There’s a distinction to be made between a beginner and a master, though—and that distinction can make itself known when payday comes around. In other words, while beginners can start a career in nearly any industry, professionals with graphic designer certificates and certifications can really stand out from the crowd.
It’s for this reason, among others, that Boston-based professionals have begun to search for the top graphic design certificates and certifications in the area. Fortunately, there are several institutions, including Noble Desktop, that offer comprehensive graphic design certificates and certifications to professionals in need.
Want more information? Read on to discover which online and in-person graphic design certificates and certifications have best helped professionals take their careers to the next level.
General Assembly: User Experience Design Immersive
General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immersive offers students from around the world, including Boston, the chance to earn user experience (UX) certificates from the comfort of their homes. What’s more, General Assembly’s staff puts dedicated time and effort into ensuring that this program’s participants have every opportunity to connect with professionals in their field and prepare themselves for the workforce.
Learn Graphic Design
- Live & Hands-on
- In NYC or Online
- Learn From Experts
- Free Retake
- Small Class Sizes
- Certificate of Completion
It’s that dedication to its students’ success that may explain the course’s price tag. General Assembly offers this 12-week, full-time course for $16,450. Students can work with General Assembly to register for tuition payment programs that allow them to break that tuition fee into four easy payments. Students can alternatively apply for the platform’s tuition discounts.Â
The good news is that General Assembly puts considerable effort into making this certificate program as comprehensive and approachable as possible. The instructors all have experience with professional graphic design and strive to keep class sizes small to better instruct students on the basics of:
- UX Fundamentals
- UX Foundations
- UI Foundations
- Design Iteration & Development
- Working With a Product Team
- UX in the Real World
- UX Career Planning
Students who want to thrive in this program must do the pre-course reading. Students should also prepare to meet at the same time every weekday for 12 weeks to most effectively engage with the course’s materials. Graduates can come away from this program with a new or refreshed understanding of professional graphic design as well as a certificate verifying their expertise.
Noble Desktop—Graphic Design CertificateÂ
Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate breaks down the basics of Adobe’s Creative Cloud for beginner consumption. This program sees participants graduate with a professional understanding of tools like Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop, not to mention a working portfolio.
The cost operates on both a full-time and part-time basis. Students can complete the course in a month if they participate full-time. The part-time course takes up to three months to complete. Both versions of the course cost $2,995, not including Noble Desktop’s discounts. Students can take the course in-person, if they’re willing to commute to Noble Desktop’s New York City campus. That said, Noble Desktop instructors also offer the course online with setup assistance, making the Graphic Design Certificate ideal for professionals on the go.
Course participants get to learn all about the theory and practice of graphic design from experienced professionals. Noble Desktop’s team will break down the basics of composition and design theory before guiding students through the process of creating actionable deliverables. Students will graduate the program with an array of social media graphics, brand logos, and web assets that they can use as examples of their expertise.
Noble Desktop: UX & UI Design Certificate
Noble Desktop offers in-person and virtual graphic design certificates and certifications to students seeking professional development. Students can participate in a course like Noble Desktop’s UX & User Interface (UI) Design Certificate program on a full or part-time basis, depending on which version of the class best suits a student’s schedule. Either way, students benefit from over 132 hours of graphic design education, all taught by a knowledgeable instructor willing to provide participants with 1-on-1 mentorship.
Students graduate from this course with certificates of completion verifying their expertise in their fields. Moreover, students come away from this course with working graphic design portfolios. This combination of tools tends to make it easier for course graduates in Boston to find careers in their chosen industry.
This course’s tuition comes in at $3,495. That said, students have the option to pay for that tuition in a lump sum payment or over the course of several months. Students can even work with Noble Desktop staff to learn more about their financing options. That said, that tuition fee allows students to participate in smaller courses andallows students a free course retake for up to a year after their completion of the program.
Noble Desktop: UI Design CertificateÂ
The UI Design Certificate offered through Noble Desktop focuses specifically on graphic design tools available through Adobe Creative Cloud. The course runs for 120 hours on a full or part-time basis and is available both virtually and in-person to Boston residents, though in-person attendees will have to contend with a commute to Noble Desktop’s New York campus.
The course costs $3,995, though Noble Desktop makes several financing options available to interested parties. Interested parties can contact the team to learn more about monthly payment plans, discounts, and scholarships.
Instructors affiliated with the course break it down into three sections: an introduction to the basics, practical applications, and professional development. Students can expect to work side-by-side with one another and their instructors throughout these stages. By the time a student graduates from the program, they should have a professional-level understanding of Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud’s suite of tools. Students will also graduate with a working portfolio of apps and web pages that they can refer to in an effort to prove their UI & UX expertise.
The New York State Department of Education has approved Noble Desktop’s UI Design Certificate as an environment for professional development. Students who graduate from the program can refer to this approval as well as their post-course certificates of completion as proof of an extensive education in graphic design.
Boston University, College of Fine Arts: Graphic DesignÂ
Boston University’s College of Fine Arts offers a Graphic Design Certificate in tandem with its B.A. and M.F.A. programs. That said, the college does not require students to register for these longer education tracks to earn their Graphic Design Certificates. Instead, students can commit to one year’s worth of in-person education on Boston University’s campus.
