Overview
Design influences how people experience information, interact with brands, and engage with content. Whether you're creating visuals for work, business, or personal interests, graphic design skills can help you communicate ideas with greater clarity, consistency, and impact.
This certificate of achievement combines design fundamentals with practical training in Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Through topics such as typography, layout, image creation, publication design, branding, and creative process, you'll explore how ideas evolve into effective visual communications across print and digital media.
This live online program combines instructor-supported learning with applied assignments and project work. Throughout the certificate, you'll build experience with contemporary design tools while creating visual assets, publications, branded materials, and portfolio-ready pieces.
By program completion, you'll be better prepared to contribute to design, content-development, marketing, and communications initiatives. You'll also gain experience applying creative, technical, and presentation skills across a variety of settings.
This program is ideal if you:
- want to build practical graphic design skills for work, business, or personal interests
- create visual content for marketing, communications, business, or digital media
- are interested in learning industry-standard Adobe Creative Cloud applications
- want a foundation in graphic design, branding, publishing, and visual communication.
There are no course prerequisites or other eligibility requirements for this program; familiarity with basic computer functions and live online learning tools is recommended.
Upon successful completion of this program, you'll be able to:
- use colour theory, shape, drawing tools, layers, page design, type setting, compositing and illustration to plan and produce work for print and digital media, from concept to completion
- explain the purpose and benefits of branding and brand image as they apply to the graphic design industry
- use the creative design process to prepare creative briefs and to research, brainstorm, sketch, create, and present to clients
- demonstrate design skills and techniques using industry-standard software — Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, including layout, palette selection, brushes, colour, typography, image correction and manipulation
- design a complex and compelling collection of graphic design work to build a portfolio and showcase your conceptual, creative, and technical skills and communicate your artistic process (brand style guide, logo, brochure, magazine cover and spread, poster, professional resume, digital publication)
- explain the value of using a “Designer’s Toolkit” and demonstrate personal and professional ethics in the graphic design industry.
Graphic designers, brand specialists and graphic design marketers are all highly sought out professionals who help make brands stand out from their competition. Every single design decision, from a logo to a social media infographic, can make a powerful difference.
Clarissa Crosby
Award-winning graphic artist, SAIT Instructor
Program outline
To earn this certificate, you must complete seven core courses and a minimum of one elective for a minimum total of eight courses. You may take the courses in any order but we do recommend taking them in the order listed below.
Required courses & electives
How to apply for this certificate
Once you have registered for any course offered in this certificate, you will be automatically eligible to complete the certificate. You will have up to three years to complete this program. You may track your progression by signing in to your Continuing Education student account.
Certifications and professional designations
Upon successful completion of all the required courses in this certificate program, you’ll receive an electronically issued SAIT Certificate of Achievement and transcript. For each SAIT Micro-credential earned, you'll also receive a shareable digital badge.
Costs
This program consists of a minimum of eight courses, all with varying fees. Please review the individual course pages for this certificate to determine costs and to learn more about additional learning materials, including textbooks.
Financial support
Financial opportunities are available to help pay for your course fees. Learn more about how to reduce your education or training costs with available awards, bursaries, loans and grants, including the Canada Alberta Productivity Grant.
Careers and opportunities
Graphic design skills can support a variety of creative, marketing, communications, and content-focused opportunities across a range of industries and professional settings.
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SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.