10 Best Online Courses For Graphic Design
Have you thought of taking an enrichment course like the best online course for graphic design?
It might be timely when you have to reinvent yourself to keep up with the changing times.
Nowadays, there are a number of online jobs available for the taking to everyone.
To have more livelihood options, it’s good to be skilled in jobs that can be done online, too.
In this way, you have the choice to apply on both online and onsite jobs.
Table of Contents
The Best Online Course for Graphic Design
So, we’ve decided to make a list of the top 10 best courses for graphic designers available on Udemy.
The courses have been sorted based on several factors;
- Rating
- Number of students
- Quality of reviews
- Number of reviews
- Availability of additional resources and assignments
- Size and scope of each course
These courses vary from beginner level, all the way to advanced.
The beginner courses focus on teaching you all the basics regarding the subject and platform they’re using.
The advanced stuff focus on techniques, tricks, and shortcuts, and general methods to help you increase your efficiency and productivity.
All, generally, focus primarily on the Adobe Creative Suite.
But some go further into platforms like Canva along with various social media platforms.
This list is targeted primarily at junior and entry-level graphic designers.
However, the courses are helpful for a lot of people,.
You could be a social media managers, content creator, marketer, editor or publisher.
Anyways, let’s get on with the list.
1. Graphic Design, Bootcamp
We start our list with the all known Graphic Design boot camp by Derrick Mitchel.
This is a best seller as it stands at the moment.
This course is an in-depth, detail-oriented, course made to help establish a knowledge foundation for aspiring graphic designers in both web and printed design process.
This makes use of Adobe creative suite of various versions along with other platforms.
The course is over 15 hours long with a fast-paced stream of concepts.
The course will teach you how to create a wide variety of designs from:
- Logos
- Flyers
- Cards
- Web graphics
- Websites
Unlike many other courses, the instructor, Derrick, takes a priority in teaching students all sorts of shortcuts.
He will also teach you the quick and efficient methods to increase your productivity and efficiency.
You will learn how not to spend long hours doing what can be done in less than one.
All in all, this course would fit perfectly beginner and intermediate level designers.
It is nothing short of significant investment, especially now with it being on a considerable discount.
Pros:
- In-depth
- Detail-oriented
- Easy to follow
- Touches on shortcuts and concepts that are usually on the advanced level
Cons:
- Expensive when not on sale
2. Graphic Design, Masterclass
This is another best-seller on the list, the Graphic Design Masterclass, made by Lindsay Marsh.
The course is a prolonged, detail and data-intensive.
It is near 20-hour long course with a right amount of additional downloadable sources.
All made to help you become proficient in using the Adobe creative suite, primarily Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign along with other platforms,.
It’ll teach you also tons about typography, photo editing, and the various theories in the domain of graphic design.
A very unique feature on this course is that it goes well into marketing and branding.
It also goes through the basics on how to conduct your brand or business theme or that of your employer.
This is especially recommended, and most useful to young entrepreneurs.
This is good for those who have an interest in giving their productivity a boost, as well as for marketing students who wish to expand their skill set.
Pros:
- Extensive and expansive course.
- Easy to follow
Cons:
- Quite expensive when not on sale
3. Adobe Photoshop Essentials Training
In the third place on our list comes the Adobe Photoshop Essentials training course by Daniel Scott.
This is a well-known course that covers all the basics of Photoshop and well into the reasonably advanced features.
The course is excellent for beginners and Fresh designers.
It goes along a step by step method of teaching, answering almost all of your questions in the process.
The course will also provide you a significant number of additional resources and assignments to help you get a handle on everything.
It is generally more focused on:
- photo editing
- teaching you how to do both how to do minor edits as well as necessary overall edits
- adding a slight bit of insight into advanced graphic design and creation from scratch
Moreover, this course is incredibly easy to follow.
It effectively guarantees to teach you all the basics as certified by Adobe themselves.
Definitely, this course is a worthwhile investment for those interested in learning all about the basics and essentials of Photoshop.
Pros:
- Easy to follow
- Step by step learning
- Beginner-friendly
- Helps with building your portfolio
Cons:
- Specific to only one software
- Expensive when not on sale
4. Adobe Illustrator Essentials Training
Another course by Daniel Scott and Video School Online is the Adobe Illustrator Essentials training.
It comes with around 10 hours of content along with a handful of additional resources.
This course is more than sufficient to teach you all about the basics of Illustrator.
It will get you to a stage where you can get by on your own.
The course, generally, focuses on:
- Logo design
- Icons
- Characters
- Illustrations
- Other types of graphics
- Step by step learning process
The course is noticeably short in length compared to others on this list.