Boston University notes that the tuition applied to the Graphic Design Certificate is equivalent to one year’s worth of the tuition for the Graphic Design graduate program. Students can opt to transition into a two-year program if they so choose. The university additionally assumes that students completing the Graphic Design Certificate will be participating in classes full-time.
Interested parties can request more information about the Graphic Design Certificate’s general course schedule, 1-on-1 mentorship opportunities, and financial aid by contacting Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.
FAQ for Graphic Design Certificates
What is the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?
There is a distinction between a certificate and a certification. Today’s professionals can earn a graphic design certificate by completing a course on a particular graphic design tool, feature, trend, or theory. Students do not have to pass an exam to receive a graphic design certificate.
Comparatively, students must pass a relevant exam to leave a program with a certification. Not every graphic design certificate program makes it possible for students to graduate from said program with a certification. Instead, students who want a graphic design certification often have to pursue specific courses to receive concrete proof of their expertise.
It’s worth noting that graphic design certification courses tend to go into greater depth about certain graphic design tools, topics, and theories. These certification courses also tend to take longer to complete than certificate courses.
Should I Pursue a Certificate or a Certification?
A graphic design certification is not inherently better than a graphic design certificate, nor vice versa. Instead, both of these documents have merit in the workplace. Both indicate to a company that a professional made an effort to advance their understanding of modern graphic design.
With that in mind, today’s professionals should decide what kind of verification of expertise they should pursue based on alternative factors like budget and availability. As mentioned, certification programs tend to take a considerable amount of time and money to complete. Professionals who don’t have a lot of liquid assets or who can’t dedicate a considerable amount of time to a graphic design education might benefit from a certificate course, not a certification course.
Alternatively, professionals who have time to dedicate to a longer-form program (or who can have a program sponsored by their employer) may prefer to participate in a graphic design certification program.
Do I Need to Become Certified to Find a Job?
No one needs a graphic design certificate or certification to find a job in today’s market. There are several positions available in Boston and beyond that non-certified graphic design professionals can fill. That said, holding a graphic design certificate or certification can make it easier for today’s professionals to secure a particular position.
What Certificate Program is Right for Me?
Several institutions in and around Boston offer graphic design certificates and certifications to interested parties. How does someone go about finding the right certificate program to participate in, in the face of all of these options? When in doubt, today’s professionals can break the available graphic design certificates and certifications down by their unique factors.
For example, budget tends to dictate which certificate or certification courses a person can participate in. The availability or flexibility of a course can also influence a person’s decision whether or not they should register for the program.
Which is Better: In-Person or Online Classes?
One notable distinction between today’s graphic design certificate and certifications program includes the location in which a particular course takes place. More and more institutions today are offering online alternatives to in-person classes. Which kind of course, in-person or online, is the best, though?
The truth is that the answer varies. In-person classes, for example, have a lot of built-in benefits. Graphic design participants get to meet 1-on-1 with their instructors as well as their industry peers. In doing so, these participants can develop professional connections while also learning more about the graphic design tool of their choosing. That said, in-person graphic design programs are often fixed in location, time, and availability. Professionals who can’t make it to a certain location or who are busy during a certain time block don’t get to participate in these programs through no fault of their own.
That, however, is where the benefits of an online course come to light. It’s true that online graphic design courses don’t boast the same interconnectivity as their in-person alternatives. That said, online graphic design certificate and certification courses can more effectively accommodate a busy professional’s schedule. Professionals can participate in these programs from anywhere in the world and, sometimes, at any time of day. As such, virtual professionals trade the opportunity to connect in-person for the scheduling freedom of a digital classroom.
Which is Better: Live Online or Asynchronous Classes?
Professionals who register for virtual graphic design certificates or certification programs often find themselves faced with a secondary decision: do they want to take the class at the same time as their peers or entirely independently? As is often the case, no one process is better than the other.
Asynchronous classes, for example, are ideal for the traveling professional. Professionals can participate in asynchronous classes on their own time, thereby ensuring that these professionals can establish a functional work/life/travel balance. That said, asynchronous classes demand a lot of self-motivation from their students. If a student finds that they can’t motivate themselves to attend independent lectures or complete out-of-course work, an asynchronous course may prove to be more stressful than helpful.
Live online graphic design certificates and certifications don’t boast as much scheduling freedom as their asynchronous alternatives. That said, these live online courses have more structure than self-determined courses. Students can hop onto Zoom or Microsoft Teams to meet with instructors and their peers at the same time without fail. While this means that a student needs to be in a spot with WiFi and computer access at the same time every day, it also means that attendees get to have more 1-on-1 interaction with an instructor and their peers.
All this to say, asynchronous graphic design certificates and certifications are not better than live online courses. Neither are live online courses better than asynchronous graphic design certificates or certifications. Instead, the diversity of virtual programs available today makes it easier for people with all kinds of schedules and commitments to advance their education. Today’s professionals should carefully consider what demands there already are on their schedules before committing to one kind of program over the other.