Introduction · Course 03
Graphic design
The craft of the page. Letters, colour and where things sit.
Set type, build a palette and lay out a page, in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Canva.
Start the first lessonTypography from the anatomy of a letter to licensing a foundry. Colour sampled off real pigment. Grids, layout and the drawing underneath all of it.
You will be able to
- Set type that reads well on paper and on a phone
- Build a palette, with rules for how much of each colour
- Lay out a poster or a spread on a grid
- Work in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Canva, with their AI tools
- 19 modules
- 246 lessons
Curriculum structure
- 01Typography34 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 02Colour27 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 03Composition and layout27 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 04Meaning and semiotics9 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 05Drawing and form14 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 06Typography in branding8 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 07Colour in branding11 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 08Editorial design10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 09Poster design10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 10Information design12 lessonsAdvancedAdvanced
- 11Figma, with AI10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 12Photoshop, the basics8 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 13Illustrator, the basics8 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 14InDesign, the basics7 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 15Canva, properly8 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 16Logo design, start to finish12 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 17Social and content design11 lessonsBeginnerBeginner
- 18Illustration for brands10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
- 19Motion and time10 lessonsIntermediateIntermediate
Module 01
Typography
Letterforms from the inside: how type is drawn, spaced, classified, licensed and set, in Latin and in the scripts that do not sit on a baseline.
34 lessons
Module 02
Colour
How colour behaves in ink, on screen and in the eye. Wheels and models, palettes small enough to hold, and why the same red is two different colours on paper and a phone.
27 lessons
Module 03
Composition and layout
Where things go and why. Grids, thirds, figure and ground, the crop, and the argument that structure is the strongest thing on a page.
27 lessons
Module 04
Meaning and semiotics
Why a picture says more than it shows. Signs and symbols, gestalt grouping, metaphor, and the same image read differently in two countries.
9 lessons
Module 05
Drawing and form
Seeing before rendering. Proportion, gesture, light on form, and the working drawings nobody frames.
14 lessons
Module 06
Typography in branding
Choosing and licensing type for a brand that has to set everything from a billboard to a legal footnote.
8 lessons
Module 07
Colour in branding
Colour as an owned asset. Primary, secondary and extended palettes, ratios, accessibility, and what it takes to trademark a colour.
11 lessons
Module 08
Editorial design
Pages that have to be read in order. Grids, pacing, the opening spread, and the cover that has to work in a second.
10 lessons
Module 09
Poster design
One idea at twenty metres. The Swiss argument, the Polish answer, type as the whole image, and what a printed sheet actually costs.
10 lessons
Module 10
Information design
Making a number legible. Charts that fit the question, scales that do not lie, maps, wayfinding, and where a chart becomes propaganda.
12 lessons
Module 11
Figma, with AI
Working in Figma the way a studio does, with its AI tools in the work. Auto layout, variables, components, images made in the file, Figma Make and templates at scale.
10 lessons
Module 12
Photoshop, the basics
Photoshop from the first file, with its AI tools in the work. Layers, masks, cutouts, honest retouching, adjustment layers, Generative Fill and its credits, type and export, ending on one phone photo made into a post and a story.
8 lessons
Module 13
Illustrator, the basics
Illustrator from a blank file, with its AI tools in the work. The Pen tool, shapes and Pathfinder, type and outlines, global swatches, Text to Vector Graphic and its credits, and SVG, PDF and PNG export, ending on No. 4's wordmark and four icons redrawn.
8 lessons
Module 14
InDesign, the basics
InDesign from a first document to a file a printer accepts. Parent pages, grids, threaded text and styles, linked pictures, CMYK swatches, preflight and PDF/X export, with its AI tools where Adobe has shipped them, ending on No. 4's four-page A5 leaflet.
7 lessons
Module 15
Canva, properly
Canva for people who already use it, with its AI tools in the work. Plans and the AI allowance, a Brand Kit set once, templates with locks, resizing, Bulk Create, teams and print-ready files, ending on a week of posts from one kit.
8 lessons
Module 16
Logo design, start to finish
How a working designer takes a logo from the brief through research, a hundred thumbnails, a spaced wordmark or a symbol, clean vector drawing and tests at every size and colour, to the client presentation and a finished file pack, ending with No. 4's mark.
12 lessons
Module 17
Social and content design
Posts, carousels, stories and ads designed for the phone. Sizes and safe zones for 2026, the carousel's first and last slides, Meta's own ad guidance, type that reads at arm's length and A/B tests, ending on one No. 4 shoot made into a week of posts and two ads to test.
11 lessons
Module 18
Illustration for brands
Choosing an illustration style for a brand, drawing it in vector or in Procreate, and writing the rules so characters, mascots and icons stay in one hand, ending on No. 4's spot illustrations.
10 lessons
Module 19
Motion and time
Movement as a design material. Easing, timing, the twelve principles borrowed from animation, and when a transition is doing a job.
10 lessons