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 .

Best Visual Design Courses & Certificates [2025]

Explore the Visual Design Course Catalog

Status: Free Trial
California Institute of the Arts
Graphic Design
Skills you'll gain: Typography, Design Elements And Principles, Graphic Design, Graphic and Visual Design Software, Design, Visual Design, Photography, Logo Design, Design Software, Digital Design, Creative Design, Color Theory, Photo Editing, Adobe InDesign, Graphic and Visual Design, Image Quality, Style Guides, Branding, Art History, Design Research
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
22K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
Status: AI skills
Adobe
Adobe Graphic Designer: Design that Demands Attention
Skills you'll gain: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Responsible AI, Logo Design, Generative AI, Graphic Design, User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) Design, Productivity Software, Visual Design, Digital Design, File Management, Process Design, Design Reviews, Prompt Engineering, Image Analysis, Presentations, Client Services, Content Creation, Branding, Storytelling
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
1.7K reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Status: New
Status: Free Trial
Adobe
Creative Design Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat
Skills you'll gain: Photo Editing, Adobe Illustrator, Color Theory, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Typography, Document Management, Graphic and Visual Design, Graphic Design, Graphic and Visual Design Software, Photography, Generative AI, Design, Adobe Creative Cloud, Design Elements And Principles, Workflow Management, Productivity Software, Logo Design, Digital Design, Branding
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
333 reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
Google
Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma
Skills you'll gain: Figma (Design Software), User Experience Design, Mockups, Usability Testing, User Interface (UI) Design, Design Elements And Principles, Design Reviews, Prototyping, Technical Communication, Typography, Design Research, Animations, Color Theory
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
4.7K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
California Institute of the Arts
Visual Elements of User Interface Design
Skills you'll gain: User Interface (UI) Design, Graphic and Visual Design, Web Design, Design Elements And Principles, Human Computer Interaction, Responsive Web Design, Typography, Graphic Design, UI Components, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience Design
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
6.4K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Preview
California Institute of the Arts
The Language of Design: Form and Meaning
Skills you'll gain: Design Reviews, Design, Graphic Design, Design Elements And Principles, Visual Design, Peer Review, Typography, Creative Design
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
896 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months

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Status: Free Trial
California Institute of the Arts
Fundamentals of Graphic Design
Skills you'll gain: Typography, Design Elements And Principles, Graphic Design, Graphic and Visual Design Software, Design, Visual Design, Photography, Design Software, Digital Design, Creative Design, Color Theory, Image Quality, Photo Editing, Creativity
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
18K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
IBM
Designing User Interfaces and Experiences (UI/UX)
Skills you'll gain: User Experience Design, Responsive Web Design, Web Design and Development, Prototyping, Graphic and Visual Design, User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) Design, Figma (Design Software), Web Design, User Interface (UI), Wireframing, Typography, Web Applications, Mobile Development, Design Thinking
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
287 reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: Free Trial
California Institute of the Arts
UI / UX Design
Skills you'll gain: Information Architecture, Wireframing, Persona (User Experience), Mockups, User Experience Design, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, UI/UX Strategy, Adobe XD, User Interface (UI) Design, User Experience, User Centered Design, Interaction Design, Prototyping, Graphic and Visual Design, Web Language, HTML and CSS, User Flows, Design Elements And Principles, User Research
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
8K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free Trial
Scrimba
UI Design for Web Developers
Skills you'll gain: Responsive Web Design, User Interface (UI) Design, User Interface (UI), HTML and CSS, Web Design, Figma (Design Software), Typography, Front-End Web Development, Web Design and Development, Maintainability, Mockups, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Web Development, Usability, Prototyping, Browser Compatibility, User Experience Design, Web Development Tools, Software Engineering
4.4
Rating, 4.4 out of 5 stars
17 reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Preview
The University of Sydney
Innovation Through Design: Think, Make, Break, Repeat
Skills you'll gain: Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Innovation, Service Design, Prototyping, Ideation, Product Development, Design, Case Studies, User Feedback
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
2.3K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free Trial
University of California San Diego
Design Principles: an Introduction
Skills you'll gain: Graphic and Visual Design, Usability Testing, User Interface (UI) Design, Design, Experimentation, Interaction Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience Design, Prototyping, Design Elements And Principles, Human Centered Design, Web Design and Development, Typography, Design Research, A/B Testing
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
1.4K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks