Table of Contents
Web design is a rapidly changing environment — new techniques and technologies are constantly emerging, and as a web designer or developer, you have to be constantly learning to keep up.
When it comes to education, web designers don’t have a shortage of online and offline courses. But there is one thing that makes online education great — it lets you learn at your own pace.
In this article, we’ve decided to create an overview of the best online web design courses you should consider. We’ve listed the courses in the context of educational platforms because you are likely to try other classes while you’re already on the site. So it’s vital to know what each platform is capable of.
Table Of Contents
1. Coursera
About the Platform
Coursera is a platform that doesn’t require any introduction. It gives you access to online courses covering almost anything you can think of. Coursera provides a nice filtering mechanism that allows you to tailor the options according to your preferences (define a level of proficiency, educational institute, or type of program).
What It Offers For Web Designers
Coursera offers more than 250 courses for web specialists. Most of the courses are focused on beginner and intermediate levels. The courses are created in partnership with educational institutes, so it’s possible to get a certificate after completion. Many courses are available in multiple languages.
Price
Per course. Most courses are available for free enrollment, so you pay only for the certificate.
Pros
- Each course has information about the expected time of completion (e.g. “Approx. 13 hours to complete; Suggested: 5 weeks, 2-3 hours per week”).
- Many courses are created in collaboration with famous academic institutes.
- Many courses are available for free.
Cons
- Coursera isn’t explicitly focused on web design and development.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginners
Estimated time: Three months to complete this course
Price: Free enrollment
You will learn how to design and create websites, and be able to build a responsive, accessible, web portfolio using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. During the capstone, you will design a web portfolio demonstrating your growth as a web developer and your knowledge of accessible web design.
What you will learn:
- Basics of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3)
- How to add interactivity to web pages with Javascript
- How to apply responsive design to enable a page to be viewed on various devices
Skill level: Intermediate
Estimated time: Approximately 24 hours to complete this course
Price: Free enrollment
This course is focused on the user’s initial experience while coping with the challenges of research, planning, setting goals, understanding the user, structuring content, and developing interactive sequences. In this course, you will also complete a large-scale project — developing a comprehensive plan for a complex website.
What you’ll learn:
- How to determine a strategy for web design
- How to outline a scope for design
- How to design sitemaps
2. edX
About the Platform
edX was founded by Harvard and MIT and has become a home to more than 20 million learners. The platform provides the highest-quality learning experiences in various fields, including web design.
What It Offers For Web Designers
edX offers various courses for web developers, ranging from general web design to relatively niche areas such as web development for AWS or web security.
Price
Per course. Many courses are available for free.
Pros
- Many courses are created in partnership with industry leaders. Students will get highly valuable practical skills in web development.
- Easy to evaluate the required effort. All courses provide information about length and effort (i.e., “Length: 4 Weeks; Effort: 2-4 hours per week”).
Cons
- edX is less focused on general web design or development, and more on specialized web design and development. It’s not a very good option for someone who wants to make a first step in the field of web design.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: Seven months (five-seven hours per week)
Price:$895.50 for the full program experience
In this course, you will learn how to develop websites using the latest web standards — how to code with modern HTML5 tags, draw and animate fun web graphics, as well as play audio and video elements.
What you’ll learn:
- How to code with HTML5
- CSS best practices for web page design
- Fundamentals of JavaScript to help you develop interactive web apps
- Why accessibility and internationalization are important
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: Six weeks (six-eight hours per week)
Price: Free, but you can purchase a verified certificate for $199 USD
In this course, you will learn all the new HTML5 features to help you create excellent websites and applications in a simplified but powerful way. You will also practice coding techniques through multiple interactive examples.
What you’ll learn:
- Learn the HTML5 tags and discover the latest HTML5 forms features
- Play with the audio and video tags
- Draw and animate fun Web graphics
- Test the basic APIs, such as web storage and geolocation
3. LinkedIn Learning
About the Platform
You probably know LinkedIn as the biggest professional networking platform in the world. What you may not know is that LinkedIn also offers a Learning hub that features courses from top-tier professionals within the network.
