Graphic Design Classes Near Me
Graphic design is the art of communicating with a large audience using visual iconography, text and imagery. Graphic design is at the heart of most forms of mass visual communication, and it is an essential part of advertising, political campaigning, social advocacy and almost any other field where mass persuasion is the goal. Whether you are an aspiring artist looking for a way to parley your talents into a marketable profession, an entrepreneur looking to design your own marketing materials or just a hobbyist looking to create posters or logos in your free time, learning graphic design is an excellent way to expand your opportunities.
Careers that Use Graphic Design
Since graphic design is used in advertising and visual communication, almost all industries will employ professional Graphic Designers to create visual iconography like logos, product packaging and other objects related to brand identity. Some of these professionals will work in design studios, while others will be freelancers. Some companies will hire in-house Graphic Designers, but these positions are rarer. With time and experience, Graphic Designers can move up the ranks and start overseeing projects and even making creative decisions for companies.
Graphic Designers are creative professionals who create digital and physical media for companies, institutions and organizations. They primarily use digital design applications like Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop to create assets for a variety of different mediums and platforms, including brochures, infographics, marketing material layouts, and design elements for print, video, or web use. They may be tasked with creating advertising assets, branding iconography and messaging materials. In the United States, the average Graphic Designer earns an annual salary of about $55,000 annually.
Some more advanced graphic design specialists may find work as Project Managers who oversee teams of designers as a project moves from beginning to finish. They will be tasked with working alongside other creatives and administrators to plan the outline of the project, and they will work closely with Graphic Designers to ensure that everyone is on the same page as they bring the project through to completion. In addition to needing to know about graphic design tools and principles, Project Managers will need to understand skills related to organization, delegation and communication, as well as a wide range of soft skills related to managing the human element of any given project. There are a number of different theoretical approaches to project management, but it is a practiced and well-studied discipline. In the US, Project Managers earn about $87,000 annually.
Graphic design specialists may also find work as Digital Designers, graphic artists who focus on designing assets for digital environments, such as UI interfaces, webpage banners or even things like video games or digital films. The specific work that they do will inform what kinds of tools and skills they use, but in addition to knowing how to use tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, Digital Designers may need to learn to use user interface design applications like Figma, motion graphics software like Adobe After Effects, or they may need to learn how to code. Digital design is becoming increasingly central to businesses and institutions since more and more people primarily use the Internet as a means of communication. In the US, Digital Designer salaries average around $91,000 annually.
Best Graphic Design Classes Near Me
NYIM Training, in coordination with Noble Desktop, offers an immersive Graphic Design Certificate program for students who are looking to turn their creative passions into careers. This course aims to provide students with hands-on experience working with all of the major graphic design software applications, including Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. In addition, students will learn the essential principles of graphic design, including things like theories of composition and color theory. This training will teach students to think like professional Graphic Designers and approach real-world tasks with an understanding of how visual iconography can be used as a persuasive tool. During this program, students will work on projects that they can add to their professional design portfolios and since this is a career-focused course, students will spend time preparing job materials. Students who enroll in this course will also participate in one-on-one career mentorship sessions with experienced graphic design experts, and any students who take the course can get more practice with graphic design thanks to the one-year free retake option.
In addition to the Graphic Design Certificate program, NYIM and Noble Desktop offer focused skills training courses in major graphic design applications, such as the Adobe Photoshop Bootcamp, the Adobe InDesign Bootcamp and the Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp. These bootcamps will provide students with accelerated training in the use of these common tools and will help students learn to leverage their existing artistic training into professional scenarios. Students will learn basic and advanced graphic design applications for these tools, such as how to use Photoshop to manipulate photos or how Illustrator can be used to brand logos. These courses aren’t going to be enough to get you a job in the field, but they can be used to upskill yourself at your existing position or as the first steps toward more detailed career training options. These courses centralize hands-on training and real-world experience, so students who take these courses will work on the kinds of projects they can expect to find if they work with these programs in a professional environment.
If you have a background in graphic design but are looking to expand your skills and build a professional career out of your training, consider enrolling in NYC Career Center’s Graphic Design Portfolio Bootcamp. In this program, students will get hands-on experience working with tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, and they will complete graphic design assignments that mirror real-world professional graphic design work. Then, students will receive critique and feedback from their instructors and classmates, and they will then incorporate that feedback into revisions of their initial designs. The goal of this class is to set students up with a professional, full graphic design portfolio that they can take with them onto the job market and to train them in revision skills.
Students living in Los Angeles may want to consider a beginner-friendly course such as Adobe Photoshop: Training for Everyone offered by Los Angeles City College. This introductory program will give students the opportunity to learn the basics of Photoshop. Students will learn how Photoshop operates as a graphic design application, and they will learn how to manipulate and restore photos using the application. This course is ideal for hobbyists looking to learn how to edit their own photographers or aspiring artists looking for an easy and accessible way to start learning important graphic design applications.
A similar, one-day Photoshop Quick Start course is available through Training Connection. This course is aimed at Photoshop beginners who have no significant experience with the application and are looking to familiarize themselves with the basics so that they can start experimenting with the tool. In this course, students will learn their way around the Photoshop interface, and they will learn the basics of using the program for photo retouching projects. Students will also learn what kinds of projects Photoshop is best suited to handle and basic computer skills, like how to save and manipulate files using Photoshop. This course is an excellent introduction for new students, and Training Connection also offers an Illustrator Quick Start and an InDesign Quick Start course.
Ascend Training in Chicago offers graphic design training courses that kick off with Adobe Illustrator Level 1. In this course, students will learn the important differences between major Adobe software applications, and they will learn when it is most appropriate to use Illustrator. Once students have an understanding of the function of a vector graphics program, they will start to build simple design projects using the basic features of Illustrator, such as the drawing tool and tools that create basic shapes, arcs and lines. This course is an ideal opportunity for new students to build a base of knowledge that they can build upon in later training courses. Ascend Training also offers an introductory Adobe Photoshop Level 1 course.
Students looking for online training may want to consider the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Graphic Design Bootcamp: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. In this fifteen-session course, students will learn how to use these common graphic design tools in the course of a regular professional workflow. This class is aimed at beginner-level students and aims to get participants career-ready in only a few short weeks. Students will work on hands-on projects that mirror real-world graphic design assignments, and they will work on constructing a digital portfolio across all three major applications. They will also learn the basics of utilizing these tools for more advanced design projects, such as motion effects, web graphics and technical drawing for multimedia projects.
High school students looking to jump-start their art and tech education should consider enrolling in the Graphic Design Summer Program offered through NextGen Bootcamp. This course, which is available both online and in-person at NextGen Bootcamp’s Manhattan campus, offers students in grades 10-12 the chance to spend part of their summer honing their artistic skills and learning practical graphic design applications. In this class, students will learn the basics of graphic design principles, including theories of composition and typography. They will also learn how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to turn their outlines and ideas into realities. This course offers a solid formal and conceptual foundation for future graphic design training, and students who enroll in this course may find themselves better positioned when they start to apply to college-level art programs.