19 Free Web Design Courses: UX, Graphics, Code & More

Whether you’re launching a website or creating a brand, our free online courses can help you develop your design skills.

Here is a list of useful design courses. Courses include design theory, web design, graphic design, user experience design, logo design, color theory, and more. Some are multi-class programs and some are short tutorials. All courses are free, but some offer premium options for additional access and certification.

free design course

Basics of graphic design. Part of Canva’s Design School, this course is a series of 12 quick design lessons, including color wheel basics, typography, tinting, shading, and more.

Canva Design School

don’t be afraid of the internet. This series of short tutorials helps creatives and non-designers understand web design in action. Take a basic WordPress blog and learn how to manipulate CSS, HTML, and even some PHP to your own aesthetic.

Introduction to web design. This course of nine short lectures will teach you the importance of design when planning and building a site from scratch. Learn how to identify purpose, audience and site structure. Sketch your home page to achieve a consistent layout across your site.

web design for everyone. This is a five-course specialization course offered by the University of Michigan in which students learn how to design and implement responsive sites for a minimum of three platforms. This specialization begins with an introduction to HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript and covers advanced styling using responsive design.

Coursera – Web design for everyone

Create your first web page using HTML and CSS. An introductory course to creating web pages using HTML and CSS from OpenClassrooms. Identify important information using tags and attributes. Explore how semantic HTML tags structure web pages and apply CSS to HTML elements.

Web design for web developers. This 1-hour on-demand video provides over 25 rules and guidelines for good web design. Explore visual hierarchy, colors, graphic images, fonts, and more. Learn simple design techniques to improve website conversions.

Learn web development. From MDN Web Docs (formerly Mozilla Developer Network), this is a series of articles containing basic instructions for coding a website. From there, learn from the rest of MDN and other intermediate to advanced sources.

MDN – Learn web development

digital design. This course covers designing digital content for multiple devices. Explore the full spectrum of digital design from computer-assisted to animation, covering topics such as rigging, keyframing and rendering.

Mastering Visual Web Design. Learn web design by watching designers work. Watch his 5 home pages for 5 businesses created from start to finish in this series of 5 videos. There is also a 139-page e-book that explains the concepts.

Fundamentals of design thinking. This Rochester Institute of Technology course provides an overview of the end-to-end design process. Evaluate problems, develop ideas, and explore how to create innovative solutions with users in mind.

Fundamentals of UX methods. This 1-hour course covers five user experience design processes: Design Thinking, User-Centered Design, Agile UX, Lean UX, and the Behavioral Design Process. Compare UX methodologies and find the right system for developing optimal user experience design.

Udemy – Fundamentals of UX Methods

self study graphic design. From Envato Tuts+, here is an overview of self-study courses to learn graphic design. Explore overview and tutorial resources on design principles including shape, spacing, rhythm, color, texture, type, history, and the design process.

The history and methods of graphic design. This is a two-part course in graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Part 1 explores the history of graphic design, from early print to Art Nouveau, Constructivism, Dada, Bauhaus, and current design discourse. Part 2 examines the design process itself, exploring storytelling, authorship and ownership, systems and identity, multisensory design, design thinking principles, behavior and interaction, and more.

Specializing in graphic design. Offered by the California Institute of the Arts, these four courses teach you the fundamentals of graphic design: imagery, typography, composition, color, and shape. It also explores the history of graphic design and the emergence of design as a recognized practice.

Basics of logo design. In this 1-hour course, learn how to create and build your own logo design using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Udemy – Logo Design Basics

Sketch for beginners. Sketch is a popular vector graphics editor. Use for designing websites, icons, logos, etc. In this short course, you’ll learn the basics of Sketch, including reusable elements and styles, prototyping, collaboration, Sketch plugins, and more.

How to build a website with Squarespace. This is an easy-to-follow 6-step tutorial for designing a professional website using Squarespace. Review the basic process of building a site and the design features you have access to.

WooCommerce for beginners. This is a 1 hour free video tutorial. Learn how to set up WooCommerce, add storefronts and products, customize your store, and more.

Ultimate Web Design Course. This web design course from Webflow University includes over 100 videos. Learn the basics of HTML, how CSS classes and subclasses work, and how to build page designs using containers, divs, flexboxes, and grids. Also, using Webflow he will learn how to design a website.

Webflow University – The Ultimate Web Design Course