The 3 Best Free Graphic Design Courses Online For Beginners

Graphic Design Courses Online For Beginners – Want to become a professional in graphic design, or are you experienced but just trying to freshen up your skills? I’ve put together a list of free graphic design courses for you to use.

If you’re reading this, you’ve done the first step right; determination. Stay on track and you will learn a lot more than you think. The great thing about online courses is that you can take your time. Regardless of how busy you are, you can set aside an hour a day for your personal growth. All of the courses on this list adapt to your schedule and are simple and well structured, so your head won’t explode if you take a few lessons at the end of a long day. And it’s free! Remember that word? Nothing to say anymore it’s almost taboo. Thankfully some online legends have made some of their courses free and they are definitely giving the paid ones a run for their money.

Here are the 10 best free Graphic Design Courses Online I have found for you.

1. Basics of Graphic Design: Core Principles of Visual Design

Before you dive into software and tools, every designer needs to understand visual design principles. The guiding rules that make a good and functional design. This entry-level course was created by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips, co-directors of the Graphic Design MFA Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). This course, based on their book Graphic Design: The New Basics, will teach you the core principles of all great design layouts;

• Symmetry vs. asymmetry.
• Scale.
• Framing.
• Hierarchy.
• Lattice.

With these principles, you will be able to apply them in any design (logos, illustrations, magazines, websites, you name it) because they are truly universal. Believe me, these principles are not as simple as they seem, and even a designer who is familiar with these principles, applying them in practical designs requires a solid understanding. This course gives you that, and with practice and adherence, it becomes intuitive and you will find yourself applying the principles in your work almost subconsciously. Much like baking a cake, an experienced baker doesn’t need to peek at the recipe! This course is available free on Skillshare.

2. Professional Logo Design in Adobe Illustrator

Perhaps the most popular type of work that graphic designers do is logo design. Going blind, fiddling with the shape tools in illustrator and photoshop will take a lot of time and frustration. Save yourself the stress with this tricky course on logo design in Adobe Illustrator by Rawson Uddin. This free course on Udemy is great for both novice and experienced designers who need to perfect their process. It took 7 hours, but you’ll definitely have the full logo design experience when you’re done. From experience, it’s hard to find a course that guides you as clearly and simply as this one, even among the paid ones. In this course you will learn how to:

• professional logo design.
• Make your logo stand out from the crowd.
• Refine and make changes to the design according to client feedback.
• Use efficient techniques in creating your logo.
• Apply new techniques

This course has taught an impressive and growing 200,000 students and has great reviews and ratings. This guide uses modern design styles and new trends to keep you up-to-date with the industry.

3. Graphic Design Courses Online For Beginners

If you’ve never used Indesign before, you know it’s quite intimidating at first and a lot of designers throw it away when they try to figure out how to number the pages. It’s like excel from adobe suite. The layout is a bit different from the photoshop and illustrator that many designers are used to. However, it has some advanced features for document design and really nothing compares to it. Once you get the hang of it, it’s like riding a bicycle. So easy. To help you get started, the free Indesign for Beginners course on YouTube by Daniel Walter Scott of Envato is an easy-to-follow tutorial, packed with everything you need to know about Indesign. Daniel eloquently takes you from start to basics, teaching you;

• Create documents and use colors and basic navigation.
• Add and manipulate text and fonts. What is the meaning of a document without this.
• Find and use free and paid images on Indesign.
• Long text, connecting text fields and boxes, paragraph styles, and some tips and tricks.
• Export your document.
• File sharing and your collaboration.
• And use templates.

Course duration is only about 2 hours 30 minutes. Perfect length and saves you the day and headache of trying to learn it on your own via trial and ctrl+z. This guide is well structured, audible, and easy to follow.

In the end, you’ll be able to design a complete brochure and be ready to compete with the pros. Stop messing around with photoshop and illustrator and use Indesign to create beautiful, editable magazines, brochures, books, and other documents with industry-standard programs. And it’s on YouTube, so it’s probably free forever!