Explore graphic design fundamentals through projects in layout, typography, and branding. These exercises show how creative ideas become visual stories with purpose and clarity.
Begin your journey as a professional graphic designer by learning the essential skills and tools used by industry experts. Gain hands-on experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, and create a stunning portfolio to showcase your talent to potential employers or clients.
Learn how to retouch and color correct photos, combine images, and create graphics in Photoshop. This course covers the basic and intermediate features of Photoshop such as color/contrast, photo retouching, layers, masks, filters, and saving files for web/video/print.
Learn how to design professional page layouts with text & graphics in Adobe InDesign. This course covers styling, importing, packaging, and advanced techniques like styles, master pages, and tables. Perfect for creating books, magazines, and ads.
Learn how to draw and edit vector graphics using Adobe Illustrator. This course covers the basics and advanced features, including the Pen tool, effects, layers, masks, and more. Perfect for creating logos, icons, and packaging.
Leverage the power of cutting-edge AI tools and features in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and other Adobe apps in this hands-on class.
Learn the fundamentals of graphic design as you get hands-on experience and produce real-world projects. Broaden your understanding of graphic design concepts, understand the elements of design, and expand your portfolio in this comprehensive graphic design course.
Master Photoshop from the ground up and prepare for the Adobe Certified Professional exam with expert-led training, hands-on projects, and personalized tutoring. This comprehensive program is ideal for aspiring designers, photographers, and creative professionals looking to earn industry-recognized certification.
Advance your layout and design expertise while preparing for the Adobe Certified Professional exam in this hands-on InDesign Certification Program. Through expert-led classes, personalized tutoring, and real-world projects, you'll gain the skills and confidence to create polished magazines, brochures, books, and more.
Build professional-level Illustrator skills and earn your Adobe Certified Professional credential through hands-on classes, private tutoring, and real-world projects. This certification program covers everything from vector drawing to logo design, giving you the tools to succeed on the exam.
Develop high-impact motion graphics and visual effects while preparing for the Adobe After Effects Certification exam through hands-on classes and private tutoring. This in-depth program covers beginner to advanced techniques, equipping you with the skills and credentials to stand out in animation and video production.
Master the art of video editing and earn your Adobe Premiere Pro certification through expert-led training and one-on-one tutoring. This comprehensive program prepares you for the certification exam while helping you build professional-level editing skills.
Graphic design is the creation of visual media to communicate ideas and information. Every day, you see the work of Graphic Designers in ads, websites, logos, printed publications, product packaging, newsletters, and social media posts. With the assistance of design apps and other technological tools, Graphic Designers use a combination of artistic talent, design principles, and technical knowledge to produce eye-catching creative material.
Graphic Designers are storytellers: they use visuals and text to tell a story. These stories can be about products, companies, non-profit organizations, and causes. For example, your local animal shelter might use a combination of a picture and text to tell you about local animals that need to be adopted. In this case, the design created by a Graphic Designer would be to convince people to give an animal a home. Most graphic design has an embedded goal like this one.
Due to the importance of graphic design across industries, there are many careers available in this field. People working in the graphic design industry are expected to be skilled in typography, layout design, color theory, and other core principles that underlie art and design. Some principles that inform excellent graphic design include contrast, balance, emphasis, repetition, proportion, pattern, and movement.
Additionally, Graphic Designers must have a high level of knowledge of professional design programs. The industry-standard in graphic design is the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of programs, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. If you are interested in launching a new career as a Graphic Designer or furthering your graphic design knowledge, taking classes in these programs is an excellent way to start.
Seattle’s technology and software sector is a major employer of Graphic Designers, who help shape the visual identity and user experience of digital products. Tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google’s Seattle offices rely on designers to create intuitive interfaces, icons, marketing graphics, product branding, and UX/UI assets for everything from cloud platforms to consumer apps. Graphic Designers in the tech industry often collaborate with developers and product teams to build polished, user-centered digital experiences. As Seattle continues to expand its footprint in AI, cloud computing, and e-commerce, demand remains high for designers who can blend creativity with technical understanding.
Seattle’s thriving retail and e-commerce sector also depends heavily on graphic design for branding, product packaging, digital advertising, and social media content. Companies like Starbucks, REI, and Nordstrom employ creative teams to produce marketing visuals, seasonal campaigns, signage, and promotional materials that reflect their brand identities. With Seattle serving as a hub for both global retail leaders and innovative online marketplaces, graphic design professionals play a central role in shaping how products are presented to millions of customers worldwide. Whether creating eye-catching ad layouts or designing cohesive brand experiences, Graphic Designers help keep these companies competitive in a visually driven market.
The city’s entertainment, arts, and nonprofit sectors also provide numerous opportunities for Graphic Designers. Seattle is home to organizations such as the Seattle Opera, Seattle Art Museum, and KEXP, all of which rely on design to promote events, craft digital storytelling, and support community engagement initiatives. Production studios and marketing agencies across the region—like WongDoody and Hornall Anderson—hire designers to work on everything from film posters to museum exhibits to public awareness campaigns.
Seattle is ranked in the top 25 cities for jobs, according to Glassdoor. This list is based on factors such as job availability, average salaries, job satisfaction, and quality of life in the area. The city offers many career opportunities for people with graphic design skills. It is a major tech hub, and Seattle contains numerous companies and startups that rely on a constant stream of original graphics for websites, apps, packaging, and marketing campaigns. While the career most applicable to this field is Graphic Designer, a strong background in graphic design also lends itself to careers in user interface (UI) design, user experience (UX) design, and motion graphics.
