Graphic design is the art of combining images, text, and other visual design elements to produce rhetorically persuasive or informative visual communication. Through the use of visual elements, artists and creatives build carefully crafted graphic designs that are intended to reach a mass audience. Rather than being exhibited in art museums, however, most graphic design is usually designed as marketable content for consumer audiences.
If you can think of a recognizable brand logo, you are thinking of something a Graphic Designer (or team of graphic designers) worked to create. The assets used in web interfaces and digital advertisements were likely built or outlined using graphic design software.
Unlike many traditional art forms, which utilize physical tools like paint brushes and chalk, most modern graphic design projects heavily rely on digital design tools, which have helped make artistic expression even more accessible to aspiring artists and creatives.
While it’s possible to learn graphic design on your own, the process can be significantly more lengthy and difficult without tips and support from a class. Enrolling in a graphic design bootcamp will teach students how to use tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to create vibrant and evocative designs. In addition, experts can help them hone their creative eyes through the study of design, color theory, and visual rhetoric.
Why Learn Graphic Design?
There is no better time to become a Graphic Designer than right now, a time when graphic design is practically all around. Whereas the field once dealt mostly with hand-printed materials such as newspaper advertisements, today’s graphic designers have the freedom to work across a much wider variety of print and digital spaces. Advertisements appear practically everywhere, from websites to physical storefronts and even billboards.
Today’s graphic designers also have numerous exciting sub-fields they can specialize in according to their distinctive interests and talents. In addition to general graphic design, many designers enjoy creating websites, motion graphics, or focusing specifically on graphics for niche audiences like social media. In addition, user experience (UX) design and user interface (UI) design present additional avenues where graphic design can shine. As a result, today’s professionals looking to make a career in graphic design have never had more options at their disposal.
Generate Powerful Communication
Graphic design is at the heart of mass-market communication, meaning anyone wanting to reach a large audience will benefit from either learning graphic design or hiring a talented Graphic Designer who knows how to work with multiple design tools. Because of its power to quickly convey complex messages, graphic design has become a staple feature in business logos, advertisements, product packaging, and social media graphics. In addition to drawing customers in with eye-catching details, a 2D logo only requires a glance to communicate a company’s values, brand theme, and tone.
In short, graphic design is one of the most effective ways for businesses and individuals to create powerful first impressions without saying a word. Consequently, it’s no surprise that people have harnessed graphic design to create everything from components for video games to website banners, app icons, print media layouts, stickers, and t-shirts. Outside the realm of consumer culture, graphic design tools are commonly used by advocacy activists, political operatives, and nonprofit employees to create persuasive campaign materials to help convince the public to support their ideal policy goals.
Find a Fulfilling Career
As an essential component of almost all corporate advertising campaigns and brand identity-building projects, graphic design is a massive industry with plenty of work for qualified individuals. Since graphic design skills are so important to companies looking to build a brand or advertise their products, they are in high demand in practically every industry. As a result, graphic designers can earn a comfortable living while doing what they love. Because graphic design is mainly digital, many graphic design jobs also allow for remote work, making them incredibly flexible.
Express Your Creativity
Graphic design skills are also useful for hobbyists and aspiring creatives hoping to create art for fun. While graphic designs are sometimes equated with logos and market branding, these are only one popular use of graphic design. Many people enjoy exploring graphic design purely as an art form.
Rather than being limited only to physical materials, artists can use graphic design tools to expand the scope of their projects. For instance, a painting originally produced using oil and canvas can easily be photographed and then transformed into a magazine cover, t-shirt graphic, or sticker using digital tools. In addition, artistic work that would have taken years to create decades ago can now be done in a fraction of the time, opening the door to creative expression for even more people.
Common Graphic Design Tools
Since graphic design is such a diverse and varied field, it is common for professional graphic designers to specialize in a small handful of programs, styles, and genres. This is because each graphic design tool has unique functions that work well for different purposes. While Photoshop is the number one choice among photographers for photo retouching, InDesign is the premier tool for working with vector graphics.
