13 Best + Free Graphic Design Course & Certification [2024 February][UPDATED] (2024)

A team of 30+ global graphic design experts has done in-depth research to come up with this list of Best Graphic Design Courses, Classes, Program, Training, Tutorial & Certification for Beginners . It includes both paid and free learning resources available online to help you learn Graphic Designing. Suitable for beginners, intermediate learners as well as experts.

13 Best + Free Graphic Design Course, Certification, Program, Classes & Tutorials for Beginners Online [2024 February] [UPDATED]

Free Course Trial – Graphic Design Certification by Calarts (Coursera)

This certificate course available on Coursera is created byCalArts(California Institute of the Arts), whose Graphic Design program is a premier programs for studying graphic and print arts in the U.S.This is a four-course sequence that will teach you how to make sophisticated graphic design. Later, the skills of each course will be applied to a capstone project resulting in a branding project suitable for your portfolio. One look at the curriculum and you will know why this is a top notch graphic design program worthy of your investment and time.

Highlights –

– The training will empower you with conceptual tools for communicating in the field of graphic design

– The course will let you get started with motion graphics, interface design, and editorial design

– The trainers of this certification includeAnther Kiley, Faculty, Program in Graphic Design; Michael Worthington, Faculty, Program in Graphic Design; Gail Swanlund, Faculty in Graphic Design; Lorraine Wild, Faculty, Program in Graphic Design and Louise Sandhaus, Faculty, Program in Graphic Design.

– This is ideal for beginners and you can enroll without any prior experience in the domain

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review : Excellent course! I graduated in Advertising and Audiovisual, but I’m also a motion graphics designer freelancer. This course was an inspiration for me. And due to my schedule, it was very accessible and convenient at this point in my life. I’ve tried other courses online, but in this one I felt I could actually put the exercises in practice and learn by doing as the design area suggests. Another thing I found interesting was the variety of people, skills, techniques, knowledge I got in touch. This platform is very democratic and for this area this is very very interesting. I’m satisfied and I plan to continue on the next modules. The course deliver everything it says. Thanks you, CalArts.

Graphic Design Bootcamp Online (Udemy)

Let us begin by telling you that this highly rated, regularly updated course has been attended by more than 30,000 professionals globally and has got thousands of 5 star reviews so far. If you want to learn and excel at Graphic Design, then look no further, this is the absolutely best graphic design course you will find out there. The trainerDerrick Mitchell has now spent a lifetime in the creative arts and marketing sector. He has worked with brands such as MTV, Nintendo, and Netflix while his work is regularly featured globally. Being the owner of a design agency and having serviced clients worldwide, he is best placed to help you in your journey. Let us find out what all lies in store in this program.

Highlights –

–Learn Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign practically by designing real-world projects

– You will be taught the right skills to help youcreate flyers, business cards, web graphics and much more

– Along with the course and resources, you also get access to a private facebook group dedicated to help you keep learning

– Course includes a lot of program shortcuts and is updated regularly to keep into account software updates and newer versions of the same

– The training is ideal for beginners, employers, entrepreneurs as well as people wanting to learn and hone their designing skills as a hobby

– Comes with 15.5 hours of on-demand video, 9 supplemental resources with full lifetime access and a udemy certificate of completion

Rating : 4.6 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :I really enjoyed the whole course. Very practical and to the point. I also enjoyed the fast pace and only wished that it was a few hours longer. Totally worth my time, though. Learned a lot. I would definitely get another course by the Derrick and would recommend this one to anyone who is interested in graphic design. Good, good stuff. – Napoleon Escalante

Illustrator CC MasterClass (Udemy)

Martin Perhiniak is a Certified Adobe Design Master and Instructor, and has been teaching Adobe applications for several years in classrooms, online courses and seminars globally. With a client base including Disney, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, Mattel and DC Comics, he is perfectly placed to impart the knowledge and skills to make you an expert at designing using Adobe Illustrator. In this training, he will focus on helping you master Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 with an in depth curriculum full of relevant theoretical concepts and practical application.

