Specialised · 3 months · Self-paced · Certificate of Completion
Design for Social Media is a focused 3-month online course from The Graphic Design School. You learn to produce scroll-stopping social content — Instagram carousels, LinkedIn templates, TikTok covers, story sets — using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and template-driven workflows that scale. Graded by working designers who ship social media deliverables every week. 250 hours, self-paced, finish with a portfolio of real SM work.
Specialised · 3 months · Self-paced · Certificate of Completion
Design For Social Media
Design for Social Media is a focused 3-month online course from The Graphic Design School. You learn to produce scroll-stopping social content — Instagram carousels, LinkedIn templates, TikTok covers, story sets — using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and template-driven workflows that scale. Graded by working designers who ship social media deliverables every week. 250 hours, self-paced, finish with a portfolio of real SM work.
Regardless of your skillset — whether you are a current designer or a complete newbie to design, this course has been designed to give you the skills you need in order to practice as a Social Media Designer.
This course is compatible with Desktop, Laptop and Tablet devices.
If you’re serious about earning an income as a Social Media Designer, whether it be designing for your own business, your workplace, or a list of clients, you will need a serious social media design course. Don’t worry, we won’t waste your time with stats, analytics and marketing jargon that can be hard to retain. That’s a TGDS promise!
Portfolio + template systems + brand fluency
Instagram carousel sets, LinkedIn article headers, TikTok covers, story templates, profile grid systems. Real formats, real specs, designed for real engagement.
You don't just design a single post. You design template systems so a client's in-house team can run the brand forward after you've handed off.
Every platform has its own grammar. You leave knowing what makes a LinkedIn header different from an Instagram carousel different from a TikTok cover — and how to keep a brand consistent across all of them.
TGDS-issued, dated. Counts as CPD for designers adding SM to their skillset.
DSM is a skills-specialisation course, not a beginner-from-scratch design course. If you're new to design, start with IFC or Cert IV and take DSM later.
In this course, we don’t speak AT you, we get you involved. At TGDS we believe in learning by doing. You will use a number of ‘real-life’ case studies to apply all of your learning in a practical way. We’ll demonstrate step-by-step how we’ve worked through a real-life case study and take you along for the ride.
We kick off the course by looking at the various business opportunities that lay in waiting for you as a Social Media Designer.
Just like a real designer, you’ll start working with the elements and principles of design. We even teach you how to set up a proper home studio photoshoot, empowering you to take control of both design and execution of custom content for your clients.
You will use one of the case studies (or a business of your choosing) to delve into the practical application of social media marketing by creating a clear social media marketing strategy. You will audit a client’s social media accounts and set SMART goals to develop a target persona and perform a competitor analysis. The best bit is we teach you how to make this work for your clients. You will also create a brand style guide and a client presentation including all of your design work.
If you are a graphic designer, you are likely eye rolling right now, we get it, hear us out… Canva creates accessibility and independence for your clients. Social media, as we all know, encourages you to create an influx of content. The new wave of design is to create independence for your clients when generating content. Canva affords you as the designer, the possibility to create suites of original templates enabling clients to manage their social media design accounts month to month. Coming back to you month in month out!
Whether you are a newbie to design or a seasoned graphic designer, we start you from scratch in this course.
Seasoned designers will love having the opportunity to strengthen their understanding of the elements and principles of design as used in social media. While newcomers to design will be taught how to design from scratch.
Embrace new skills with three extensive and informative modules over three months — completely self-paced to complete approximately 100hrs. Read through the module outlines to see how we get you there:
Module 1 - Professional Social Media
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In this module we review the various business opportunities that lay in waiting for you as a Social Media Designer. We jump into the ‘why’s’ of Canva and consider the importance of elements and principles in graphic design and photography.
In Module 1 you will explore the theory and psychology of colour and how it applies to branding. You will also learn how to create accessible colour palettes for implementation across future design projects.
Finally, you will learn the fundamentals of type, how to successfully pair type styles and how to create a type system for your designs.
