Still interested in pursuing a career in graphic design? You’ll first have to learn the technical skills required to become a talented designer. To help get your started on your journey as a designer, here are the best places to learn graphic design.
Colleges
While a college degree isn’t required to become a graphic designer, a college classroom is one the best ways to become a designer. According to Graphic Design USA here are the top educational institutions to learn design.
- Academy of Art University
- Art Center College of Design
- Auburn University of Industrial and Graphic Design
- California College of the Arts
- Carnegie Mellon School of Design
- College For Creative Studies
- Cranbrook School of Art
- Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Drexel University
- Fashion Institute of Technology
- Kansas City Art Institute
- Kennesaw State University School of Art & Design
- Maryland Institute College of Art
- Minneapolis College of Art & Design
- Northwestern University School of Professional Studies
- Otis College of Art & Design
- Parsons the New School For Design
- Pennsylvania College of Art & Design
- Kanbar College of Design, Engineering andCommerce, Philadelphia University
- Portfolio Center
- Pratt Institute
- PrattMWP College of Art & Design
- Rhode Island School of Design
- Ringling College of Art & Design
- RIT College of Imaging Arts & Sciences
- Savannah College of Art & Design
- School of Advertising Art
- School of Visual Arts
- Shillington School of Graphic Design
- Art Institute of Tampa
- College of Saint Rose Center for Art and Design
- College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, University of Cincinnati
- Department of Design Media Arts, UCLA
- Woodbury University
- School of Art, Yale University
Learning Design on Your Own
If you don’t have the time, finances or believe in attending a higher institution, you can learn design on your own through the following online and offline ways.
Online Courses
Lynda – This LinkedIn company features 596 courses and 27,968 video tutorials on design.
Digital Tutors – Provides online video training that is taught by professional artists and designers; new training sessions are added daily.
Treehouse – For either $25 or $49 per month students can learn how to build apps, games or websites; there’s also an opportunity to interact with fellow students and industry leaders through exclusive forums.
Designlab – While working with an experienced mentor and through hand-ons projects, students can learn UI/ UX skills.
SkillShare – This large size community has thousands of courses and you’ll receive feedback from members.
Tuts+ – More than 5 million have participated in the more than 580 courses and 20,110 free tutorials; there are also over 180 eBooks to help with the learning process.
Udemy – Offers a variety of free or affordable graphic design courses to join.
Adobe – Most designers will have to learn some form of the Adobe, so why not go right to the source and learn the basics?
Codecademy – An excellent site to learn code for designing websites.
Books
If you’re more of a reader, or just want a little extra knowledge, check out the following books:
- Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills
- Adobe Creative Cloud Classroom in a Book series
- Thinking with Type
- Logo Design Love
- Making and Breaking the Grid
- Color Index
- Layout Index
- Design Basics Index
While college courses, online tutorials, and books are all great ways to learn design, you also want to keep a lookout for non-traditional examples of graphic design – such as in architecture, fashion websites, or even the labels of your favorite food and drink products.