Highlights –

– While the course is useful for beginners as well, you will importantly get to master advanced Illustrator tools and techniques

– You will learn some usefulkeyboard shortcuts and best practices

– Quizzes and tests at the end of each chapter will keep you on your toes and help you revise concepts

– You will also create vector illustrations, colorizing traced hand drawings and prepare graphics for web and print

– Get all this and much more in12 hours of on-demand video tutorial, 2 Articles and 7 Supplemental Resources

Rating : 4.6 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :This is an excellent course. The presentation is professional and thorough; yet easy to listen to, watch, and understand. The instructor clearly knows the software, how to use it, and how to teach others how to use it. I feel myself becoming a more confident Illustrator user after just a couple of days of watching the demonstrations and experimenting with the software on my own. – Renee Brown

Related: Graphic Designer Interview Questions

100% Free Graphic Design Courses (Udemy)

If you want to begin your journey as a graphic designer by learning the essentials of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, this list of free courses is an excellent option for you. Udemy provides some of the best graphic design courses and tutorials for you. There are multiple tutorials available on the platform, amongst which the best sellers and highest-rated courses are Graphic Design: Designing for Advertisem*nts in a Series, From Doodle to Logo, Graphic Design Bootcamp, and more. After finishing each of these classes, you’ll be very well equipped with all the basic graphic designing skills to begin your career. Besides, the classes are free to enroll without any hidden charges.

Highlights –

– Learn about the fundamentals of graphic design and how to create an Advertisem*nt with Illustrator and design

– Learn to create a logo from hand-drawn images in Adobe Illustrator while gaining knowledge of basic tools, windows, and key commands

– Get access to bite-sized learning material with mini video tutorials like adjustment layers, working with the selection tool, etc.

– Be able to apply plausible and straightforward tips for better visual communication while making your idea understandable for your audience

Duration: Variable

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Free Course Trial – Web Designing Certification by University of Michigan (Coursera)

This online class, conducted by the University of Michigan, is most appropriate for all those who want to learn how to design stunning and professional-looking websites. The instructors will teach you how to build an accessible and responsive web portfolio by using JavaScript, CSS3, and HTMLBy joining this course, you can kick-start your career as a web developer. The great thing is that you can attend this program at your own schedule. You will be taught about the latest technologies that you can use to develop top quality sites that work on large screen browsers, tablets and mobile phones. If you are interested in sharpening UI UX skills, don’t forget to check out our compilation of Best UX Design Courses.

Highlights:

– Gain a lot of skills such as HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and Responsive Web design

– Enhance your skillset with quizzes, readings and videos

– Great course to learn about web design from the beginning

– Get training from top instructors – Charles Severance and Colleen van Lent

– Learn to design websites with unique fonts, complex layouts and customized color schemes

Duration: 3 Months

Rating : 4.7 out of 5

You can Sign Up Here

Adobe Illustrator: Mastering the Fundamentals (Udemy)

Honestly its quite astonishing that this course was first created around 5 years ago, but still receives ravishing reviews from all attendees. A total of 60,000+ designers have attended this course tolearn powerful illustration techniques in Adobe Illustrator along with mastering digital painting and graphic design with new skills. This is a very quick 1.5 hour tutorial where ‘School of Game Design’ will help you learn Adobe Illustrator from scratch and teach you tools & techniques that you will actually use.

Highlights –

– The trainer, Martin Knapp is a Creative Director himself who has been working in the 3D industry for over a decade

– His work in advertising, web, and games has won multiple awards

– Course is relevant for Graphic designers, aspiring designers as well as artists

–You will learn in a step-by-step fashion about how to create complex vector shapes using powerful tools available within Illustrator

– The course is crisp and to the point

Rating : 4.6 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :This course is good way to learn or re-learn some of the core tools and options inside of Adobe Illustrator. The instructor uses small steps to build up your base of knowledge, while encouraging creativity and exploration through its application. – Ethan Smith

Related: Is UX/UI Design a safe career?