Anyone can apply to become a LinkedIn Learning instructor and collaborate with their in-house team to design top-tier curriculums. However, the bar for getting accepted as an instructor is somewhat higher than with other platforms, which is excellent news for users.
What It Offers For Web Designers
LinkedIn Learning offers over 600 courses for web designers, ranging from introductions to the field to CSS tutorials, lessons on how to create responsive HTML emails, and more.
In our experience, most of the web design courses LinkedIn Learning offers are geared towards beginner web designers, however. That means if you’re already experienced in the field, you may not get much out of a subscription.
Price
LinkedIn Learning subscriptions are included with every LinkedIn Premium plan. Those plans start at $29.99 per month. That means if you’re on the lookout for a job using LinkedIn, you might as well take advantage of Learning courses while you’re at it.
Pros
- The platform vets instructors before they can submit courses.
- There’s a massive selection of courses available in dozens of categories.
Cons
- Web design courses are mostly geared towards beginners.
- Most courses are relatively short, with an average length between two and three hours (and many shorter entries).
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Three-four hours
Price: Included with a subscription
This course covers the basics of HTML and CSS, and it provides an introduction to best coding practices. Then the course veers more towards web design, discussing fundamentals, what design jobs entail, and an overview of what tools you can expect to use.
What you’ll learn:
- The basics of HTML and CSS
- An introduction to best coding practices
- What types of web design jobs you can find
- What tools web designers use for their day-to-day tasks
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Three-four hours
Price: Included with a subscription
Sketch is one of the most popular UX design tools at the moment, and this course provides a comprehensive introduction to what it does and how it works. By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to tackle basic UX design projects using Sketch.
What you’ll learn:
- What Sketch is and how it works
- How to create responsive web layouts
- How to share and collaborate on files
- Exporting Sketch assets
4. Skillshare
About the Platform
Skillshare is an online marketplace for video-based courses.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Skillshare offers a wide range of web design courses, mainly for beginner and intermediate levels.
Price
Subscription-based: a monthly package costs $32 per month, while an annual plan is $13.99 per month or $168 per year (billed annually).
Pros
- Wide range of topics for beginners
- Inexpensive
Cons
- Quality of training varies
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: 16 hours 47 minutes
Price: Included with a subscription
The course has 127 lessons and covers everything you need to build professional responsive websites. You will go all the way from creating your first page through uploading your website to the internet.
What you’ll learn:
- How to work with responsive images and icons
- How to create forms and choose great fonts for your website
- How to add carousels, cards, and complex looking menus
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Price: Included with a subscription
This course is all about visual hierarchy in design and spacing. The course has 11 lessons on the various ways to establish a visual hierarchy, and how to use proper spacing to achieve a minimalistic style of web design.
What you’ll learn:
- The concepts of visual hierarchy in design and spacing
- Functional minimalism and how to use it in web design
5. Treehouse
About the Platform
Treehouse was founded by web designer Ryan Carson in 2011. The platform offers more than 300 courses in design and development. More than just an educational organization, Treehouse is also an excellent community for students.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Treehouse created a track called “Web design”. This track consists of a list of courses that will take you from the web basics (such as “What is HTML?”) to the specific areas of web design (such as HTML grids). Treehouse uses a video format for lessons, which makes it easy to comprehend the information.
Price
Subscription-based, starting at $29.99/month. The price will be higher if you want to get advanced training (up to $199/month). Treehouse offers a seven-day free trial for everyone who wants to check out the training first.
Pros
- Treehouse offers a well-structured learning program. It adopts a progressive teaching method—the student builds upon the basics and moves on to more advanced areas.
- Treehouse is known for constantly updating its lessons. The information in courses is up-to-date with the latest techniques and technologies.
- Treehouse uses clever techniques of awards and badges to motivate you to finish a track. Those awards and badges are visible to employers, so they can evaluate a profile based on the awards.
- A supportive online community of people you learn with.
