Why Learn Design?

Design refers to a fairly wide range of skills, all dealing with computer-aided visual communication. This can range from simple visual layout software to complex 3D animation programs. Have you ever explored all of the things design can do? Not only are design skills in high demand, since visual communication is essential to hundreds of industries, but learning visual design is also a great way to help build your content and brand. As a set of creative skills, learning design programs will help artists expand the scope of their artistic endeavors. Here, you’ll learn more about the types of careers that benefit from design and how they can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning design is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Design?

Design is an incredibly broad category of skills that refers to utilizing computers to assist in visual communication. This can range from simple graphic design work such as photo manipulation or print layout design to complex 3D animation projects or interactive digital interface design work. Visual and graphic design is vital to any product release, information campaign, rhetorically-effective communication strategy, or web design project. No matter what kind of work is being done, if it intends to communicate with a mass audience, specialized design skills will be needed to make that communication possible.

The tools utilized by Designers are varied, and each tends to have its own niche functionality that differs from project to project. For example, photographers will use photo manipulation tools like Photoshop and Lightroom, Layout Designers will use tools like InDesign and Figma, and Motion Graphic Designers will use After-Effects, Cinema 4D, and Premiere Pro. Rather than learning and mastering every design tool available, Designers will specialize in specific elements of the design process and learn those tools. This makes design a highly varied field to enter, and it offers students a great opportunity to both experiment with different programs and turns their passions into a creative career.

Read more about what design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Design?

As a creative form of visual expression, the things you can do with design are largely limited only by your imagination and the number of programs you are willing to learn. Users can design vibrant and evocative visual compositions ranging from simple logos, photo manipulations, and posters to complex 3D animations and digital web assets. Almost every professional field employs designers to ensure that their output looks the way they intend it to look and communicates the ideas they want. This is true of both the private and public sectors, given that design tools are just as important in persuasive and advocacy contexts as in commercial and advertising contexts.

Learning design skills is also a great way to build your profile and brand online. Online content creators need to set themselves apart from the crowd, and learning to make vibrant visual designs is a perfect way to do so. Whether this is about producing a logo for your website, designing recognizable branding for the products on your Etsy store, or editing and manipulating video content, learning design skills can improve your creative output. Design skills are also at the center of several different emerging online art and activism movements. Learning design skills can give creatives many mediums to produce rhetorical compelling advocacy content like infographics, digital documentaries, and docu-games.

Common Professional Uses for Design

Given that design skills are at the heart of visual, mass communication, virtually every industry employs design skills in one capacity or another. Whether this is as simple as hiring a firm to design a new logo, using in-house designers to create packaging material for product releases, or hiring teams of designers to run a multi-media advertising or awareness campaign, design skills are utilized in several diverse contexts and industries. A few of the most common design careers include:

Designers: Designers, often called Graphic Designers, are tasked with creating the visual designs and iconography for traditional media projects, product packaging, branded merchandise, and other physical displays. They will use programs like InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to create vibrant and memorable designs. Most Designers work as freelancers, are self-employed, or work as part of a firm, but a few are hired full-time by companies with large departments and a regular need for new designs. 

Web Designers: Web Designers are responsible for designing the visual elements of a web application. Sometimes, this involves designing a singular element of the application, such as designing a new tool or feature for an existing webpage. Sometimes, it involves designing the entire layout of an upcoming project. Designers will use tools like Photoshop and Illustrator alongside dedicated user interface design programs like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD. Some Web Designers may specialize as User Interface Designers, responsible for building the layout for a web interface, or as User Experience Designers, responsible for ensuring that the design is responsive to user behaviors and demands.

Motion Graphics Designers: Motion Graphics Designers use tools like Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro to create animated digital assets for various media projects. These include computer-animated films and television series, webpages and digital advertisements, and graphical special effects for media projects. Motion Graphics Designers ensure that animated assets move fluidly, believably, and look life-like should the project call for it. They also tend to work as part of larger firms that move from project to project, making this an ideal career path for creatives who want the opportunity to work on a wide range of different assignments.

Building a personal brand

Some students may come to design classes with creative or entrepreneurial aspirations of their own. Students who want to create online content, launch a product line, or open their own business will benefit from learning design skills to help set their work apart from the competition. Whether this involves learning InDesign to create event posters for a show or sale, using Illustrator to create the logo that your products will carry, or using Premiere Pro to edit your online content, learning design skills will help make your presence known in the rapidly growing marketplace for creative content.

Expand your artistic canvas

Some students may want to learn design skills for aesthetic reasons rather than financial ones. Learning design tools is a fantastic way to expand the kinds of artistic projects you can work on. The ease of using these tools has made digital art more accessible than ever before, and the space of the digital canvas is allowing creatives to create vibrant and evocative works that were unheard of a decade ago. From digital art installations to docu-games and digital documentaries to activist webpages, learning design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects can help artists take their works to a new level. 