It focuses more on assignments and getting you to work on your own.
It does not only help you learn faster by practice, but also gives you well over 30 completed projects to add to your portfolio.
Once you’re done with it, which is especially significant if you’re new in the graphic designer market, you’ll have a good number of work to be proud of.
The course is conducted by an Adobe certified instructor.
Pros:
- Extensive
- Hands-on learning
- Easy to follow
Cons:
- Less than average additional sources
- Expensive when not on sale
- Specific to 1 software
5. Adobe InDesign Essentials Training
Finally, at number 5 of our list, we reach the last essential training course by Daniel Scott, the Adobe InDesign Essentials Training course.
It runs roughly around 7 hours with less than a handful of additional resources.
The course focuses more on active learning in both from-scratch projects, as well as editing and adjusting ready-made ones.
Generally speaking, taking this course, you’ll be focused on creating business cards, flyers, newsletters, etc.
It also offers slightly bigger focus on various theories and principles of typography and graphic design in general.
This course will be a great help to:
- Web designers
- Publishing and newspaper editors
- Designers
- Office managers
- Marketers
- Graphic designers
If you’re a beginner level graphic designer, then this course is for you.
If you work in any of the fields mentioned above, then this course is definitely for you.
Pros:
- Easy to follow
- Can be used in various professions
- Short and concise
Cons:
- Might not be satisfactory to those seeking to make graphics
- Expensive when not on sale
- Specific to 1 software
6. Adobe Photoshop Advanced Training
Yet another course by Daniel Scott, this time on the advanced end of the spectrum, the Adobe Photoshop Advance training course,.
It runs for 15 hours with several dozens of additional resources and assignments.
It offers active, hands-on, learning experience into more delicate details and techniques of photo editing.
This course will teach you the various aspects and features available for completely overhauling images.
It will also tackle designing everything from:
- Ads
- Logos
- Animations
- Mockups
- Quality and resolution improvement
- Video editing
- Video looping
- 3d animations
It’s nothing short of an excellent investment for graphic designers, marketers, social media managers.
Furthermore, a key feature is its focus on teaching you a set of more efficient techniques to reduce the time requirements for the most complex tasks and help you finish up in a timely manner.
Pros:
- Advance level
- Hands-on learning
- Extensive and concise
- Easy to follow.
- Tons of assignments and projects for your portfolio
Cons:
- Expensive when not on sale
- Specific to one software
7. The Complete Graphic Design Theory for Beginners
This is a theoretical and technical course called Complete Graphic Design Theory for Beginners by Lindsay Marsh.
This course is meant to provide with you an insight into the various graphic design principles, practices, and techniques.
The aim is to help you further improve your performance in the field, covering everything from:
- Balance
- Contrast
- Layout
- Emphasis
- Subordination
- Proportions
- Rhythm
- Legal and copyright aspects of graphic design
The course itself isn’t a standalone,.
But it is rather a complementary course best taken alongside a practical one to ensure the best results.
All in all, the course is a brief and concise 6-hour course with a handful of additional resources.
It will expand your understanding of the field of graphic design.
The course could be a pivotal requirement to build a career as a graphic designer.
Thus, it could be an excellent investment to make once you’ve passed the initial entry level stages of your career.
Pros:
- Brief and concise
- Easy to understand
- Suitable for all levels of expertise
Cons:
- Little to no practical training
- Expensive when not on sale
8. Photoshop CC for Beginners
Another Photoshop course on our list, the Adobe Photoshop CC for beginners course by Jeremy Deighan from Concept Courses.
It runs for over 15 hours of video length and nearly 300 additional resources and assignments.
This course is by far one of the most expansive, detail-oriented once.
This is an in-depth course, providing students with a step by step, easy to follow guide to Photoshop .
It begins with the simplest of concepts and features, then it goes into the reasonably advanced features and techniques.
Due to the notable wide range of this course and the level of details and features it covers in Photoshop, its target audience are:
- Marketers
- Web designers
- Game designers
- Animators
- Social media managers
- Photographers
- Artists of all sorts
Pros:
- Wide range of topics
- Tons of additional resources
- Tons of practical training and assignments
- Step by step, active learning
Cons:
- Expensive when not on sale
- Specific to 1 software
9. Adobe Illustrator Advanced Training
Yet another course Daniel Scott is the Adobe Illustrator advance training course.
It runs roughly for 9 hours.
This course is a brief and concise one.
It puts an emphasis on helping you create your graphics and Illustrations.
