Introduction
So, you’re looking to become a web designer? Fantastic! But how do you begin learning the fundamentals and turn your designs into functional websites?
The internet is brimming with web design courses — but which one is right for you?
What to Look for in Online Web Design Courses
With thousands of web design courses available online, it can be challenging to find the right fit. Here are some key considerations:
· Curriculum: Ensure the course covers fundamental and advanced topics like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, responsive design, UX/UI principles, and relevant tools.
· Hands-on Projects: Look for courses with practical assignments to build a strong portfolio while learning.
· Industry-Relevant Skills: Check if the course teaches current industry trends, tools, and technologies.
· Experienced Instructors: Opt for courses led by seasoned professionals in web design.
· Flexibility: Choose a course that fits your schedule, whether it’s self-paced or has flexible class timings.
· Interactive and Community-Based Learning: Seek courses with forums, discussions, and Q&A sessions to foster a collaborative learning environment.
· Feedback and Support: Choose a course that provides constructive feedback on your work.
· Real-World Applications: Look for courses that emphasize solving practical design challenges encountered in professional settings.
In this blog, we’ll list the top 12 best web design courses for beginners, highlighting their notable features and offerings. Whether you’re looking to learn the basics or advanced concepts, this guide will help you find the right online web design course.
12 Best Web Design Courses of 2024 (Free and Paid)
Discover the best web design courses, both free and paid, to elevate your skills as a web designer and visual developer.
- Platform: Webflow University
- Description: Offers self-paced learning for key concepts like typography, page design, and UI design. It includes over 100 videos, covering everything from HTML basics to advanced animations.
- Notable Features: Comprehensive coverage, SEO training, CMS usage.
- Best For: Beginners to advanced users wanting to build functional websites.
Webflow University makes learning web design accessible and straightforward. Their free training and masterclasses offer self-paced education on essential topics like typography, page design, and UI design, demonstrating how these elements integrate seamlessly.
Comprehensive Learning Experience
The Ultimate Web Design Course at Webflow University is one of the most extensive offerings available, featuring over 100 videos. It begins with fundamental concepts such as HTML basics and CSS classes and subclasses, progressing to advanced topics like sophisticated animations and interactions.
By the course’s conclusion, you’ll be equipped to design pages using elements like containers, divs, flexboxes, and grids. Additionally, you’ll master Webflow’s CMS to create dynamic blogs.
Additional Skills Covered
Beyond basic web design skills, the course also covers important SEO topics. You’ll learn about the differences between organic and paid searches, how to set up Google Analytics, and how to optimize your website for search engines.
- Platform: Youtube / janlosert.com
- Description: Offers self-paced learning for key concepts like typography, page design, and UI design. It includes over 100 videos, covering everything from HTML basics to advanced animations.
- Notable Features: Comprehensive coverage, SEO training, CMS usage.
- Best For: Beginners to advanced users wanting to build functional websites.
Jan Losert, a talented Czech designer, has put together a comprehensive online web design course with Creating a Clean & Simple Website with Webflow.
This class teaches the basics through a step-by-step guide to designing and building a startup community website — and makes the entire website available to clone, for free. This hands-on project lets you see how various elements come together in a page design, making the concepts much easier to understand and learn.
These lessons cover the important design principles everyone should know, including building navigation, creating calls to action (CTAs), using div blocks, and understanding SEO and responsive web design.
Completely free and perfect for both beginners and more knowledgeable web designers, Jan’s Creating a Clean & Simple Website with Webflow offers a straightforward project for learning new skills and developing others.
3. The Webflow Masterclass
- Instructor: Ran Segall
- Platform: Flux Academy
- Description: Comprehensive course combining web design with business skills, teaching how to price work and handle clients.
- Notable Features: Tutorials on Webflow, freelance business fundamentals, advanced design techniques.
- Best For: Aspiring freelance web designers.