A Graphic Designer working on designing brand logos for companies is unlikely to need to regularly use InDesign but will need a firm knowledge of Illustrator. By contrast, someone working for a publishing house will likely use InDesign more than Photoshop. More often than not, professional graphic designers begin a project in software and work with a different software to add finishing touches.
If you’re hoping to chart a career in graphic design, it’s worthwhile to explore training in every aspect of visual design and relevant software. In addition to providing you with perks like job support and help with portfolio building, graphic design bootcamps will set you up with the design foundations you need to use Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator like a pro.
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the most commonly used raster graphics design application on the consumer market. While it is most commonly associated with photomanipulation (so much so that it has become the verb people use to describe the act of manipulating a photo), it can be used in any pixel-based image manipulation project. Since pixels tend to become blocky when resized, Photoshop is used to draw and manipulate graphic design illustrations that are intended to have a significant level of granular detail (particularly around the edges of objects in an image).
Photoshop is commonly used in traditional print industries, like magazine publishing or print advertising. Learning Photoshop is an important skill for most graphic designers since it is one of the most ubiquitous graphic design programs across a wide range of industries.
Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is the vector graphics counterpart to Adobe Photoshop’s pixel-based design tools. In other words, rather than using small squares to create images, Illustrator uses mathematical lines, arcs, points, and shapes to draw designs. As a result, Illustrator designs can be resized to almost any scale without losing form or definition while pixel designs may become blurry when rescaled.
Unlike Photoshop images, Illustrator designs don’t need to be remade whenever you want to move them from one medium to another. This makes Illustrator a vital tool for creating brand logos, product packaging, multi-purpose advertising, or branded merchandise. Illustrator is an important tool for graphic designers looking to work in advertising or hoping to launch their career as professional illustrators.
InDesign
InDesign is an industry-standard tool for building and designing complex page layouts for books, magazines, brochures, infographics, print advertisements, and other traditional 2D design projects. InDesign is used to streamline the process of creating page layouts that will eventually be populated by assets produced in other graphic design applications. Thanks to cross-app compatibility, images created in Photoshop can easily be inserted into an InDesign page layout without needing to be reformatted.
InDesign is particularly common in the publishing industry since designing page layouts is essential to building mass-market printed materials, particularly elaborate ones like book and magazine layouts. While shifts to digital publishing and the rise of specialized online layout tools like Figma have reduced the demand for InDesign skills, InDesign is still an essential tool for designing a wide range of print media, including flyers, brochures, stationery, posters, large banners, and even billboard advertisements.
Other Graphic Design Skills
If you’ve looked at art produced by artificial intelligence and thought it looked a little strange, you were likely looking at a piece that wasn’t developed with creative design principles in mind. The truth is that graphic designers aren’t likely to be replaced by robots anytime soon because great graphic design requires fine-tuned creativity and a solid understanding of composition, design, typography, and color theory. Since graphic design is a highly creative endeavor, learning to use digital tools is only one part of the training process. Knowing how to use Photoshop to manipulate images won’t help students if they aren’t sure why they’re making specific choices while creating a new graphic design.
As such, many graphic design bootcamps will give students important foundational knowledge about composition and design in addition to providing them with plenty of digital skills training. This education is vital for helping students make more informed decisions about their choices as graphic designers.
Additionally, because there are hundreds of different styles, genres, and approaches to graphic design, new students will need to spend a lot of time practicing and studying to find the style that best suits the kind of work they want to create. While students won’t need to learn the entire history of art, they will need to constantly practice their work to find the unique style and voice that they bring to the table. This means that students learning graphic design will need to learn how to solicit and respond to feedback and how to constantly return to their work since mastering a style takes a lifetime of practice.