Learn Professional 2D Game Graphic Design in Photoshop

The trainer of this program Jaysen Batchelor is an Illustrator & Designer who has been designing since the age of Through this tutorial, he has already empowered 44,000+ students and will teach you how to create your own professional game graphics efficiently in Photoshop. To enroll for this program, you should have basic drawing skills and basic understanding of Photoshop. It is a 6.5 hour program which comes with 10 articles and 3 supplemental resources.

Highlights –

– Learn to build professional stylized backgrounds from scratch in Photoshop

–Learn to create 2D game graphics

– The trainer has trained over 250,000 students through his 7 courses on Udemy

– Includes to the point explanations and has a practical approach to all concepts

Rating : 4.5 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review : Very good course. It is clear, concise, informative and inspiring. It was nice to be able to start a project right away. I also liked that Jaysen provided assets for free, which helped inspire me to explore a few more creative backgrounds I sketched out. Jaysen’s annunciation in his lectures is also clear, and he has an upbeat voice that is pleasant and enthusiastic, very easy to follow along. Really enjoyed it. – Wendy Rosas

Photoshop for Entrepreneurs – Design 11 Practical Projects

This online class will help you learn Photoshop from scratch by making you create 11 graphic design projects in Adobe Photoshop. You will be taught to build specific graphic design elements for websites, social media by utilizing various tools. The course is created by Phil Ebiner and Jeremy Deighan. Phil has already taught over 600,000+ students while Jeremy has taught over 100,000 professionals online. Jeremy holds an associate degree in Computer Animation and has worked with various production houses. Being extremely passionate for the visual arts, he is quite proficient when it comes to lighting, color theory and composition.

Highlights –

– You will work on several projects including creating a social media graphic, YouTube thumbnail, social media channel art

– You will also learn how to create a logo, design mockup as well as web design mockup

– You will be taught how to edit photos to make them look better, design infographics and create animated GIFs

– Comes with 5 hours of on demand video, 14 supplemental resources with full lifetime access online

Rating : 4.4 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :Brilliant so far! Loved the book mockup, that’s where I am at present, looking forward to the rest of the course:). Absolutely brilliant!! Very easy to understand and to follow both instructors too! Loads of variety, content and interesting information:). Thank you so much – Patricia Carpenter

After Effects CC: Complete Course from Novice to Expert

This is one of the bestAdobe After Effects CC Course.Here you will get to learn all of Adobe After Effects in a very dynamic practical approach. The trainerLouay Zambarakji will teach you how tobecome an AE expert using more than 20 practice activities and numerous projects. To give you a brief overview about the trainer,Louay is a Motion Graphics, Visual Effects and Video Editing practitioner who has created one of the highest rated after effects course online.

Highlights –

– Comes with22 hours on-demand video, 39 Articles and 47 Supplemental Resources, all available online

– You will learnto create Animation and add Visual Effects in a step by step manner

– The class will also teach you tocreate Motion Graphics to enhance your videos

– Best part is you can beginwithout any prior knowledge of after effects, text animation or motion graphics

– 40,000+ students have already enrolled and given the program very high ratings

Rating : 4.6 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :Louay Zambarakji is extremely knowledgeable in After Effects (A.E.). His course, “After Effects CC: Complete Course from Novice to Expert,” is a wonderful way to grasp what is possible with A.E., and how to create animations from this remarkable piece of software. Louay is a master teacher, and you will be very satisfied as a student when you complete this fantastic course. – Cavett Robert

Related: Design Tools to Help You Become a Better Digital Marketer

Learn Professional 2D Game Asset Graphic Design in Photoshop

In this class,Jaysen Batchelor wants to empower you to become an exquisite game designer using Photoshop. Specifically, you will learn about designing and building professional game assets, understand the basics of drawing as well as how to choose colors for your game art. In order to make the most of this course, you should have Photoshop installed (even free version will do), Computer and mouse. If you have a tablet, that will be additionally helpful. This program comes with English and Portuguese subtitles.