Module 2 - Clients, Design and Practical Social Media Marketing
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In Module 2 we will delve into social media marketing. Here we will learn how to create a successful social media marketing strategy from auditing your client’s social media accounts and setting SMART goals, to developing a target persona and performing a competitor analysis.
You will learn how to write a creative brief with your client, create brand guidelines and identify yours or your client’s unique tone and voice. You will begin to use analytics, review metrics, schedule your client’s content. You will also learn how to identify your client’s best performing content buckets. This module is part of the design process that will give you the confidence to produce incredible content in Module 3.
Module 3 - Creating Incredible Content
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In Module 3 you will be styling and conducting your own photoshoot using the process work from the exercises you completed in pre modules.
You will get to know the DSLR camera functions and learn how to make image edits using a range of image editing tools. You will start generating ideas for your final template suite and use your final sketches to help you execute your template designs for a number of popular social media platforms.
You will create a brand kit to help you organise your client’s brand assets, logos and colour palettes. We will teach you the importance and application of using a basic grid system in your designs. You will also learn to use some additional features to create animations within your templates.
In the final exercise you will create a suite of designs, a full client presentation and style guide.
Module 3 also has an option to submit your final assessment for your tutor to review and offer feedback.
“The course is engaging, fun, and informative. The level of support from tutors and even other students is amazing. I had zero experience going into this and now I am producing work I’m genuinely proud of.”
“I came away with a well-rounded understanding of graphic design. The best part of studying here was having access to tutors via the forum, who always gave helpful advice and feedback on my work.”
“I finished the course with a cheeky three-month break in between so it’s totally doable, even if life gets in the way. The tutors were amazing — always active on the forum, super helpful, and great at breaking things down.”
How much is the course?
Here's a nicely laid out page with our payments and payment plans prices page. For full payment terms and refund conditions, see our Fees & Payments handbook page.
How do I enrol?
Enrolment is easy, you may enrol any day of the year. Be online and studying within a matter of seconds after enrolling through our enrolments page.
If you need an invoice or a quote before you enrol, please contact our accounts team.
When can I start my studies?
You may enrol any day of the year. Be online and studying within a matter of seconds after enrolling through our enrolments page.
What will I need?
The complete list of the equipment requirements for the Design For Social Media Course available on the Equipment page. Full equipment list and system requirements are on our Equipment handbook page.
What will this course be assessing?
You can read about what will we will be looking for in your assignments in our Student Handbook. For the full assessment process — competency-based grading, tutor feedback, resubmissions — see how assessments work.
What are my responsibilities?
The responsibilities outline for students of The Graphic Design School is included in our student handbook here. See Student Responsibilities for the full list — honest work, respectful conduct, and how we handle it when things go wrong.
Tutor
Danny has over 15 years’ experience in advertising, visual communication and filmmaking.
“I grade assignments at night, from the same studio I'm running sports media campaigns in by day. If something you're working on wouldn't survive a client meeting, I'll tell you — because that's the conversation you'll be having six months from now.”
Tutor
Lee-Anne worked for top advertising agencies including TBWA before being headhunted by Virgin in London, where she spent 7 years as an in-house designer.
“I still freelance for international clients while tutoring at TGDS. Everything I'm seeing in the market — the shift to design systems, the motion requirements, the AI tools designers now deal with — it feeds back into how I grade and what I tell students to focus on.”
Tutor
Paloma is a Senior Designer and Art Director who started her career in London working with international and European brands.
“Feedback is where the learning actually happens. I'll take the time to tell you what's working and what isn't — properly, not just 'looks good'. It takes longer to write but you leave the module knowing why, not just what.”
Tutor
Toni has three decades of experience in design and communications.
“I've taught at four universities, run my own practice, and worked in healthcare design. What I've learned is that good teaching isn't about being the cleverest person in the room. It's about noticing where a student is stuck and asking the one question that unlocks the next step.”
Weighing this against other design courses? See how TGDS compares on value, outcomes and accreditation.
You can enrol any day of the year. As we are online and training is self paced, there is no pressure. Enrol when you are ready to start, from anywhere in the world.
Click the link below to check out our flexible payment plans!