Graphic Design Careers
While graphic design can certainly make a great hobby, its popularity in business, politics, and entertainment has made it a highly marketable talent. As a fundamental aspect of many interrelated design career fields, graphic design skills can open access to jobs across the digital economy. In addition to traditional graphic design positions, professionals who pair graphic design with additional design skills can also qualify for jobs in fields like UX design, visual web design, and motion graphics. Since all of these fields rely on the same foundational understanding of graphic design, learning these skills has never been a more versatile addition to a resume.
Industries That Use Graphic Design
It may seem obvious, but graphic design is important in more realms than just visual arts. It’s a crucial component of marketing efforts, website design, and even physical products. Over time, graphic design has become an essential constituent of virtually every industry, especially those that rely heavily on digital marketing. If you’re interested in working in a creative environment that’s outside the realm of traditional commercial advertising, you may want to consider graphic design training.
Organizations both large and small understand that images typically have a more potent impact on viewers than words, and as a result, graphic design skills have become vital to the field of advertising and brand management. Graphic designers can often be employed by large firms and corporations that require graphic designs for products, webpages, or other core business materials. In fact, almost all 2D digital assets utilized in marketing campaigns use some amount of graphic design training and the visual composition skills you learn in a bootcamp can be invaluable for building content advertising strategies. Graphic design has numerous transferable skills, which make it a versatile investment.
However, graphic design isn’t just relevant to businesses and commercial organizations. Nonprofit organizations, along with government agencies and public sector institutions also employ graphic designers to build compelling and persuasive materials they can distribute to their target audiences.
Most graphic designers work either as freelancers or in dedicated design studios where they work with a wide range of different clients and projects throughout their careers. Freelance graphic designers will have a great amount of control over the kinds of projects that they work on, but they will need to handle the business side of their graphic design work on their own, which may require additional skills, including bookkeeping and marketing. Studio designers will have less control over the kinds of assignments they work on (particularly at entry-level ) but will have greater stability in their employment. In addition, studio designers don’t need to worry about paying small business taxes or getting their name out to clients.
Graphic Design Jobs & Salaries
Many creatives feel they have to choose between making money and following their dream, but luckily, graphic design skills are in such high demand that qualified workers can have both. Most graphic designers in the United States earn a yearly salary of about $50,000 per year, and there’s no need to worry about job security either. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently nearly a quarter of a million graphic design positions in the country, and that number is set to grow by about 3% year after year through 2033. While this is less than the national average, it is still impressive job growth, particularly when compared to other creative industries.
Given the versatility of graphic design skills today, there are numerous graphic design-related careers that professionals may qualify for. Because each of these paths requires different skills and may be more or less in-demand than others, each job title typically comes with a different average salary. For example, professionals working in straightforward graphic design positions can expect an annual income ranging anywhere from $57,000 to $96,000, while web designers focusing on the user interfaces of websites can earn between $99,000 and $168,000 each year. Motion graphics artists and UX designers are typically paid similarly well, leaving graphic design professionals with a wide variety of potential careers to choose from.
Beyond this, learning graphic design skills can lay the foundation for additional career advancement in the future. Designers who learn to use more advanced design applications and spend time gaining in-demand experience will be able to further increase their lifetime earnings. Advanced design directors who take charge of large design projects can earn as much as $206,000 per year.
Project management presents another possible career path for graphic designers who enjoy working with people and don’t mind boosting their incomes. At most firms and studios, graphic design projects involve massive teams of different designers and developers working together to create a multifaceted design project. This means that companies and firms will need to hire graphic designers with project management backgrounds who can serve as team leaders and organizers throughout this process. These project managers will oversee teams of designers, work with stakeholders, and handle the logistics required to ensure that design projects are completed on time and within budget.
Why Learn Graphic Design at a Bootcamp?
Learning graphic design can be a long process, but it’s even more challenging when you have to connect all the dots by yourself without the help of an expert teacher. While completing a bootcamp is no small commitment, the value graduates receive is practically unparalleled. These comprehensive career training programs give students dozens to hundreds of hours of intensive, skills-focused instruction. Moreover, some bootcamps can even replace a college degree on a job seeker’s resume, giving students the skills and practice they need to revolutionize their graphic design portfolio.
