This course serves as a bird's-eye-view of Design Theory, including industry standards for alignment, contrast, and color in print and web design. Universities and colleges spend entire semesters teaching this single topic, and the goal of this course is NOT to condense every design theory out there into a quick course - that would be impossible. The goal of this course IS, however, to provide students with a solid baseline so that they can begin designing with confidence, and so that they have the tools and resources necessary to continue learning the theories and principles of graphic design on into the future.
At its core, graphic design is an art form, and art is always evolving. Design rules are often made to be broken, but a broad understanding of what actually makes a design pleasing to the eye is key to developing relevant, eye-catching, and on-trend design pieces.
As an added bonus, we have a private Facebook group with over 5600 students and counting, which is an awesome resource for you to take advantage of while you go through the course. The group is an excellent place to post projects, get insightful critiques, and network with other like-minded students and working professionals all over the world.
What Students Are Saying About This Course:
It was very very good. The resources were awesome. - Nikhil G.
I had just used Papyrus within minutes of starting the course. :) I went back and changed it to a free Google font, and it actually suits what I was doing so much better. Instant payoff. - Justin Gramm
I started this course with little experience and thankfully I have learnt a lot throughout this course. - Jimmy Clark
*NOTE: This is an ever-expanding course, and new videos will be added based on student feedback, since my goal is for everything in this course to be 100% pertinent to what my students really want to learn about. So feel free to weigh in on what you want to see added!
I look forward to guiding you through this course, and to giving you the tools necessary to continue learning design principles as your skills grow.
Cheers!
Derrick is a lifelong learner with a passion for making bland things beautiful.
He has spent his entire career in the creative arts and marketing sector. He had the opportunity to work with brands such as MTV, Nintendo, and Netflix while employed as an intern for Seven 2 Interactive, which definitely set the trajectory for his design career. in 2008, he and his wife opened a small graphic design and marketing agency in Montana - they spent the next decade creating websites, logos, and more for clients all over the world.
Derrick has been the creative director for major international brands and recently made a career pivot to include online teaching. He loves helping students realize their full potential while turning their interests and passions into strong skillsets and careers. From hand-illustrating logos to creating websites for global brands, Derrick knows what it takes to succeed as a graphic designer, a freelancer, and a business owner.
He is passionate about helping others find success doing what they love and he currently teaches over 130,000 students online on several different platforms. From Photoshop to Illustrator to InDesign - if it revolves around graphic design, Derrick is excited about teaching it to others.
Derrick lives in Montana with his wife, his four daughters, his son, and the family's two dogs. When he has a free moment, he enjoys paddleboarding, mountain biking, and snowboarding. In his spare time, he also enjoys making GoPro videos with his kids and finding ways to continue to evolve his craft as a designer and artist.