It utilizes a hands-on and active learning process.
The course focuses on teaching you practical tricks and shortcuts.
Moreover, various techniques to increase your efficiency and productivity are also tackled.
It will also teach you how to create splendid graphics with great depth and perspective for:
- Logos
- General designs
- Presentations
- Charts
- Graphs
This course contains advanced level of content.
It’s advised for anyone without a full grasp on Adobe Illustrator to take the essentials course first or learn the basics and fundamentals of Illustrator.
All in all, this course is a reasonably good investment for those interested in speeding up their progress and expand their knowledge of Illustrator.
Pros:
- Brief and concise
- Advanced level
- Hands-on, active learning.
Cons:
- Useless without a basic grasp on Illustrator
- Expensive when not on sale
- Specific to 1 software
10. Canva Complete Course for Graphic Designers
On the final spot on our list, we have the Canva complete course for graphic design by BlackBrick courses.
At less than 4 hours in length, this course is a very brief and highly concise course.
This is made preferably for people who already have some minor experience in various graphic design platforms, primarily Adobe creative suite.
The target audience are:
- Marketers
- Social media managers
- Content creators (Youtube and Twitch come to mind)
- Video editors
- Photographers
- Web designers
- Graphic designers
You’ll learn how to create:
- Business cards
- Banners for social media
- Thumbnails
- Video graphics
- Blog post graphics
- Covers
- E-Books
- Menus
- Flyers
All in all, the course is most useful for social media purposes, especially for content creators,.
But it is also applicable to video editors, photographers, and web designers.
This makes this course a somewhat good investment to have on the side, especially when it’s on sale.
Pros:
- Brief and concise
- Hands-on, active learning
- Easy to follow
Cons:
- Niche-specific.
- Expensive when not on sale
Finally, we have extra courses that didn’t quite make the cut for the top 10.
But they are nonetheless, very useful and would make a great addition to your learning experience.
As such, we’ll make a little junior list for them here.
Bonus 1: Adobe InDesign Advanced Training
The final course from Daniel Scott and the first on the extra courses list is the Adobe InDesign advanced training course.
It runs for 8 hours with over 50 additional resources along with tons of in-course assignments for a hands-on, active learning experience.
As the name suggests, this is an advanced-level course.
It’s preferable to either take the essentials course before this one or generally have a background in using InDesign.
The course focuses on mastering typography using Typekit and OpenType fonts, Font Grouping, and Font pairing,
It will be taking you through the process of creating, styling, and designing newsletters, papers, eBooks, booklets, PDF documents, and much more through teaching you how to make the best of InDesign.
Overall, this course would make great use for people working in marketing, publishing, social media content creation, and graphic designers in general.
Pros:
- Easy to follow
- Tons of practical training
- Detail-oriented
Cons:
- Specific to 1 software
- Expensive when not on sale
- Niche-Specific
Bonus 2: Complete Social Media Graphic Design Course
Similar to the passive income course, we have the Complete Social Media Graphic Design course by the BlackBrick course.
With under 3 hours of video content and no additional material to download, this course cuts to the point fairly quickly.
It focuses on the social media aspect of graphic design as the name suggests.
This course will be teaching you how to utilize your experience and effort throughout the various social media platforms with the help of the Canva platform.
It comes with a good number of in-course assignments to give you a grasp on how to build a professional social media portfolio.
Moreover, it will teach you how to direct traffic towards you through the usage of capturing designs and banners, posts, GIFs, and much more.
It is generally useful for graphic designers, marketers and brand managers, and freelancers of all sort.
This makes it a fairly reasonable investment to make once you’ve passed the initial entry level stages of your career.
Pros:
- Brief
- Easy to follow
- Suitable for everyone
- Hands-on, active learning
Cons:
- Limited in scope
- Expensive when not on sale
Anyways, folks, this is our list of the top 10 best online course for graphic design.
This is, obviously, not the only list out there.
Surely, Udemy isn’t the single platform out there(Skillshare comes to my mind right now).
But these are our best picks for the time being.
Udemy courses could be pretty expensive.
They could range from $150-$200 per course.
As such, it’s advisable to wait for a discount season, if you can wait.
There are discounts around holidays like Black Friday.
This is the time when you can get pretty much any course for roughly $10.
A handy tip is to clear your cookies, then use incognito mode to trigger the new visitor sales.
You can’t get this discount if you’re a regular visitor on their site.
Final Thoughts
Do you have any suggestions on courses that we missed?
Do you know of any course that should be on the list?
Please don’t be shy and let us know in the comments below, and see you then!
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