Students wanting to master tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign may consider accelerating their learning process by enrolling in a graphic design bootcamp. In addition to covering digital skills, most bootcamps also delve into projects, design concepts, and portfolio pieces to prepare you for landing a job. Some graphic design bootcamps even offer job search assistance at the end of the course. For those looking to take their graphic design skills to the next level, there is no better way to do so than through a graphic design bootcamp.
Accelerated Training
While bootcamps can take a significant amount of time, they are still far more accelerated than the four-year college degree programs, which makes them appealing for students looking to quickly learn graphic design skills in anticipation of starting a new career. Many bootcamps can be completed in less than a week, but even the longest training programs typically take less than six months.
While most college degrees focus on theory with the assumption that students will gain work experience after graduating, bootcamps emphasize skill building from the start, making them great places to build an experience that will be useful in a career. In addition, these courses cover the most essential elements of graphic design theory and application.
Since no one ever truly stops learning graphic design, mastering the foundations in an accelerated program can be a great choice for students who want to hit the ground running and build up their skills over time.
Career Assistance
Since most graphic design bootcamps are career-oriented in nature, students enrolled in these classes will receive training that prepares them for work as professional graphic designers, user experience designers, and visual designers. Students will receive hands-on instruction working with practical projects that mirror the kinds of design work they can expect while working with real clients in a studio setting. Many graphic design bootcamps also offer career development services, and while these support services vary from bootcamp to bootcamp, they commonly include one-on-one mentorship, interview skills training, portfolio workshops, resume coaching, and even job placement programs.
Flexible Classes
Given that graphic design is a diverse discipline, there are many different styles of classes to choose from, making it easier for students to identify a bootcamp that suits their needs. Although the majority of graphic design bootcamps emphasize the three most essential digital applications in the Adobe Creative Cloud, students can also find courses that highlight specific programs or that place more weight on design principles.
Beyond finding bootcamps to fit your learning goals, students can also choose from a variety of delivery options to make their goals even more achievable. While full-time bootcamps meet for training every day, there are also part-time bootcamps for students looking to learn on the weekends or in the evenings. Students who need the most flexibility can opt for live online bootcamps, which are taught in digital classrooms accessed through teleconferencing software like Zoom. In addition, students can find in-person bootcamps, which are taught at dedicated training facilities that may even come with access to any relevant equipment.
Beginner-friendly Lessons
One of the major advantages to enrolling in a bootcamp program is that they are built to give novice students an equal chance to learn career skills as professionals who enroll with the intent of leveling up. As such, there’s no need to have a background in visual arts or creative design to succeed in these programs.
Before moving on to advanced skills later on in the class, students will first learn the basics of navigating applications like Photoshop and Illustrator and will receive introductory training in theories of design and composition. These classes are a great place for aspiring creatives to learn the basics of design principles and tools while still receiving the focused career training they need to use these lessons in the future.
Which Type of Graphic Design Class is Right for You?
As the demand for graphic designers continues to grow, available learning options have expanded to include both virtual and in-person bootcamps as well as shorter classes with narrower foci. While this makes graphic design education extremely customizable for students with unique lifestyles and aspirations, it can also be difficult for beginners to figure out the best option for their educational goals.
To help students find and compare local and online graphic design bootcamps side by side, Noble Desktop has created the Classes Near Me tool. With this tool, students can easily sift through today’s best bootcamps to find a program that meets their needs.
In-Person Graphic Design Bootcamps
Set in traditional in-person classrooms, in-person graphic design bootcamps can be a great option for students who learn best in a highly social environment. Additionally, students with alternate career plans can benefit from learning graphic design skills in a UX design, digital design, visual design, or motion graphics bootcamp.
