Visual Design Foundation
- Beginner
Build a strong foundation in visual design—learn how to use color, typography, and layout with intention, and create work that feels clear, polished, and cohesive.
If you already have UX skills but lack a visual foundation, this course pairs seamlessly with Portfolio School—and can be taken as an introduction to School of Design, with full tuition credited if you upgrade – essentially learning for free.
About This Course
What Visual Design Foundation covers and why you should take this course
Build a Strong Foundation in Visual Design
Most designers jump straight into tools—but struggle to create work that actually looks polished, intentional, and cohesive. This course focuses on building your visual foundation from the ground up: understanding color, typography, layout, and how design decisions come together to create clarity and impact—not just decoration.
Learn by Doing, Not Just Watching
You’ll learn the core tools used in modern design (Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop) while applying them through structured exercises and projects—from icon sets and type systems to a full microsite. By the end, you won’t just know how tools work—you’ll understand how to use them to create thoughtful, well-crafted design work that holds up in real-world contexts.
Enrollment Options
Most Popular
Visual Design Foundation with Instructor Sessions
You can schedule 6 instructional sessions with your instructor to go over your assignments, ask questions about course content and receive career coaching.
6
instructor sessions included
Saver
Visual Design Foundation w/o Instructor Sessions
You don’t have automatic access to instructor sessions due to the lower price but you may purchase sessions as you need for an additional $80 per one-hour session.
0
instructor session included + option to purchase sessions separately
Best Value
Visual Design Foundation + Portfolio School
Want to study visual design foundatiom and properly upgrade your portfolio to get ready for a high-paying design role? Enroll in the course bundle, save $100 and launch your new design career under the expert guidance of our instructors.
Who This Course Is For
1
UX Designers Lacking Visual Design Skills
2
Design Students Who Need to Build Visual Design Skills Before Portfolio
3
Marketing Professionals Adding Design to Their Skillsets
What You Will Learn
Understand the Core Principles of Visual Design
Use Industry-Standard Design Tools Confidently for Modern Design Work
Apply Color with Clarity and Purpose
Work with Typography Like a Pro
Design Clean, Structured Layouts
Create Real-World Design Projects for Your Portfolio
Unit Breakdown
8
Units
102
Lessons
30
Exercises
5
Projects
4
Quizzes
Unit 1
Introduction to Design
In this unit, we will introduce what design is and the most basic design principles to set the foundation for the course.
Unit 2
Figma Fundamentals
In this unit, we introduce the most frequently-used tools and techniques in Figma that helps student get familiar with this popular design tool.
Unit 3
Color Theory
Color theory is one of the 3 fundamental pillars of design foundation. In this unit, we cover all aspects of color theory that are relevant to the work of a designer to help students become skilled in choosing the right color for their projects.
Unit 4
Intro to Illustrator
Illustrator is one of the most important tools to learn as a designer for vector manipulation, typesetting and vector drawing. We introduce the most critical skills in Adobe Illustrator that a designer needs to succeed in visual design.
Unit 5
Typography
Typography is another pillar of visual design foundation that a designer cannot skip mastering. In this unit, we explain typography techniques at length to help students understand how to successfully create effective typography pairings and choices for any design projects.
Unit 6
Layout
Learning layout principles and how to effectively apply them to different scenarios are crucial in your success as a designer. In this unit, we will teach you the fundamentals of layout principles, as well as multiple use cases so that you can be confident in communicating ideas through design.
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Receive the Complete Syllabus via Email
Work With Our World-Class Instructors
Our team of instructors are great at what they do and teach well, too
Stephanie Sell
Product Designer
- Washington, D.C. USA
Jenni Renas
Visual Designer
- Richmond, Virginia, USA
Arnold Kotra
Brand & Visual Designer
- France
Ashley May
Senior Product Designer
- Michigan, USA
Nina Shahriaree
UI/UX & Visual Designer
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
Silvia Script
Senior UI/UX Designer
- Washington D.C. USA
Our Students Work At Top Companies Around the World
What Students Say
Our course has helped designers get to the next level of their career
Amy Ferguson
UX Design Bootcamp Graduate
Maddi Kapusinsky
Multidisciplinary Creative Transitioning to Design
Jonathan B. Campbell
UX Designer Looking for Promotion
Have Questions About this Course?
Start Here. Continue into School of Design Later—with Full Tuition Credited.
This course pairs seamlessly with Portfolio School—and can be taken as an introduction to School of Design, with full tuition credited if you upgrade – essentially learning for free.
FAQs
How in depth do you go into each topic?
We design each individual course with multiple levels in mind. We start each course with introducing the foundation, which provides a much-needed refresher for even the seasoned designers if they have been away from theory for a while.
We then go into intermediate to advanced topics for deep dives, where multiple levels of designers might find them helpful.
Our goal is to make the course as approachable as possible while still getting into advanced topics for students who are ready to take the leap.
I already have some knowledge in this area but want to improve. Will this course be right for me?
It depends on how much knowledge you already have in each topic. We recommend filling out our email form above to obtain the full syllabus and schedule a call with us if you want to get the full picture of the entire course. We make every effort to recommend the right level of courses to each student so that they get the most out of the learning experience.
What is the different between buying a book on Amazon from taking this course?
Books are great! We will never say don’t buy a book. However, design is a highly practical field. Reading books will give you the surface level understanding. You need more examples, interactive demonstrations, exercises and personalized feedback from expert designers to achieve the level that you need for your career. These other components can only be obtained from a well-designed educational program. Books are great supplements for your courses.
Can I learn the same thing from YouTube videos?
YouTube is a great platform. We say go watch as many YouTube videos as you’d like, but we have yet to find a complete series of courses that go in to so much details and depth as our course on YouTube. While YouTube can provide a surface level foundation for you, it isn’t likely to help you get to the level you need for your career. We recommend scheduling a call with us if you are interested and ask questions to make your informed decisions.
Do we get to apply the knowledge into practical projects?
Absolutely! We believe in learning by doing. That’s why we designed exercises for each unit with intention. Students are expected to complete every exercise and quizzes in order to complete the course. This is not a passive learning experience – it’s active. We also wrap up each course with a portfolio-level project, so you can be sure to take away with you a polished piece from every course you finish. If you enroll in our School of Design certificate program you will have 3 portfolio projects that stand out from the crowd at the time you graduate and a tailored career strategy that’s effective and unique to you.
Do I get a discount on your courses if I purchase multiple?
Yes, we provide discounts for certain courses if they care purchased together. They are usually courses that are related to each other, each time you enroll in a course, you will see which other courses you can enroll in for a discount in the checkout page.
If you want to receive a bulk discount for purchasing 3 or more courses, please contact us in the contact page. We can provide a custom discount for you.
Should I take a standalone course or enroll in your career program?
It depends on your needs. If you are already working as a designer and would like to uplevel your skillsets, we recommend taking individual courses as you need.
If you are a new designer looking to break into the field and get your first job or client as a designer, we recommend our School of Design career program or combine an upskilling course with Portfolio School if you want to build your portfolio with the knowledge you learned at the course – you do not want to show any knowledge gap in your interview and portfolio.