10 Free Online Design Classes to Learn Basic Skills in 2022

Learn to communicate ideas and products effectively with free lessons on graphic, branding, and editorial design

Design is the practice of presenting an idea, concept, or product visually: and that means it’s everywhere, from food packets to posters to digital ads.

If you want to boost your resume or even pivot your career, put your creativity into practice and learn new design skills with this list of ten free online classes to give you a taste of the design process.

Domestika teachers will walk you through receiving a brief, and answering it with color, type, and layout. Whether you want to make logos or book covers, you’ll discover the exact steps taken by professional designers.

Click the red links to access the classes. These classes will be free until May 7, 2022. If you want to access them after this date, you can sign up for each teacher’s full course and dive into their topics in detail.

1. Free Class: What is a Designer?

New York-based designer Sagi Haviv (@sagi) has created iconic logos for the US Open Tennis Championships, Harvard University Press, and more. In his course on logo design, Sagi includes this class answering an essential question: what is a designer?

As he explains, a designer needs to be skilled at many things: idea generation, drawing, using computer programs, and relationship management. At its core, design is about solving problems in a creative way that satisfies the client, but Sagi reminds us to nurture the artist within, too. And, he points out that you need a “Renaissance man” approach.

2. Free Class: How to Do a Brand Workshop

A brand workshop is usually the kicking-off of a great relationship between client and designer. Why? You’ll find out in this lesson from Marta Veludo (@martaveludo), a graphic designer and creative director who has worked on everything from packaging design to logos for clients including Google and LEGO.

In her Brand Workshop class, Marta explains that the workshop is a way to build the mission and vision for a brand in collaboration. You can address pre-existing issues, and ask clients the big questions like: why are you doing this project?

3. Free Class: What Is a Design System?

Designer Mark Porter (@mark_porter) has worked with major media outlets throughout Europe and was the Creative Director of The Guardian. In his extensive experience in digital and print media, he has developed systems that create a seamless brand experience.

What is a Design System, you ask? For Mark, it’s a set of components, usually visual, that can be used to construct larger projects, producing a visual language that customers immediately recognize. Follow Mark through the brand assets of some well-known companies to learn more.

4. Free Class: The Brief

Keeping your mind open while designing is key: you don’t want to get set in your ways so you never feel the urge to challenge yourself. Marina Willer (@willer) advocates for this creativity, and has designed brand identities for high-profile clients including Rolls-Royce.

Marina teaches this lesson on how to approach a brief, in which she challenges students to create a visual identity for an exhibition at The Design Museum, demonstrating what a real-life brief might look like and how to respond with an open mind.

5. Free Class: Designing a Logo

Mumfolk Studio (@mum_folk), founded by graphic designer Helen Bamborough, aims to help businesses founded by mothers stand out through design. That means finding the true essence of a brand and bringing it to life through its logo, typography, website, and more.

In this practical logo design lesson, you’ll learn how to take inspiration from mood boards to generate ideas for your brand’s primary logo, with a technique called "scamping" which allows you to quickly explore different ideas.

6. Free Class: Photoshop and InDesign

A great cover design grabs potential readers even in a crowded bookstore, and one way to achieve this is to use real-world elements like photography and collage, which you then assemble in Photoshop and InDesign. To help you master key design programs, we turn to Chip Kidd (@chip_kidd) — designer of the iconic Jurassic Park dinosaur skeleton and many superhero comics in his thirty-year career.

In this lesson on Photoshop and InDesign, Chip has already scanned painted stencils into Photoshop with appropriate file types, which he explains in detail. He then shows how to make a “mechanical” instruction for printers, using a template to ensure his design prints correctly within the guidelines.

7. Free Class: Creating Layout Templates for Posters

Graphic designer and artist Julian Montague (@montagueprojects) finds compelling visual solutions for complicated topics. His clients include Sonos and Continental Tires, and at Domestika he teaches a course on poster design for big ideas.

In this lesson, watch Julian design the template for a poster series in a minimalist style. While designing, he shares how to find a unifying set of elements to underpin even abstract ideas, like a lecture series in this case.

8. Free Class: What Are the Best Colors for a Call to Action?

As well as layout and composition, color is a fundamental component of good design. Effective color impacts mood and tone, and even indicates your target audience. James Eccleston (@james80) is a designer and founder of Bridge, a Madrid-based brand & UX design studio with notable clients like Virgin and McCann.

Here, James teaches how to identify strong color choices to make an audience take action. Using color theory, he explains why red, green, blue, and yellow can be very useful to guide a user’s eyes around a site.

9. Free Class: Look and Feel

Creating a “look and feel” mood board is a great starting place for indicating how a final design might turn out. Alex Reece and Isabella Bunnell are the cofounders of Friendhood Studio (@friendhood), and their focus is to define their client’s purpose through crafting editorial work. That means ensuring the client is on board with every design decision being made.

In this lesson, you’ll see Isabella conduct look and feel research to create a mood board. “We work quite a lot on the computer,” she notes, “but it's really important to get away from your screen. We like to take a walk outside, photograph things that we like, and look at other things such as fabric samples and paints.”

10. Free Class: Tracing the Type and Final Graphic Design Tweaks

The final aspect of design you’ll always want to consider is type: which font, point sizes, spacing, and kerning you’ll implement. This is true whether you’re creating just the typography, or a project where the type supports imagery: as is often the case with a book cover.

Owen Gent (@gentowen) is an artist and freelance illustrator for clients like Penguin Random House and Harper Collins. In this lesson Owen teaches you how to put the finishing touches on a cover design using typography. He shares how to integrate text into imagery using a hand-drawn look created by tracing.

Don't forget: these classes will be free until May 7, 2022. If you want to view the classes after this date, you can purchase the teacher's full course.

Take your design knowledge to the next level

If you’ve been inspired by these free classes, for even more design process inspiration, check out the teachers' full courses, and read on for more top resources...

1. We spoke with Friendhood Studio to learn about current logo trends and their evolution over time.

2. Learn more about our in-depth graphic design courses with this list that covers everything from presentations to media and event design.

3. Get to grips with popular program Figma, using these essential designer’s shortcuts.

4. Travel further into the theory of design with Pepe Gimeno's online course.

5. Understand contemporary brand identity with this course from Michael Johnson.