Cons
- Video tutorials can only be downloaded when you choose pricier plans.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: 43 minutes
Price: Included with a subscription
In this course, you’ll learn about the major steps involved in designing websites. You will learn how to gather information, explore potential concepts, and iterate on a design. By the end, you’ll have the foundation you need to continue your design journey.
What you’ll learn:
- Design discovery
- Design exploration
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: 47 minutes
Price: Included with a subscription
In this course, you’re going to use the foundational principles of responsive design as a framework for thinking about page layout. By the end, you should have a better understanding of how to approach common decisions in responsive design.
What you’ll learn:
- Responsive design theory
- Media queries
- Breakpoints
- Page layout
6. Udacity
About the Platform
Udacity offers vocational courses for professionals (the platform calls them ‘Nano Degrees’).
What It Offers For Web Designers
Udacity offers two courses for web specialists: Front-end web developer and Full-stack web developer. Both are long-term courses.
Price
Pay per course. The four-month access to Udacity will cost $1,356.
Pros
- Strong focus on web development.
- Career-focused courses. Udacity teaches specialized skills and helps seasoned web developers get to the next level of their careers.
Cons
- Courses are aimed at seasoned specialists rather than beginners.
- Expensive.
- Education requires a serious time commitment.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: Four months (at five-ten hours/week)
Price: $1,356
The goal of the Front End Web Developer Nanodegree program is to equip students with the skills they need to build and develop a variety of websites and applications. Graduates of this Nanodegree program will be able to construct responsive websites using CSS, Flexbox, and CSS Grid, develop interactive websites using JavaScript and HTML and connect a web application to back-end server data using JavaScript.
What you’ll learn:
- CSS & website layout
- JavaScript and the DOM
- Web APIs and asynchronous applications
- Build Tools, Webpack, and Service Worker
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: 4 months (at 5–10 hours/week)
Price: $1,356
By the end of this course, you will get the unique skills you need to build database-backed APIs and web applications. A graduate of this program will be able to design and build databases for software applications, create and deploy database-backed web APIs, and secure and manage user authentication and access control for an application back end.
What you’ll learn:
- SQL and data modeling for the web
- Identity access management
7. Udemy
About the Platform
Just like Skillshare, Udemy is a marketplace where anyone can post a course. All courses have video explanations, and many courses are available in multiple languages.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Udemy provides a broad range of web design topics. You can find everything from web fundamentals to very niche courses (such as how to use Adobe After Effects to create a web animation). However, most of these courses are for beginners.
Price
Pay per course. The price starts at $12.99 with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
- Lots of valuable courses for beginners.
- The platform shows total ratings and reviews for each course. It’s easy to see what courses are in demand for students. Also, all teachers have a rating, and it’s easy to understand the quality of the content they provide.
- It’s possible to download videos for offline viewing using the Udemy mobile app.
Cons
- The quality of courses can vary
- No free trial
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Four hours
Price: $14.99
In this course, you’ll learn how to design a professional website in Adobe Illustrator CC. You will start right at the basics of Illustrator and work your way through to building professional UI designs. This course doesn’t cover how to code a website but focuses on the design processes that professional UI designers use when working.
What you’ll learn:
- Work as a UI designer building web design & app designs
- Use Illustrator to a professional level
- Know how to build wireframes
- Know how to build sitemaps
- Know how to design for a responsive website
- Professional workflows and shortcuts
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: 10 hours
Price: $15.99
This course will teach you the fundamental psychological principles of good landing page design and will help you understand the buyer’s journey so you can design landing pages that convert better. It will also teach you how to test your designs so you can design final landing pages that will convert 20-30% more than your current website and landing pages.
What you’ll learn:
- Design a high converting landing page from scratch without a single line of code
- Double or triple your landing page conversion rates by applying the principles of clarity, simplicity, and perceived value
- Run A/B tests to guarantee a better conversion rate over time, without knowing any statistics
- Know exactly how to design a Call-to-Action that will motivate your visitors to take the actions you want
- Apply psychological persuasion frameworks to your landing pages and websites
8. freeCodeCamp
About the Platform
There are a lot of online coding bootcamps, but freeCodeCamp offers one of the most comprehensive curriculums that you can find, all for free. If you follow its free 3,000-hour curriculum, you’ll walk away with solid fundamentals for a full-stack development career.