Highlights –

– You will create 9 different projects in this program

– Beyond the basics, you will learn the basics of drawing, shape, perspective, value, and color

– You will learnabout value and color theory, building game props from scratch, creating 6 different styles of game art

– You will also learn about sprite sheet creation and Photoshop’s animation tool

– Includes 7.5 hours on demand video lectures, 5 articles and 2 supplemental resources

Rating : 4.6 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review : I took this course as a fun way to (re)learn how to use Photoshop’s tools in a way that can be practically applied to my personal projects (illustrating, designing for games, etc.) One of the best things I ever did. The projects build on one another and serve as a pretty cool primer to digital painting. Jaysen paced this course very well and very clearly explains what he’s doing and why. His demos are better than the ones I received in a 4-year college and without any of the ego. – Kate Finegan

Canva Graphics Design for Entrepreneurs – Design 11 Projects

This course is created by the duo of Jeremy Deighan and Phil Ebiner, and will teach youCanva from scratch. You will get to create 11 graphic design projects using Canva. This course will explain to you in detail how to use Canva to create social media graphics, blog title images, facebook ads, twitter posts as well as YouTube thumbnail. In a quick duration of 3.5 hours, the lecturers will cover these various platforms in a step by step manner.

Highlights –

– You will learn how to use Canva step by step in one course

– You will learn how to create all kinds of design graphics using Canva

– The duo teaching this program is very proficient and experienced in teaching online

– Curriculum is regularly updated

Rating : 4.4 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :I’m no stranger to what Canva is, but I’ve never used it. I think the video tutorials make ‘Getting Started’ with Canva that much easier. I also felt the format complements first-time users. Introducing some color and graphic design theories and principles is not what this course is about, but I believe that adds a little more value overall – So I gave this course 4.5 stars. – JJ Hiller

GIMP Beginner – Advanced: Free Photoshop like Graphic Design

Brian Jackson will help you learn GIMP, the free and open source graphics editor, from beginner to advanced level. Learn everything right from photo touch up, drawing & book covers for self-publishing. Brian has taught 67,000+ students through his 34 Courses and has got multiple 5 star ratings for his lectures. He will teach you how to install and run the GIMP make logos, web graphics and screen shots; Create 2D and 3D book covers; create social media graphics.

Highlights –

– Learn to use GIMP to touch up your photos

–GIMP can be installed and used on Windows, Mac OS or Linux

–This is one of the most comprehensive GIMP course available online

– You get 10 hours of on-demand video with 18 Articles and 7 Supplemental Resources

Rating : 4.5 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

Review :Not finished yet, but getting to the end of the courses that I need. I’ve learned so much that I’ve gone from being a novice to feeling like I’ve been using GIMP for years. I cannot recommend this course enough. – Angie Fayre

Related: Reasons Why You Must Learn Photoshop

Free Graphic Design Courses (Skillshare)

Skillshare is an online platform that hosts classes and courses by thousands of instructors and are accessible for free for up to two months after signing up. For graphic design, there are numerous classes across topics like logo design, color theory, Photoshop, Illustrator and much more from very experienced instructors available on the platform. The link shared by us is a special one that will allow you to gain access for 1-3 months for practically free and you can then decide to continue with their monthly plans if you feel like.

Rating : 4.5 out of 5

You can Sign up Here

So that was our experts’ take on 13 Best Graphic Design Training, Courses, Programs, Tutorials, Classes and Certifications available online, which will help you learn and excel at graphic designing. Do have a look around our website to find more courses on designing and other related fields, and do share this article with your friends if you found this useful.