Design Prerequisites

Design skills are the skills that go into producing compelling projects intended for mass visual communication. This includes everything from simple drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator to complex 3D animation software like Adobe After Effects. You might worry that design will take a lot of work to learn. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning design and what you should study first to make the learning process easier. This way, you’ll be successful however you choose to apply your new skills. 

What is Design?

Design is an incredibly broad category of skills that refers to utilizing computers to assist in visual communication. This can range from simple graphic design work such as photo manipulation or print layout design to complex 3D animation projects or interactive digital interface design work. Visual and graphic design is vital to any product release, information campaign, rhetorically-effective communication strategy, or web design project. No matter what kind of work is being done, if it intends to communicate with a mass audience, specialized design skills will be needed to make that communication possible.

The tools utilized by Designers are varied, and each tends to have its own niche functionality that differs from project to project. For example, photographers will use photo manipulation tools like Photoshop and Lightroom, Layout Designers will use tools like InDesign and Figma, and Motion Graphic Designers will use After-Effects, Cinema 4D, and Premiere Pro. Rather than learning and mastering every design tool available, Designers will specialize in specific elements of the design process and learn those tools. This makes design a highly varied field to enter, and it offers students a great opportunity to both experiment with different programs and turns their passions into a creative career.

Read more about what design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Design?

As a creative form of visual expression, the things you can do with design are largely limited only by your imagination and the number of programs you are willing to learn. Users can design vibrant and evocative visual compositions ranging from simple logos, photo manipulations, and posters to complex 3D animations and digital web assets. Almost every professional field employs designers to ensure that their output looks the way they intend it to look and communicates the ideas they want. This is true of both the private and public sectors, given that design tools are just as important in persuasive and advocacy contexts as in commercial and advertising contexts.

Learning design skills is also a great way to build your profile and brand online. Online content creators need to set themselves apart from the crowd, and learning to make vibrant visual designs is a perfect way to do so. Whether this is about producing a logo for your website, designing recognizable branding for the products on your Etsy store, or editing and manipulating video content, learning design skills can improve your creative output. Design skills are also at the center of several different emerging online art and activism movements. Learning design skills can give creatives many mediums to produce rhetorical compelling advocacy content like infographics, digital documentaries, and docu-games.

Is Design Easy to Learn?

Design tools are among the most accessible and user-friendly software applications available. Students looking to learn design skills can pick up and start using the tools immediately. However, the challenging part of learning design isn’t just learning how to use the software programs but how to make the most out of their features and apply design techniques and philosophies in your work. This can require direct feedback and guidance, which is why professional training is necessary for design students, especially early on in the process.

What to Know Before Learning Design

While there aren’t any formal prerequisites for learning design skills, there are still a few things that students should know before getting too deep into their training. Students will need to understand the basics of using a computer, and they should research the different types of design tools available and the basic principles of visual design.

Different Tools

One of the most important things that students can do before learning a design tool is to do a deep dive into the kinds of graphic design tools available to them. Very few students will learn all the available graphic design tools, so it will be necessary for students to decide what tools they will train in. Noble Desktop offers handy guides in all major design tools at their hub of design learning resources to help students better understand their options.

Design Principles

Students will also want to research basic design principles and theories. Learning these theories is important to understand why designers make the choices they do when working on a project. Visual communication has been studied for centuries, and students will want to ensure they understand how certain ideas are communicated in their designs.

Personal Goals

Students will also want to self-assess what they want out of their design education and how that will shape their training. Students seeking to become professional Graphic Designers will take a different path than students looking to build their digital storefronts. Just learning a tool like Illustrator or Premiere Pro will be less useful than having a calculated plan for your future before you start your training.

Key Insights

• Design refers to the wide range of skills that go into creating effective, memorable visual projects intended to communicate with mass audiences.
• While there are no formal prerequisites for learning design, students will want to ensure that they are familiar with computers and understand the difference between various design tools before enrolling in a class.
• Students should also research basic design principles and theories to have a foundational background in these techniques.
• Finally, students will want to self-assess their goals for learning design tools to help guide them through their training path.
• Once you feel ready to start professional design training, Noble Desktop can help by offering comprehensive design courses through live online instruction or in-person at Noble’s Manhattan campus.

Learn Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to master design skills can find the path to success through the expert instruction offered at Noble Desktop. Noble offers a wide array of design courses, from introductory bootcamps that will teach students the basics of an individual program like Photoshop or After Effects to career-centered design certificate programs that will give students all the tools they need to enter the professional world as designers. Noble’s classes are available in person at their Manhattan campus or through live online instruction. Regardless, all of Noble’s classes are taught by expert instructors who are present to help guide students through the process of learning design skills. Each course ensures small class sizes so students won’t fight for their instructor's attention, and all of Noble's classes come with a free retake option, allowing students to enroll in the course again, for free, within one year. This means that students will have even more time and opportunity to get hands-on experience and instruction in design skills.

Students looking to become Graphic Designers may consider enrolling in Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program. In this class, students will receive introductory and advanced training in tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These are the industry-standard tools in almost every field of print and physical design. Students enrolled in this program will receive hands-on experience working on real-world projects, such as designing signage, infographics, product packaging, logos, and branded merchandise. In addition, since this is a career-focused program, students will receive professionalization training, including one-on-one career mentorship and portfolio-building seminars designed to prepare students for entry into the job market.

Students looking to work in a more digital environment may wish to enroll in Noble’s Digital Design Certificate program. This course teaches students how to use programs like Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop and applies those skills to digital spaces, such as webpage layout design or user interface design. Students will learn digital design theories and philosophies and master necessary web design tools like Figma. This course also offers students the opportunity to receive one-on-one career mentorship. Students will build specialized design portfolios to position themselves as career-ready Web Designers and UI Designers. This course has no requirement for coding, meaning students can focus on the visually creative elements of web and digital design.

Noble also offers a wide array of certificate programs and bootcamps across all disciplines of design, including graphic design, web design, UX/UI design, motion graphics design, and video editing. No matter what direction you choose for your design education, Noble Desktop has a course built to suit your needs.