What It Offers For Web Designers
freeCodeCamp’s main course is geared more towards web developers, but the whole thing starts by covering HTML, basic CSS, and applied web design. After you’re done with that portion of the course, you can walk away with a Responsive Web Design Certification, and decide whether to stick around and learn about programming languages.
The entire goal of freeCodeCamp is that you walk away from the course with a portfolio filled with real projects. The web design curriculum covers how to build that basic portfolio, and you’re expected to complete several projects that you can add to it.
Keep in mind that most of freeCodeCamp’s curriculum is text-based, however, and you’re expected to tinker with basic code at every step of the way.
Price
As you can guess from its name, freeCodeCamp is 100% free.
Pros
- The platform offers a comprehensive set of lessons for HTML, CSS, and basic web design.
- You can walk away with a certification after you complete the web design portion of the course.
- You’re expected to complete real-life projects to get a certification, including multiple pages and a portfolio.
- It’s all free.
Cons
- freeCodeCamp courses are mostly text-based, and you’re expected to deal with code at every level.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Two-three hours
Price: Free
You’ll learn the basics about responsive web design, including how to create media queries, make images responsive, and deal with typography.
What you’ll learn:
- How to create media queries
- Making images responsive
- How to make typography responsive
Skill level: Intermediate
Estimated time: 10–20 hours
Price: Free
This portion of the course involves several real-life projects that will test what you’ve learned about HTML, CSS, and responsive web design. The goal is to get feedback from other freeCodeCamp members, who will tell you if your project hit all the right goals.
What you’ll learn:
- How to create fully-working web pages
- How to create a portfolio to showcase your work
9. Pluralsight
About the Platform
Pluralsight is a learning platform focused on tech courses. It includes comprehensive courses for the most popular web design and development technologies on the market. Plus, the platform offers a testing service that can give you an idea of how advanced your skills are in any of the areas it offers courses in. That way, you can jump in and start checking out courses at the optimal level.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Pluralsight offers both ‘paths’ and individual courses. With paths, you get full curriculums meant to provide you with an in-depth understanding of specific aspects of web design. Among the most popular paths, you have options for UX design, in-depth courses for most graphic design software, and more.
Beyond paths, Pluralsight also offers hundreds of individual courses, which you can usually complete in a matter of hours.
Price
Pluralsight plans start at $29 per month for access to the entire course library. More expensive plans enable you to participate in certification exams and opt into interactive courses with actual instructors.
Pros
- Gauge your skill level when it comes to web design fundamentals and tools
- Join paths to get structured, in-depth learning for specific aspects of web design
- Check out individual courses to get an overview of any topic you’re interested in
Cons
- Interactive lessons are only available as part of the more expensive Pluralsight plans
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Three-four hours
Price: Included with a subscription
This course will guide you through the process of creating a basic responsive website. It assumes that you’re already familiar with HTML, and dives into the CSS you’ll want to use to make a page responsive.
What you’ll learn:
- How to use CSS to design a responsive web page
Skill level: Advanced
Estimated time: Two-three hours
Price: Included with a subscription
You’ll learn how to plan and execute A/B tests that tell you which web design variants users prefer. The course uses Photoshop CC and teaches you how to use a free A/B testing tool.
What you’ll learn:
- How to plan and execute A/B tests for web designs
10. Interaction Design Foundation
About the Platform
The Interaction Design Foundation offers a broad range of online UX courses. The foundation features individual courses, bootcamps, and regular webinars, all focusing on the finer points of UX design. Every class is graded by actual professors, and you get certificates at the end of each course.
What It Offers For Web Designers
If you’re interested in UX design, the Interaction Design Foundation should be one of your first stops for online learning. The foundation offers regular UX bootcamps, but in most cases, we recommend taking individual courses at your own pace.
That’s because the foundation offers dozens of UX design courses, each meant for different levels of experience. Moreover, a monthly membership enables you to enroll in as many courses as you want, and most of them cover a broad curriculum. That’s a sharp contrast to many other platforms, where courses may only take you an hour or two to get through.