Ran Segall, founder of Flux Academy, embodies all that it means to be an independent web designer. Ran, someone who knows visual design, what it takes to work with clients, and run the business side of things, brings both experience and expertise to the course. His premium Webflow Masterclass synthesizes all of his smarts for a course that’s both enlightening and inspiring for any aspiring web developer.
The entrepreneurial spirit is the underlying thread running through this coursework. Developing the skills to create customized websites not only makes you a better designer, it also makes you someone who can charge a premium for what you do. Along with tutorials on web design and Webflow, Ran teaches the fundamentals of running a freelance business, like understanding how to price your own work.
This mix of design skills and other aspects of the web design career makes this a well-rounded course — no matter where you are in your journey.
3. Memorisely
- Platform: Memorisely
- Description: Offers multi-week boot camps for UX and UI design, with access to a community of learners and feedback.
- Notable Features: Live and self-paced options, community support, project feedback.
- Best For: Those wanting to launch careers in UX design.
User experience (UX) shapes someone’s general experience on a website, while user interface (UI) involves the controls and pathways to maneuver through it. Both disciplines take the raw materials of a page design and structure them to create a positive user experience — and you can learn both with Memorisely.
Memorisely offers several multi-week self-paced and live boot camps. The live bootcamps, one of their more popular offerings, offer access to a community of other enrolled students through Slack as well as the opportunity for project feedback from peer groups.
Trusted by over 500,000 designers and developers, Memorisely is a great fit for those who want to learn the basics, launch careers in UX design, or just gain some web design inspiration from other community members and mentors.
4. Design + Code
- Platform: Design+Code
- Description: Provides courses on various design tools and techniques, including a free Webflow class.
- Notable Features: Emphasis on conversions, project-based learning, covers multiple creative skills.
- Best For: Those interested in diverse design tools and conversion-focused web design.
There is no shortage of interesting web design classes on Design+Code. Whether you want to learn React, Vue, After Effects, or Webflow, there’s something for you on this platform. There are a ton of educational materials to help you learn some of the best web design tools. Plus, the platform offers several exciting classes for mastering other creative skills like sound design, video editing, app design, and game creation.
For those who just want to learn how to build a website, their free Webflow class is a comprehensive course that takes you through building a functional website with fully fleshed-out web design, multiple pages, CMS data, and payment processing. The class provides students with Webflow lessons which makes it easy to follow and learn.
This online course puts extra emphasis on conversions. It teaches how content, CTAs, and customer feedback can enhance the user experience — all of which web designers often overlook.
5. Design. Build. Launch.
- Instructor: Caler Edwards
- Platform: YouTube
- Description: A series teaching the fundamentals of web design using Adobe XD and Webflow.
- Notable Features: Free, practical projects, covers SEO and social media integration.
- Best For: Beginners looking to create their own portfolio website.
There’s a lot to love about Caler Edwards’ Design. Build. Launch YouTube series about designing with Webflow. Not only do users learn the fundamentals of web design like navigation and responsive web design, they also end up with their own portfolio website.
One of the strongest features of this web series is that it begins the design process with the free-to-download Adobe XD app. Once you download the app, Caler teaches you how to wireframe as well as some of the basics of UX and UI design. Then, Caler touches on SEO, how to use Webflow to add title tags, meta descriptions, and how open graph systems work for social media.
6. Learn UI/UX
- Platform: Learnux.io
- Description: Offers courses on UX principles, prototyping, and the entire design process.
- Notable Features: Detailed HTML/CSS lessons, practical UX/UI skills.
- Best For: New designers and those wanting to understand the full design process.
Learnux.io offers a range of web design courses. The HTML/CSS lessons in particular are well-suited for new designers who want to understand and apply the complexities of CSS.
From the basics of UX, usability, and prototyping, to the final handoff, these classes teach every part of the design process so you can leave feeling confident in creating your first website.
8. Udemy
- Platform: Udemy
- Description: Wide range of web design courses, from basics to advanced topics.
- Notable Features: Affordable, practical exercises, lifetime access.
