Best Visual Design Bootcamps

Visual designers work in a role that is creative and technical. Along with designing something visually appealing, visual designers focus on how users interact with the design and the overall user experience. It’s often more important in design to have a strong portfolio than a degree, so many students choose to enroll in a coding bootcamp rather than complete a four-year university design program.

A career in visual design can also come with a lot of perks. It’s often easy for designers to work as freelancers or contractors, and they can make hundreds or thousands of dollars for a single project. If you would like to see your designs on websites, ads, and all sorts of different marketing material, visual design could be a good way to mix your artistic and technical sides.

With so many similar job titles within the industry, it can be hard to work out their similarities and differences. Visual designers are often exclusively digital designers, working with web, mobile, and desktop apps and application widgets.

What differentiates visual designers from web designers is that visual designers often have a much broader skill base. They often combine graphic design, graphic art, and user interface design to provide a more conceptual and user-forward design. Visual designers often must be familiar with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, but basic coding knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Node can also be helpful.

UX designers are similar in many ways but often work with a physical product instead of a digital one. Otherwise, their main objectives are fairly similar, as they are also responsible for both design and usability.

In many ways, these are two fairly similar jobs. Both visual and graphic designers aim to solve problems with visual solutions and create beautiful designs. They follow the same principles of design and require extensive knowledge about design principles, such as line, shape, color, and spacing.

But visual designers are mainly concerned with how the user will interact with a website, game, or online experience. To do this, they must know not only design concepts but also visual communication and how users might interact with a website or app. They must also have experience with various styles and tools.

Since visual design-specific bootcamps may be hard to come by, we’ve provided a list of other mentionable bootcamps that teach UX/UI design or graphic design or include visual design in their curriculum.

Visual designers optimize brand identity and user experience through design. They often focus on big picture thinking and have a diverse skill set. The average annual salary for a visual designer in the United States is $66,570, according to August 2022 Payscale data.

UX designers focus more on user experience than design. Their main responsibility is to make sure the product is intuitive and easy to use. The average annual salary for a UX designer in the United States is $76,340, according to August 2022 Payscale data.

Graphic designers create the visual concept of websites, advertisements, and brochures. They work to ensure brand cohesiveness and smart design. The average annual salary for a freelance graphic designer in the United States is $49,950 as of August 2022, according to Payscale.

This answer depends on what your current skills are and what you’re interested in learning. Many design bootcamps spend a lot of their curriculum on design principles. If you are new to the industry, this could be very helpful. But if you are already familiar with design, you might not get as much out of it.

Regardless of your experience level, bootcamps can provide you with fresh perspectives and ideas and help you strengthen your portfolio. It is up to you whether that bootcamp experience is worth the cost.

It can be slightly challenging to learn and be comfortable with all of the different aspects that lend themselves to good UX/UI design. Being a strong UX/UI designer requires creative thinking and imagination to predict the emotions and actions of your potential users.

In addition, UX/UI designers should be familiar with many different tools, including Sketch, InVision Studios, Figma, and Adobe. Most of the tools are not too complicated, but they might take time to learn. As with many tech jobs, norms and trends frequently change, meaning UX/UI designers need to learn and adapt constantly.

No. Visual designers do not need to know how to code to do their jobs well. However, learning a little about coding in popular front-end languages, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, can give visual designers more context and understanding of the whole process.

This does not mean you need to become an expert programmer. But at least understanding how these programming languages work can give you an extra leg up. When it comes to many of these types of roles, knowing a bit about coding can be beneficial.

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at https://benefits.va.gov/gibill/index.asp.

Feature Image: We Are / DigitalVision / Getty Images