How to Start Learning Design

Students interested in learning design skills will find that several different kinds of classes are built to teach them how to use digital design tools. Students will need to gauge their own learning preferences and styles to make an informed decision about what kind of class to enroll in. While every student is different, there are a few general differences between the kinds of design courses.

The most immersive and guided way to learn design is through live instruction, both in-person and online. These courses allow students to work with expert instructors in a private classroom environment with the opportunity to ask questions, get assistance, and receive feedback. This assistance can be vital for new designers hoping to understand the philosophies behind their design work. Even in an online learning environment, having access to a skilled instructor can be all the difference between success and difficulty in design education. 

In-person learning options tend to be more restrictive, given that they are only taught at specific training facilities, meaning that students will be restricted in where they can attend a course, and they will require a commute. However, these courses will give students access to on-site training labs and provide students with the necessary design tools they will need to use to advance their training. Online learning can be done from anywhere, meaning students will have a much larger pool of courses to choose from when they enroll in a design course. Still, students will need to provide their own technology, which can become expensive and cumbersome in more advanced design classes.

Students who cannot attend a regularly scheduled live training session may want to look at their options for on-demand design classes. These classes, which are given to students as collections of video recordings or training modules, allow students to work and learn at their own pace, making them ideal for students with work or family commitments that prevent them from attending a regularly scheduled online course. These courses are also ideally suited for students who want to learn an eclectic or specific mix of design skills since they can choose the courses they enroll in and prioritize the skills they emphasize. The drawback is that without live instructors, students won’t have a way to get feedback on their designs, which is a vital part of learning creative tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, or After Effects.

Finally, students interested in learning design skills but aren’t sure what direction they want their training to take or whether online learning is right for them may want to take advantage of some free training resources to become more confident in their decisions. Noble Desktop provides students with a trove of free resources, articles, and seminars on their Learn Design hub, where users can become familiar with many of the tools and philosophies of design. In addition, Noble offers several free video tutorials on the graphic design playlist on its official YouTube page.

Read the full guide on how to learn design.

Learn Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to master design skills can find the path to success through the expert instruction offered at Noble Desktop. Noble offers a wide array of design courses, from introductory bootcamps that will teach students the basics of an individual program like Photoshop or After Effects to career-centered design certificate programs that will give students all the tools they need to enter the professional world as designers. Noble’s classes are available in person at their Manhattan campus or through live online instruction. Regardless, all of Noble’s classes are taught by expert instructors who are present to help guide students through the process of learning design skills. Each course ensures small class sizes so students won’t fight for their instructor's attention, and all of Noble's classes come with a free retake option, allowing students to enroll in the course again, for free, within one year. This means that students will have even more time and opportunity to get hands-on experience and instruction in design skills.

Students looking to become Graphic Designers may consider enrolling in Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program. In this class, students will receive introductory and advanced training in tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These are the industry-standard tools in almost every field of print and physical design. Students enrolled in this program will receive hands-on experience working on real-world projects, such as designing signage, infographics, product packaging, logos, and branded merchandise. In addition, since this is a career-focused program, students will receive professionalization training, including one-on-one career mentorship and portfolio-building seminars designed to prepare students for entry into the job market.

Students looking to work in a more digital environment may wish to enroll in Noble’s Digital Design Certificate program. This course teaches students how to use programs like Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop and applies those skills to digital spaces, such as webpage layout design or user interface design. Students will learn digital design theories and philosophies and master necessary web design tools like Figma. This course also offers students the opportunity to receive one-on-one career mentorship. Students will build specialized design portfolios to position themselves as career-ready Web Designers and UI Designers. This course has no requirement for coding, meaning students can focus on the visually creative elements of web and digital design.

Noble also offers a wide array of certificate programs and bootcamps across all disciplines of design, including graphic design, web design, UX/UI design, motion graphics design, and video editing. No matter what direction you choose for your design education, Noble Desktop has a course built to suit your needs.

Key Insights

• Design refers to the large cluster of skills that go into creating vibrant images and assets for mass visual communication projects that range from magazines and branded merchandise to online ad campaigns and computer-animated graphics.
• Design skills are in high demand, as many industries will use these skills at some point or another.
• Learning design skills is also a great way to build your own brand or help your start-up business stand out from the competition, especially in ecommerce or online content creation.
• Learning design skills can also help creatives break into the digital art scene and greatly expand the kinds of projects that they hope to be able to work on.
• No matter why you are learning design skills, Noble Desktop offers live in-person and online training courses built to teach you the skills you need to know.