digital designers of various stripes. Professionals who master UX design can either launch a career in the field or use those skills to create user-friendly interfaces and digital products of many varieties.

Noble Desktop provides a UX & UI Design Certificate program for those serious about pursuing training in UX design. This training features a curriculum covering all the essential tools and skills of both UX and UI training—including building prototypes with Figma, conducting and analyzing user research, and writing case studies. By the time students complete this program, they will be ready for a UX or UI design career or able to apply their new user experience skills to grow in their current design careers.

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 the many perks they provide, 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.