Careers in graphic design pay well, especially for Seattle residents. The average salary for a Graphic Designer in Seattle is $63,000 a year: that’s over 25% more than the national average. Related work also carries high earning potential, with Digital Designers in Seattle averaging $94,000 annually and UI Designers making around $92,000.
Although careers in the design industry require different levels of knowledge in graphic design, learning graphic design is a fundamental stepping stone in achieving a higher-paying design career.
Some job postings on Indeed.com for people in Seattle with graphic design skills include Marketing Coordinator, Design Artist, Freelance Production Designer, User Experience Designer, Assistant Director of Creative Content, Publication Designer, Associate Creative Director, Print Production Designer, Experiential Marketing Specialist, and Product Designer.
Through live online training, you can receive thorough instruction in graphic design with the added convenience of learning from home. Just like in-person graphic design training, live online graphic design classes allow you to interact with your instructor in real time as you learn. You can ask questions whenever you need. You can even receive hands-on feedback on your work or collaborate with classmates using screen-sharing software.
Noble Desktop is a coding, business, and design school based in New York City. It offers live online graphic design classes in multiple popular professional design software programs, including Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. The short courses available include Photoshop in a Day, InDesign in a Day, and Illustrator in a Day.
Noble Desktop offers a Photoshop Bootcamp, InDesign Bootcamp, and Illustrator Bootcamp for learners seeking more in-depth training. Noble Desktop also offers a beginner-friendly Graphic Design Certificate that covers fundamentals of design, typography, and Adobe design applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Students build a graphic design portfolio of graphics, logos, social media graphics, and cover art. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Graphic Design.
Noble Desktop’s Digital Design Certificate provides comprehensive training to help you launch a new career as a Digital Designer. Expert instructors guide students through developing a digital design portfolio using Adobe’s industry-standard design applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Students learn user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design using Figma for websites and apps. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Digital Design.
If you’re interested in user interface (UI) design, Noble Desktop offers a UI Design Certificate. This could be an especially lucrative career path in Seattle, which is full of tech companies that need designers for the user interfaces of their websites and apps. In this comprehensive certificate program, experts in design guide students through hands-on projects to develop a professional portfolio they can use to launch their new careers. Some of the skills covered in this certificate program include graphic design principles, using Figma for design and prototyping, website and app design, retouching photos using Adobe Photoshop, and using Adobe Illustrator’s drawing tools to create graphics. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in UI Design.
You can also pair user interface (UI) design with user experience (UX) design training in Noble Desktop’s UX & UI Design Certificate. UX Designers create the experience of using a website or app, while UI Designers create their look. This certificate program combines both skills into a single certificate program in which graduates earn a Certificate of Completion in UX & UI Design. Expert instructors guide students through hands-on, real-world design projects to develop skills in UX and UI design principles, designing eye-catching websites and apps, conducting user research, building prototypes using Figma, and using Sketch for design and prototyping. This certificate program includes career training like resume creation, building a portfolio website, and 1-on-1 mentorship on job search preparation.
Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate provides comprehensive career training in launching a career as a Web Designer. Expert instructors guide students through hands-on projects to build a web design portfolio. Some of the skills you’ll develop in this certificate program include designing websites for mobile and desktop, using Figma for design and prototyping, using browser development tools, adding interactivity to websites with JavaScript, building websites with WordPress, and coding the front-end of websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Web Design.
You can also find live online graphic design courses at NYIM Training or see live online graphic design classes from NYC Career Centers.
Through NextGen Bootcamp, high school students can take live online graphic design courses tailored to their goals. NextGen Bootcamp has graphic design summer classes for high school students who want to build skills in graphic design. As a high school student, training in graphic design is a great way to make an income while working toward your long-term career and education goals.
Noble Desktop has corporate graphic design training available onsite or virtually to help your team gain graphic design abilities. You can schedule an onsite corporate training, and Noble Desktop will bring its expert instructors to your office in Seattle. You can also schedule a live online training that they will conduct over a teleconferencing platform like Zoom.
Another popular training option is to buy vouchers for your team members to attend any of Noble Desktop’s open enrollment graphic design classes. Companies that purchase multiple vouchers for their employees receive a discount.
For more information about Noble Desktop’s highly customizable corporate training options, you should contact them via email.
The professional community in Seattle is thriving, with many businesses and startups appearing all the time in downtown Seattle, South Lake Union, and the Eastside region of the city. In particular, many major companies in fields related to software, cloud computing, ecommerce, and biotech appear in the region, giving ample reason to learn relevant skills in subjects related to design, tech, business, and data.
Graphic design skills support branding, digital media, and creative communication across Seattle’s tech, arts, and marketing scenes. At Noble Desktop, you can explore a range of courses and training options delivered by experienced professionals in their field. These instructors understand the specific job, the field, the industry, and the local economy, and will be able to impart their knowledge to you in an interactive, seamless way. Their combined experience spans decades, so you’ll know you’re working with someone who can genuinely provide the ins and outs of the field and career path of your choice.
Dr. Deanne Larson is a leading figure in data analytics, with over two decades of experience across Fortune 500 companies. As the founder of Larson & Associates LLC, she has helped organizations develop AI strategies and design large-scale data systems that power business transformation. Her portfolio includes overseeing data platforms serving over 225 million consumers and developing advanced governance frameworks for cloud and blockchain technologies. Additionally, Dr. Larson is an experienced educator who has served as an Adjunct Faculty Member at City University of Seattle, mentoring doctoral students and designing graduate-level programs in analytics. Holding multiple doctoral degrees in Computer Science (AI), International Management, and Management, along with a master’s in Business Analytics from NYU, she brings practical expertise to her teaching in AI, Python, machine learning, data analytics, and project management.