- Best For: Learners on a budget seeking diverse web design topics.
Udemy offers a wide range of self-paced web design courses catering to various skill levels, from beginners to advanced users. The platform offers dozens of courses on subjects like responsive web design, WordPress, Figma, and even Webflow websites.
Perfect for beginners, Udemy includes practical exercises and projects to help learners build their skills in web design, no matter what kind of web design they’re interested in. Courses on Udemy are often priced affordably, making them accessible to all budgets. Plus, when users purchase a course on Udemy, they typically get lifetime access to the course content. This access means you can revisit the material, get updates, and review lessons whenever you need to, even after completing the course.
9. LinkedIn Learning
- Platform: LinkedIn Learning
- Description: High-quality courses by industry experts, integrated with LinkedIn profiles for professional credibility.
- Notable Features: Self-paced, industry-standard content, community engagement.
- Best For: Professionals seeking to enhance their LinkedIn profiles.
LinkedIn Learning provides high-quality courses on a variety of topics, including web design. The courses are created by industry experts and professionals, ensuring that the content is accurate, up-to-date, and aligned with industry standards.
The platform offers a diverse range of self-paced and flexible web design courses suitable for different skill levels, from beginners to advanced users. Topics range from Adobe XD training to Webflow training, so users can become experts no matter what kind of web design they are interested in.
One of the unique benefits of LinkedIn learning is its integration with personal LinkedIn profiles. As you complete courses, you can showcase your certifications on your LinkedIn profile, enhancing your professional credibility. Plus, LinkedIn Learning provides opportunities for community engagement. Learners can participate in discussions, connect with other professionals, and expand their network within the web design community.
10. Skillshare
- Platform: Skillshare
- Description: Subscription-based platform with project-based learning and community interactions.
- Notable Features: Hands-on projects, community support, various web design topics.
- Best For: Learners who prefer a hands-on, collaborative approach.
Skillshare is an affordable subscription-based learning platform that emphasizes project-based learning, allowing learners to apply teachings and concepts to real projects. This platform offers a diverse range of web design from the fundamentals of UX design to learning how to create a Webflow website. Skillshare’s entry-level course on Webflow is a great option for new web designers who want a hands-on approach to designing and launching a website.
One of the unique benefits of Skillshare is the platform’s huge community. Enrolled students get access to class discussions and can interact with instructors and fellow students to share insights and receive feedback, creating a collaborative and supportive learning environment.
11. Udacity
- Platform: Udacity
- Description: Interactive courses with quizzes and projects, focused on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and UX design.
- Notable Features: Practical coding skills, interactive learning, hands-on projects.
- Best For: Beginners seeking a structured learning path.
Udacity courses are great tools for beginners, and are packed with interactive quizzes and assessments so users can track and monitor their progress. Their course, Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS, is specifically beneficial for beginners and focuses on the fundamentals of HTML and CSS. The course includes interactive quizzes and projects to reinforce concepts and provide hands-on experience. Users can also learn Javascript, UX design, and how to design rest APIs.
Udacity’s hands-on approach ensures that beginners not only understand the concepts but also gain practical skills in coding and designing web pages.
12. EDX
- Platform: edX
- Description: Offers beginner-friendly courses, including JavaScript for creating dynamic content.
- Notable Features: Affordable, self-paced, diverse course offerings.
- Best For: Those looking for a flexible and comprehensive learning platform.
EdX offers dozens of beginner-friendly web design courses, including courses for learning JavaScript to enhance the interactivity of websites and create dynamic content. The course includes hands-on labs for practical application.
Like other web design courses, edX courses are affordable, online, and self-paced so anyone can learn web design on their own time. Plus, their course offerings are far ranging and diverse, so web designer beginners can not only learn the basics, but progress to a more advanced level right within the platform.
By choosing the right web design course, you can build a strong foundation in web design and advance your skills to create stunning, functional websites. Ready to start your journey? Contact Codefree Corner today for personalized web design training and support.
