Intro to Visual Design

If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve already started learning design skills online. There are a ton of amazing of ways to learn design online, and our goal at TechWorks isn’t to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we want to pick up where most online courses end, by helping you build an amazing portfolio of detailed design projects that will land you your dream job in the creative industry.

At the same time, we know that when you’re spending so much time building up your portfolio, it can be hard to find the time to continue building up your design fundamentals and technical skills. So to help make things a bit easier, we’ve curated a curriculum of articles, courses, and videos from across the internet that you can work through at your own schedule to broaden your understanding of Visual Design in preparation for your first job in the field. Get ready to expand your knowledge with over 60 hours of wonderful Visual Design resources!

The Skillshare/TechWORKS Curated Visual Design Track

Skillshare has created a hand-picked curriculum of their best courses related to design, with tracks covering Visual Design, Branding + Identity Design, and Illustration. And if you’re a new Skillshare member, you’ll be able to access our curated list (and their entire library of content) free for two months — click the link below to get instant access.

• You can find the Visual Design curriculum here.
• You can find the Branding + Identity curriculum here.
• You can find the Illustration curriculum here.

The TechWORKS Intro to Visual Design Curriculum

We’ve also curated a curriculum of videos, articles, and written lessons from the best sources on the internet to help you strengthen your Visual Design knowledge and learn new skills that will help you launch your creative career. The curriculum is broken down as follows:

• Design theory
  • Design Principles (Balance, Hierarchy, Contrast, Repetition, Alignment)
  • Design Thinking (Research and testing, Ideation and sketching)
  • Design Fundamentals (Typography and Typesetting, Grids, Color Theory)
• Design programs
  • Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Sketch
• Our favorite Visual Design Sites
  • Lists of sites like Smashing, Abduzeedo, It’s Nice That,

Lessons

Let’s get started!

We’d recommend studying the following curriculum at your own pace as you work on your portfolio projects. We’ve structured the course so that you’ll first build a deeper understanding of the best ways to learn the principles and tools that effective visual designers employ every day.

Lesson 1: Design Theory

Design theory refers to the methods, strategies, and analysis of the practice of design. In this first lesson, we’ll dive into the basic principles of design.

Lesson 2: Design Principles

In this lesson, we’ll dive into the five main principles of design: Balance, Hierarchy, Contrast, Repetition, and Alignment.

Lesson 3: Design Thinking – Research and Testing

Design thinking refers to the concept of research, testing, and problem solving as the basis of modern design technique. Also referred to as human-centered problem solving, design thinking allows designers to create innovative solutions based on real user needs.

Lesson 4: Design Thinking – Ideating and Sketching

Ideation is the part of the design process focused on generating ideas. Generally, you want to  go as wide as possible, getting every idea that pops into your head onto paper for further refinement later in the process.

Lesson 5: Design Fundamentals – Typography

Choosing the right type in your design is crucial, as it is the visual form of written language and can have a huge impact on how a user perceives your design.

Lesson 6: Design Fundamentals – Grid Theory

Grids are a structural element of design theory that allow designers to organize the elements of their design and maintain consistency.

Lesson 7: Design Fundamentals – Color theory

Color is one of the most impactful and powerful elements designers use to elicit specific feelings, moods, and reactions in users.

Lesson 8: Visual Design Programs – Photoshop

Photoshop is a photo-editing and image manipulation tool that nearly everyone has heard of before. It’s one of the most powerful tools in a designer’s toolbox.

Lesson 9: Visual Design Programs – InDesign

InDesign is a tool for creating professional layouts for documents, publications, posters, and everything in between.

Lesson 10: Visual Design Programs – Illustrator

Finally. Illustrator is a vector design program that lets designers easily create and manipulate digital artwork. It is used for everything from illustration work to branding to icons.

Congrats! You’ve reached the end of the TechWorks UX/UI Curriculum!

After finishing this curriculum, you should be starting to build up a vocabulary of UX/UI Design and beginning to develop your technical abilities in programs like Sketch. But you’re not done yet! Proceed to the next page for some of our favorite UX/UI websites across the web. Wherever you are in your creative career, drawing inspiration from the world around you is crucial if you want to continue improving in your field so get ready to bookmark like crazy!

More Resources

The Best Courses and Classes

The Best Visual Design Educational Tools

The Best Typography Sites

The Best Branding + Identity Sites

The Best Design Aggregators