The Graphic Design School

What The Graphic Design School is

The Graphic Design School (TGDS) is an online school that teaches graphic design to adults through self-paced courses with tutor feedback. It is a registered training organization in Australia (RTO Provider No. 91706, registered with ASQA), and its homepage gives the school as "est. 2008" and calls it "The world's first solely online graphic design school." Students can enroll from anywhere in the world on any day of the year. The catalog has four courses: the CUA40725 Certificate IV in Design, which the course page describes as an Australian government-accredited qualification listed on the Australian Qualifications Framework; the Intensive Foundation Course, which teaches the same material without the qualification; Design for Social Media; and Design@Work, a short course for non-designers.

The courses

The Certificate IV runs 12 modules over up to 15 months, with 750 assessable hours, and is built around the 15 Units of Competency in the CUA40725 training package. The modules move in order: Introduction to Graphic Design, Design Basics (elements and principles, plus a first look at Adobe Illustrator), Introduction to Typography, Color, Advanced Typography, Photography (a studio-style shoot, stock sourcing and Photoshop), Logotype Design, Design Systems I (an organic form and a set of icons), Layout Design (multi-page magazine layout in InDesign), Design Systems II (a corporate identity system, packaging and a design campaign), Preparing your Portfolio, and Refining your Portfolio. That last module, only in the Certificate IV, reworks the portfolio from tutor feedback, adds a resume and cover letter in a personal identity system, an industry consultation on one piece, and copyright and work health and safety assessments. The course page says each graduate leaves with a portfolio, the qualification and a place in an alumni forum.

The Intensive Foundation Course covers the first 11 of those 12 modules in 12 months and about 700 hours, ending with a Certificate of Completion rather than the qualification. The homepage pitches it as the way to "Save a bit of dough" for students who want the skills without the formal credential, and the FAQ lists a Certificate IV Upgrade with a 3-month access period for students who finish it and then want the qualification. Design for Social Media runs 3 months and about 250 hours and covers social media templates, branding, Canva and product photography, with a touch of marketing and strategy. Design@Work gives 12 months of access, teaches only InDesign, and is aimed at office staff who need to produce design work without becoming designers.

No design experience is needed for any of the four courses. Students must be 18 or older and have enough English to study online; under-18s can have a parent contact the school to discuss their case. The school asks to talk with every applicant before enrollment and offers a self-assessment called "Am I Ready to Study Online?"

How study works

After paying at checkout, students get login details within 48 hours for The Schoolyard, the private student portal. Each module combines written content in PDFs, instructional videos embedded in those PDFs and collected in a Videos section, practice exercises that are not graded, and graded assessments uploaded as files. There are no scheduled start dates and no weekly deadlines, only the overall access period: 15 months for the Certificate IV, 12 for the Intensive Foundation Course and Design@Work, 3 for Design for Social Media.

Grading is competency-based. Tutors mark each submission within 5-7 business days, with written feedback and an email alert. On the Certificate IV, the Intensive Foundation Course and Design@Work a student can resubmit up to 3 times per assessment at no extra cost, and once on Design for Social Media. Each student keeps the same tutor for the whole course, reachable on the school forum (usually within 24 hours on business days) or by direct email (24-48 hours on business days). The forum is staffed by the tutor team and doubles as the student community.

The tutors named on the site are working designers: Paloma Hodgins, a senior designer and art director who started her career in London; Danny Johnson, with over 15 years in advertising, visual communication and filmmaking; Lee-Anne O'Brien, who worked at TBWA and spent 7 years as an in-house designer at Virgin in London; and Toni Steet, with three decades in design and communications and teaching at several Australian universities. The homepage shows a rating of 4.9 stars from 139 reviews.

Software, fees and refunds

Software is not included in the fees. The Certificate IV, the Intensive Foundation Course and Design@Work need an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat Pro DC), which the FAQ prices at about $80 a month paid to Adobe directly. Enrolled students can ask the school for an enrollment letter to claim Adobe's student discount, which the FAQ puts at usually 60% off, or roughly $30-40 a month, at Adobe's discretion. Design for Social Media needs Canva Pro at about $18 a month, which has a 30-day free trial and no student discount.

Course fees are kept on a separate prices and enrollment page, shown in AUD, because, as the FAQ puts it, prices change occasionally. The school offers payment plans; the Certificate IV can be paid upfront only through a registered business, so individuals use the payment plan. TGDS does not take part in the VET Student Loans scheme, but the Certificate IV is Austudy approved, so eligible Australian students may get government support while studying. Recognition of prior learning can reduce the units a student must complete, with evidence assessed within 2 weeks.

The refund terms are spelled out: a 7-day cooling-off period with a 100% refund, even after starting; after that, refunds only in compassionate and compelling circumstances; after 6 months, no refunds. Extensions of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months can be bought, and the FAQ says free extensions may be granted for genuine hardship if requested at least 2 weeks before expiry. If a course lapses, access to The Schoolyard ends, the student can request a certificate for completed modules, and re-enrolling costs extra. The FAQ says the school complies with the GDPR, the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the ASQA standards for RTOs.

Who it suits

TGDS suits adults who want a structured graphic design education they can fit around work or family, especially career changers starting from zero. The Certificate IV fits Australians who need a nationally recognized qualification for an employer, a government role, Austudy or further study, since the FAQ says it can count toward Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas or Bachelor degrees. The Intensive Foundation Course fits learners who care about the portfolio more than the paper, which the FAQ itself says matters more in the design industry.

A few limits come with the format. There are no live classes or cohorts, so progress depends on the student's own discipline within a fixed access window. The curriculum is print and brand graphic design in the Adobe suite, with no UX or web design module on the course outline. Software adds a monthly cost on top of tuition, and the course page states plainly that the school makes no employment guarantees.