While the specific classes available in your area may vary by region, some of America’s largest providers of in-person graphic design bootcamps include General Assembly, Devmountain, NextGen Bootcamp, iXperience, and Miami Ad School. Each school has a unique curriculum and career focus, making it essential to read through course descriptions before diving in.
For instance, Miami Ad School’s programs predominantly feature UX design and place students in cross-functional teams to work with real-world clients. On the other hand, Noble Desktop’s NYC-based ||CPN548|| emphasizes classic design principles and mentored skill building. Through the same school, students can also earn a Digital Design Certificate, which adds skills like web design, and UI design on top of graphic design. Some schools, including Noble Desktop, offer multiple bootcamps. Along with their ||CPN548||, Noble offers a variety of other bootcamps exploring subjects that overlap with graphic design, from a comprehensive Digital Design Certificate to a hit Visual Design Certificate.
Some schools also offer graphic design bootcamps designed to prepare students for a specific career niche within the graphic design industry. For instance, in addition to their Graphic Designer bootcamp, the Italian school, Microsales, offers bootcamps exploring graphic design alongside web design as well as graphic design and motion graphics.
For younger students, schools like NextGen Bootcamp make it possible to learn graphic design in a safe environment. Based in NYC, the UX And UI Design Summer Program for teens is optimized for young learners who want to develop job-ready skills before graduating from high school.
In addition to these offerings, learners should also check with universities in their area, many of which offer in-person bootcamps in graphic design, UX design, UI design, and motion graphics. What’s more, many higher education institutions such as the University of Las Vegas Nevada, also offer courses designed to help professional graphic designers pass certification exams.
Virtual Graphic Design Bootcamps
While in-person bootcamps can be a great option for some learners, others find commuting to a physical location limiting. For learners with disabilities, kids at home, or otherwise hectic schedules, virtual graphic design bootcamps provide the perfect mix of adaptability and high-quality learning. Students looking for a more flexible learning experience should consider these bootcamps, which meet the same high standard of educational quality as in-person bootcamps. In a live online format, students and teachers can engage in formative discussions in real-time, leaving students with plenty of room to ask questions.
For over three decades, Noble Desktop has provided thousands of learners with industry-leading tech education, both in-person and online. Today, the school is proud to offer virtual graphic design bootcamps that feature both design principles and hands-on skill building, transforming students from beginners to graphic design experts in no time.
Designed with career success in mind, their popular graphic design programs include the ||CPN548||, which provides students with professional experience they can take with them into their next job. In addition to helping foster expertise in the aesthetic tenants of graphic design, this course provides hands-on assignments designed to help students create a dynamic portfolio of graphic design projects sure to impress major clients.
Shillington School also offers a career-focused Graphic Design Course that promises students more one-on-one time with teachers than your average in-person course. In addition to core graphic design skills like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and composition, students also learn Figma, an app that’s essential for UX and UI design projects. Alternatively, Spanish-speaking students who are particularly interested in learning how to develop a brand identity will likely find themselves at home in CEI’s highly flexible Graphic Design Course.
In addition to their ||CPN548||, Noble Desktop also offers virtual bootcamps that prepare students for careers in adjacent industries, including web design, digital design, and UX design. While each of these fields has some overlap, they each utilize graphic design skills alongside different tools and for different purposes. For students who are most interested in how graphic design can be used in careers such as digital design, visual design, and web design, programs like the Visual Design Certificate, the Digital Design Certificate, and the UI & UX Design Certificate can give them the technical and design training they need to succeed.
Other popular bootcamps that examine graphic design as it relates to UX design are available through providers like Devmountain, NextGen Bootcamp, General Assembly, and iXperience. Devmountain’s User Experience Design Immersive bootcamp is available for both part-time and full-time students and covers a variety of topics, including accessibility, analytics, information architecture, prototyping, and visual design. Created in partnership with CEOs from major companies such as WarnerMedia and Tigerspike, General Assembly User Experience Design Immersive bootcamp centers around skills that are cutting-edge and relevant.
