Looking to launch your career designing marketing or identity pieces for large companies or small businesses? This Marketing Design Online Training Program will give you the fundamental technical and aesthetic skills required for design in a business environment.

You'll learn in-demand software programs that a marketing designer needs to know: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. You will build a skill set in digital image preparation and vector illustration while applying foundation design concepts in color, typography, and identity design.

Hands-on projects focus on essential skills and provide you with experience in business-focused design scenarios.

Upon registering, you're given an initial thirty-six weeks to complete this program.  Should you need more time beyond the thirty-six weeks, an extension of six months is available with a fee.

As a student, you will learn the following:

1. Digital Imaging
Your work will demonstrate entry-level professional Photoshop skills and effective decisions in selecting and editing images. You will be able to improve images for professional publication by retouching and correction, and create realistic or imaginative images by compositing or collage.

2. Color
You will develop distinctive color palettes based on the principles of color harmony. Your work will exhibit a sophisticated use of color and contrast, the ability to research colors and make choices that are appropriate for each client and project.

3. Vector Art
You will develop entry-level professional skills in creating vector art illustrations in Illustrator, using shape drawing and freehand drawing/tracing tools, Pen tool, type tools, and basic effects. You will be able to create simple, stylized logos, icons, and illustrations for effective visual communication.

4. Typography
You will be able to research and select appropriate typefaces and design typography to support the branding or communication goal of a particular client or project. You will demonstrate the ability to organize text into a clear, readable information hierarchy in page layouts while using display type for impact and expression.

5. Marketing
You will be able to analyze basic marketing principles and strategies, and identify the three major eras of marketing, the primary categories of marketing activities, and the types of marketing pieces most commonly designed. You can analyze a target market, interpret mission and vision statements, and interpret a marketing plan.

6. Logo Design
You will be able to use a professional, iterative design process to develop a logo design that meets client goals. You are able to apply an understanding of branding and typography to create simple, graphically appealing logo/identity designs.

7. Ad Design
You will develop the ability to create effective advertising design for campaigns in different print media. Your work shows the ability to convey a simple, engaging visual message that helps a business client fulfill a specific advertising goal.

8. Identity Design
You will develop skill in researching and developing an effective concept for the visual identity of a company or organization. Your work will show a basic proficiency in creating and applying an identity in various design contexts, including business card, letterhead, ads, and storefront.

1. Photoshop Basics
2. Color Theory
3. Illustrator Basics
4. Fundamentals of Typography
5. Intro to Marketing
6. Fundamentals of Logo Design
7. Advertising Design
8. Branding and Identity

This program consists of eight required modules. Module descriptions are as follows:

Photoshop Basics
Get a thorough grounding in Adobe Photoshop, the premiere digital imaging program for graphic and digital designers. Hands-on projects show how to select, enhance, distort, color, scale, and manipulate images and artworks—or create them from scratch. Every designer must tame this creative powerhouse of a program. 

Color Theory
Focus on developing appropriate color systems for graphic design projects. Projects explore the principles, terminology, and applications of color theory, with an emphasis on manipulating color. A working knowledge of the expression and perception of color, and color interaction, lends credibility and sophistication to a designer's work

Illustrator Basics
Build a working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, the graphic designer's vector program of choice. You’ll explore selection tools, drawing tools, layers, the pen tool, transformations and distortions, type tools, and modifying paths and shapes. Tapping into the power of vector software allows you to produce detailed and scalable art for almost any application.

Fundamentals of Typography
Explore the critical role of typography in graphic design. Course projects build an understanding of the anatomy of the letterform, the distinguishing features of different typefaces, and creative applications of type. An assured grasp of typography is essential in any visual communication project.

Intro to Marketing
Lay a foundation for a career in business marketing design by studying marketing concepts and how they impact the design process. Students learn design principles and explore design case studies from the world of marketing communications design. Focus of the class is building a basic understanding how marketing ideas translate into an effective design.

