What is visual design?

Visual design is the combination of visual elements like lines, colors, type fonts, and white space and how they all impact the appearance, usability, and overall presence of a website or other visual creation. Successful visual design relies on a strong, unique, artful visual concept. Think of all the great music LP covers over the years that have succeeded because of a strong, dominant visual design. Great visual design, or graphic design, concepts should enhance or even become the overall message, not detract from it. Without great visual design, many banner ads, TV commercials, show posters, and other visual materials would be less striking. The magic of visual design is that it hooks people’s attention and encourages them to examine other aspects of the piece more closely.

Why is it important to learn about visual design?

It's important to learn about visual design and graphic design because of the skills you can gain from these programs, such as visual elements for websites, videos, advertisements, business reports, and other media. As the world grows more digital every day, the visual design we see is most often represented in online visual materials. Learning how to use visual design software can help you realize the work that goes into creating an art piece, an animated video, or a short film with strong visuals. It's a learned skill that can pay dividends down the road should you decide to turn visual design into a career.

What are some careers that use visual design?

Some careers that use visual design include graphic designer, creative director, and art director at marketing agencies. Another career is a visual stylist for retail merchandising companies. Someone with a visual design background could be the director of user experience for a web-based technology company as well. These are the people who have gotten educated in art, design, visual aesthetics, software UI/UX, and more and have worked in the field to bring these skills to projects for companies and organizations.

How can taking online courses help me learn visual design?

Taking online courses is a great step forward for you to better understand the foundation and basics of visual design. If you're currently working in a technology area, you may already have a head start on understanding graphic design and visual design software programs. But if you're ready to broaden your scope of visual design, and dig deeper into the software tools and the artistic sensibilities in visual design work, online courses can help further your knowledge base. Try courses that challenge your accepted notions of visual identity and graphic design. You may find the innovation you see in these new worlds of visual design and graphic design is very appealing to you as you move through your career.

What are the benefits of taking an online Visual Design course?

Online Visual Design courses offer a convenient and flexible way to enhance your knowledge or learn new Visual Design skills. Choose from a wide range of Visual Design courses offered by top universities and industry leaders tailored to various skill levels.

What Visual Design courses are best for training and upskilling employees or the workforce?

When looking to enhance your workforce's skills in Visual Design, it's crucial to select a course that aligns with their current abilities and learning objectives. Our Skills Dashboard is an invaluable tool for identifying skill gaps and choosing the most appropriate course for effective upskilling. For a comprehensive understanding of how our courses can benefit your employees, explore the enterprise solutions we offer. Discover more about our tailored programs at Coursera for Business here .

Top Visual Design Courses - Learn Visual Design Online

Explore the Visual Design Course Catalog

Status: Free Trial
IBM
IBM Front-End Developer
Skills you'll gain: Bootstrap (Front-End Framework), HTML and CSS, Software Development Life Cycle, Software Architecture, User Centered Design, Cloud-Native Computing, React Redux, NoSQL, Git (Version Control System), GitHub, Webpack, Application Development, MongoDB, React.js, Agile Methodology, Software Design, Front-End Web Development, JavaScript Frameworks, Browser Compatibility, Interviewing Skills
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
6.4K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
Michigan State University
Game Design and Development 1: 2D Shooter
Skills you'll gain: Game Design, Unity Engine, Video Game Development, Peer Review, Cross Platform Development, Software Design, User Interface (UI), C# (Programming Language), UI Components, Object Oriented Programming (OOP), Animations, Scripting, Creativity
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
500 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
University of California, Davis
Learn SQL Basics for Data Science
Skills you'll gain: Data Governance, Presentations, SQL, Apache Spark, Distributed Computing, Descriptive Statistics, Data Lakes, Data Storytelling, Data Analysis, Peer Review, Exploratory Data Analysis, Data Quality, Data Pipelines, Databricks, Statistical Analysis, Database Design, Complex Problem Solving, Query Languages, Data Visualization, JSON
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
17K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
IBM
IBM iOS and Android Mobile App Developer
Skills you'll gain: React Native, Prompt Engineering, HTML and CSS, Software Development Life Cycle, iOS Development, Flutter (Software), Software Architecture, Swift Programming, Apple Xcode, Mobile Development, Android Studio, User Centered Design, Android Development, Apple iOS, React Redux, Git (Version Control System), GitHub, Mobile Development Tools, React.js, AI Personalization
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
6.2K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of Colorado Boulder
Relational Database Design
Skills you'll gain: Database Design, Database Management Systems, Relational Databases, Database Management, Database Architecture and Administration, Databases, Data Modeling, Data Integrity, Dependency Analysis, Technical Communication
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
300 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Generative AI for Product Managers
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Commercialization, Product Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Stakeholder Communications, OpenAI, Technical Product Management, Artificial Intelligence, Customer experience improvement, Team Building, Return On Investment, Product Development, New Product Development, Product Strategy, Microsoft Copilot, Large Language Modeling, Technical Communication, Program Development
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.8K reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Generative AI for Software Developers
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Large Language Modeling, Data Ethics, OpenAI, Artificial Intelligence, Software Development Tools, Software Testing, Test Automation, Software Development, DevSecOps, Application Security, CI/CD, Natural Language Processing, Code Review, Program Development, Software Architecture, Content Creation, Image Analysis
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.8K reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: New
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Generative AI for Mobile App Developers
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Large Language Modeling, AI Personalization, Mobile Development, Data Ethics, OpenAI, Artificial Intelligence, Software Development Tools, Software Testing, Test Automation, Software Development, Machine Learning Methods, DevSecOps, Application Security, CI/CD, Cloud Applications, Natural Language Processing, Cloud Development
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.8K reviews
Advanced · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Generative AI for Data Engineers
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Database Design, Data Pipelines, Query Languages, Extract, Transform, Load, OpenAI, Snowflake Schema, Star Schema, Data Warehousing, Data Ethics, Data Infrastructure, Data Architecture, Data Mining, Large Language Modeling, Data Synthesis, Artificial Intelligence, Program Development, Image Analysis
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.7K reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: New
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Generative AI for Java and Spring Developers
Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Large Language Modeling, Restful API, Spring Framework, Data Ethics, Natural Language Processing, OpenAI, Application Deployment, Artificial Intelligence, Software Development Tools, Software Testing, Test Automation, Software Development, DevSecOps, Application Security, CI/CD, Application Programming Interface (API), Java
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.8K reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: New
Status: Free Trial
IBM
IBM Java Developer
Skills you'll gain: Spring Framework, Prompt Engineering, HTML and CSS, Cloud-Native Computing, Software Development Life Cycle, Software Architecture, Hibernate (Java), Database Design, Docker (Software), Containerization, Git (Version Control System), GitHub, Software Design, Microservices, Object Oriented Programming (OOP), Large Language Modeling, Spring Boot, Object-Relational Mapping, Java Programming, Interviewing Skills
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
5.5K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
The State University of New York
Solar Energy System Design
Skills you'll gain: Electrical Systems, Electrical Power, Basic Electrical Systems, Equipment Design, Energy and Utilities, Electrical Equipment, Survey Creation, System Requirements, Engineering Calculations, Performance Testing, Physical Science, Spatial Analysis, Estimation, Physics
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
452 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months