Price
Interaction Design Foundation memberships start at $11 per month, which gives you access to all of its courses. Bootcamps, on the other hand, usually start at $1,000+, but the price depends on what each camp covers.
Pros
- There’s a broad library of courses focused on UX design.
- The foundation divides courses according to the level of difficulty, which makes it easier to track your progress.
- Courses are very in-depth and usually include multiple days of classes.
Cons
- You won’t find courses that don’t focus on UX design here.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Approximately 12 hours over three weeks
Price: Included with a subscription
This course will help you design a UX portfolio and decide which projects to feature in yours. You’ll also learn about which tools are the best for this scenario and how to tailor your resume for UX design positions.
What you’ll learn:
- How to create a UX portfolio
- How to tailor your resume for UX positions
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Approximately 18 hours over seven weeks
Price: Included with a subscription
If you’re the kind of person who likes to make design decisions based on data, you’re going to love this course. Here you’ll learn about quantitative and statistical analysis and how to use them for UX research. Don’t worry, though – the course doesn’t require you to use mathematical formulas or dig too deep into statistics, as it focuses more on best practices for analyses.
What you’ll learn:
- How to apply quantitative and statistical analysis to UX research
11. Thinkful
About the Platform
Thinkful offers comprehensive boot camps for several tech fields, including software engineering, data science, and UX/UI design. Unlike most boot camps, it offers both full and part-time curriculums, so you can find an option that adjusts to your needs.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Thinkful’s UI/UX design course lasts five or six months, depending on whether you decide to study full-time or not. The courses include two live mentoring sessions per week, as well as access to a self-paced prep course. Thinkful also offers personalized career coaching to help you find a UX design job once you’re done learning and have your professional certificate.
Price
The full-time boot camp costs $12,500 if paid upfront, whereas the part-time option costs $7,900. Thinkful also offers payment plans, loans, and month-to-month paying options.
Pros
- It’s one of the only boot camps dedicated to UI/UX design.
- You get access to weekly mentoring sessions that complement multimedia learning materials.
- You get help when it comes to finding placements, as well as optimizing your portfolio and your curriculum.
Cons
- The boot camp is expensive and requires a significant time commitment.
12. BrainStation
About the Platform
BrainStation offers both online boot camps and courses for several tech fields, including UX design. Its boot camps come highly rated, and it claims to have a job placement rate of over 90% for students that complete its courses.
What It Offers For Web Designers
BrainStation offers a specialized full-time UX design boot camp, as well as a multitude of UI design courses. Whether you opt for a boot camp or an individual course, you walk away with a certificate and you get to learn through interactive lessons, listening to guest speakers, and submitting projects.
Price
BrainStation doesn’t advertise prices publicly, and you have to reach out for a quote depending on which boot camp or course you’re interested in.
Pros
- It offers both boot camp and individual course options.
- The selection of UI courses is comprehensive, and each course covers its topic in depth.
- You get to learn from guest speakers.
Cons
- The platform is not upfront about how long each course or bootcamp lasts or what its prices are, so you’ll have to reach out for more details.
13. Designlab
About the Platform
Designlab offers what is perhaps the most comprehensive UX/UI design course you can find online. The course lasts around eight months on average if you work on assignments and lessons for about 20 hours per week.
What It Offers For Web Designers
With Designlab, you get one-on-one mentoring that includes weekly calls, written feedback, and back and forth communication at any time if you have specific questions. The course itself focuses on the fundamentals of UX/UI design, career placement and coaching, and more.
Price
The full Designlab course costs $6,249 if paid upfront, and it also offers payment plans.
Pros
- A comprehensive UX/UI design course that lasts around eight months on average
- One-on-one mentoring from UX/UI design professionals
Cons
- The full course requires a significant time commitment
14. Skillcrush
About the Course
Skillcrush is a learning platform that offers a variety of in-depth courses for programming, digital marketing, and visual design. Each course can take months to complete, depending on how much time you put into it, and there are often thousands of students enrolled at the same time.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Skillcrush’s visual design course is perfect if you don’t have any experience in web design. It covers fundamentals such as color theory and typography and also teaches you how to use popular tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Throughout the course, you’ll submit multiple projects to be evaluated, including logos, social media designs, and brand style guides.