Fundamentals of Logo Design
Explore the philosophy and process behind designing a logo. Students learn the importance of corporate identity and the different stages in a typical logo design project. The course establishes a solid conceptual and practical grounding for anyone interested in pursuing a career in visual identity, from a design or a marketing perspective.

Advertising Design
Learn the rules of advertising design from both a creative and a business perspective. Case studies from print, Web, and TV media showcase advertising concepts at work: persuasion, color psychology and composition, copywriting and typography, and brand communication. You’ll create ads for newspapers, magazines, subways, and transit and outdoor applications, as well as a multi-part ad campaign.

Branding and Identity
Develop essential skills for designing logos, marketing materials, and advertising programs to establish and promote corporate identities. Case studies focus on giant corporations such as CBS, BMW, and Sony and how they established their corporate images and business strategically. Projects require you to design or redesign corporate identities for both existing companies and newly established businesses.

The certificate program is designed for adult learners interested in building skills and portfolio for a design career. Students can enroll at any time, with monthly class starts. The program is open admissions: students must be 18 or over and provide high school or college transcripts prior to starting classes.

Students must have a computer (PC or Mac) and an Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster). For any courses with software requirements, computers must meet software manufacturers' system requirements. Required software and technology:

1. Adobe Photoshop CS4 or CS5
2. Adobe Illustrator CS4 or CS5

No textbooks are required for this program.

Students will receive critique and feedback from a faculty of art and design professionals. Instructors for this program include:

Jeremy Bratt is a graphic designer, design coordinator and teacher with thirty years experience. He has worked recently as a design coordinator on very diverse corporate identity, branding and packaging projects. He managed the re-branding and new packaging for the globally known French cookware manufacturer Tefal when at Lewis Moberly in London. Whilst at Landor Associates in London he design coordinated the creation and development of a 500 page website for BP called ‘The Brand Centre’. Prior to that project he managed the design and content of a huge interactive corporate identity implementation manual. He is keenly interested in good effective typography and is fascinated by the challenge of designing clear instructional information for culturally diverse users. When working for Siegal & Gale in London he designed and coordinated a number of corporate identity projects for the Spanish market. He is at present a partner of a design and communication consultancy in the UK, designing and coordinating all corporate, print and packaging work.

Bruce Bicknell is a writer, instructor, illustrator, animator, Web designer, video editor, marketing pro, and graphic designer based in Tampa, Florida. In his career he has worked on projects for Adobe Systems, ATI, Photoshop Elements Techniques, MacTribe, Yellow Machine, and Mac Design, to name a few. Bruce has Associate degrees in Computer Animation and Web Development from The International Academy of Design and Technology.

Michael Hamm is a freelance designer and Web developer with over a decade of experience in the creative field. Based in Washington state, Michael provides design solutions for clients across the country through his company ClayEdward Design. Prior to working on his own, Michael worked for JPMorgan Chase in Houston, Texas as an interactive designer. His work has been published in various Web design books and magazines and he is a regular contributor to Layers Magazine. In addition, he has served as technical editor on several design books published by Friends of Ed. Michael recently co-authored Introduction to Web Design Using Dreamweaver published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Michael is an Adobe Certified Instructor in Adobe Illustrator and has a Diploma in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Houston. Michael is the founder, designer, programmer, and writer of PointsandPaths.com, a Web site that grew from his passion for illustration software and all things vector.

Boris Margolin is a graphic designer with 10 years of experience. Boris has worked as an in-house designer for several major international corporations including CIGNA, MetLife, and Nypro. While living in New Zealand Boris worked at a brand development studio and at Victoria University. His design work has ranged from advertising design, to identity design, brand development, Web design and administration to Flash application development. In his spare time Boris runs his own niche design company catering to unconventional companies and emerging markets. Boris earned a BS in Graphic Design at Mount Ida College in Massachusetts.