Several programs also feature comprehensive skills training for both UX design and visual design, (or UI design), making it easy to expand your skill set for versatile applications with just one course. At iXperience, students can participate in a UX & UI Design course that offers internship opportunities and career support. Students who want to start their career training before graduating from high school can also enroll in an Online UX And UI Design Summer Bootcamp for teens through NextGen Bootcamp. For students who need more flexibility, enrolling in a part-time program like Thinkful’s UX/UI Design Flex program, can be a great way to gear up for a UX or UI design career.
For students who only need to brush up on one area, Some providers also offer virtual bootcamps that focus exclusively on one skill such as a single design app like InDesign. Select offerings Noble Desktop’s beginner-friendly Adobe InDesign Bootcamp, which is designed to give complete beginners a comprehensive understanding of every capability InDesign has to offer.
Even more online graphic design bootcamps are available through schools like Rice University, the University of Denver, The Academy, Ironhack, Columbia Engineering, Neoland, and the University of Utah Professional Education.
Short Graphic Design Classes
Bootcamps provide an unparalleled learning experience, but their high time and cost commitments can create additional barriers for beginners who aren’t yet sure whether graphic design is the path they want to take long-term. If attending a bootcamp still feels overwhelming to think about, it might be worth trying a shorter class first. Since deciding what career to pursue can be difficult without exploring whether you like the territory, participating in short beginner classes can be an easy way to figure out which industry you’re most interested in before committing to a rigorous bootcamp.
Some students might also find that attending short classes is their preferred way to learn graphic design. While bootcamps provide the most thorough career training, graphic design beginners who are purely interested in the topic as a hobby may prefer the low-stress environment of brief workshops over the full-time workload often expected in a bootcamp.
Looking to get an introduction to graphic design before committing to an intensive bootcamp? Consider the benefits that a short graphic design course can offer. Most short courses are specially designed for beginners and mainly cover foundational skills, making them a great option for anyone worried about keeping up with a fast-paced class. In addition, these classes are usually available both in-person and online, and require less than twelve hours, making them perfect for testing the waters before committing your life to graphic design.
Noble Desktop’s virtual graphic design courses include the popular “In a Day” course series, where learners can master the basics of programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Sketch in a single day. Other classes offered by Noble Desktop include courses featuring Adobe Lightroom Classic, as well as one exploring how to use Photoshop for creating animated GIFs. Students who prefer to learn graphic design in-person can find similar courses through providers such as General Assembly. Like Noble Desktop’s “In a Day” courses, these classes also generally focus on technical training in Adobe Creative Cloud programs.
Choosing a ||CPN547||
Choosing the right graphic design program can determine a student’s success in the early stages of their career, but with so many courses available, the choice can often feel daunting. Fortunately, the process of deciding which graphic design bootcamp is right becomes much easier once students identify their top priorities. In addition to the class topic, students should weigh their preferences regarding class format, schedule options, financing, and career support.
While there are numerous factors to consider, the course’s subject matter is of utmost importance. For example, students who are looking for training in UX design or web design may find that general graphic design bootcamps don’t fully address their needs. On the flip side, for learners looking for broader instruction in graphic design only, these classes can provide the perfect career training.
Another major consideration to take into account is the time commitment and cost a bootcamp requires. For students who have less time on their hands, shorter bootcamps or part-time study may be the best option. Often, more affordable bootcamps available are also much shorter, making them a better choice for learners juggling careers and family responsibilities alongside their education. Although longer-term bootcamps are often more expensive, they typically provide more intensive and comprehensive preparation for a career.
In addition to these factors, learners should consider additional benefits a program offers, if any. While some bootcamps may not come with added perks, most offer benefits like one-on-one mentorship and coaching opportunities, portfolio development assistance, resume workshops, career support, and even job guarantees. By looking for programs that provide the right blend of curriculum and career resources, learners can be sure that they’ve chosen the best path for jump-starting their graphic design careers.