Price
The full visual design course costs $549 if you pay upfront, and Skillcrush also offers monthly payment options.
Pros
- This is a comprehensive visual design course created with beginners in mind.
- You’ll learn how to use multiple popular web design tools.
- You’ll walk away with a portfolio of projects that you can show off.
Cons
- If you already have experience with web design, you won’t get much out of this course.
15. General Assembly
About This Platform
General Assembly offers multiple boot camps per year for several tech-related fields, including web and UX design. Its boot camps offer job placement aid and payment plan options.
What It Offers For Web Designers
With General Assembly, you get access to multiple months of learning materials as well as instructors to guide you along at every step. The UX design boot camp includes coaching to help you build a portfolio with the projects you submit, and help with finding jobs in the field after you graduate.
Price
General Assembly’s UX design boot camp costs $14,950 if you pay upfront, and it also offers several financing options.
Pros
- A comprehensive UX design curriculum that covers everything you need to apply for entry-level positions
- Help polishing collaborative and individual projects that you can use for your portfolio
- Coaching on how to apply for UX design positions
Cons
- It’s one of the most expensive UX design boot camps on the market
16. FutureLearn
About the Platform
FutureLearn is an online learning platform that offers courses on a broad range of subjects. Several of the courses are offered for free by companies looking to train employees, or by universities that are looking to expand their online learning platforms.
What It Offers For Web Designers
FutureLearn’s Digital Skills: User Experience course is sponsored by Accenture, which means that you can enroll for free. The course lasts approximately three weeks, and it covers the importance of UX design, how to conduct research, and the basics of what you need to know to create your own projects.
Price
The Digital Skills: User Experience course is sponsored by Accenture, so you can enroll for free.
Pros
- It provides a comprehensive foundation for UX designers.
- It’s free!
Cons
- The course is geared mostly towards students with little to no experience with UX design.
17. Envato Tuts+
About the Platform
Envato Tuts+ is part of a network of sites that focus on selling web design and development assets, tools, and courses. Within Envato Tuts+, you can find hundreds of courses submitted by all kinds of users and of varying lengths.
What It Offers For Web Designers
Envato Tuts+ has a section dedicated solely to web design courses. Most of the options you’ll find here are incredibly targeted and tend to be relatively short, with between one to three hours of material.
A lot of the web design courses that you can find here are free, and you can access the rest by paying for a single subscription.
Price
An Envato subscription costs $16.50 per month and gives you access to hundreds of web design elements such as stock photos, videos, courses, and even WordPress themes and plugins.
Pros
- You get access to a broad range of web design courses.
- A lot of the courses are free.
- A single subscription provides you access to all paid courses.
Cons
- Most of the web design courses are relatively short.
- A lot of courses are misclassified, which means you’ll find non-web-design-related options within that category.
Recommended Courses
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Approximately two-three hours
Price: Free
This course will introduce you to Adobe XD and when to use the tool, as well as how to create and manage artboards from scratch. You’ll also cover advanced functionality such as plugins and responsive design.
What you’ll learn:
- What each Adobe XD tool does
- How to prototype using Adobe XD
Skill level: Beginner
Estimated time: Approximately one-two hours
Price: Included with a subscription
In this course, you’ll learn about CSS libraries and about what the most popular options for web design are. To get the most out of the course, we recommend that you already have a solid foundation in CSS.
What you’ll learn:
- How to use CSS libraries
- What the most popular CSS libraries for web design are and when to use them
Keep Learning To Become a Better Web Designer
Good web designers are lifelong learners. The process of learning web design is an excellent way to enhance your creativity and ultimately allows you to build a solid set of skills. And since web design is a broad field with a lot of different areas, the more knowledge you gain, the more in demand you will be.
Do you have any recommendations for web design courses that you’d like to share with everyone else? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
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