31 Reviews From Shillington Online Graduates

Back in 2020, Shillington made the decision to move our innovative graphic design course online. In September of that year, our first online cohort logged into Zoom and Shillington’s Online course was born. Almost two years later, we’ve now had five graduating Online classes, with another six currently diving into the world of InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Figma. With three timezone options we’ve seen students join from across the globe—from Osaka, Tallinn, Jakarta, Dallas, Guayaquil and Shanghai to name just a few. The Online course has been a roaring success—but, we don’t want you to just take our word for it. So, we’ve pulled together some anonymous testimonials from our Online graduates and students to show you some firsthand feedback on the courses.

Read on to discover what our online graduates thought about the course, their teachers and their experiences of Shillington’s Online graphic design course.

The Experience

First of all, we’ll take you through some quotes from our online graduates about their general experience of studying online with Shillington:

1.“Shillington was the ultimate palette cleanser after years of toxic art school programs.”

“This is how teaching SHOULD be. Shillington has cultivated something overwhelmingly special here. This program completely changed my life. I have a newfound perspective of what I can accomplish, as well as a confidence in my abilities that I didn’t ever think was possible.”

2. “Overall Shillington has been absolutely everything I hoped it would be and more. Rarely do you sign up to something and it’s exactly what you hope it will be—Shillington has delivered on every front, I’d recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat!”

3. “I find the time really convenient to study around my work and being able to do it online makes life so much easier (I wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise).”

4. “I love everything about the course. If I had to choose, my favorite is being asked to work to a deadline. Already I see my design process improving and I feel more confident about being able to deliver something in a limited amount of time.”

5. “I really like having a cohort of people from all over the world working alongside one another. It’s very cool to see different designers approach the same brief in a completely different way, and I learn a lot from seeing how the instructors and other students approach the briefs.”

6. “I love that class time is creative/working time. Makes 3 hours FLY by, it’s great to have help from instructors right there, and I learn best by doing.”

7. “Really smart use of technology to run the online class (combining Zoom, Canvas and Slack seamlessly!) and a good balance of content/lecture and hands-on design time in class.”

8. “I really like the different topics we are learning. It feels like I am finally learning about all the things that I feel so passionate about & that’s a really good feeling. I really enjoy seeing other people’s work too, it inspires me and it is really nice to see how everyone is growing too. I also like the different techniques and steps of the design process we’ve been learning.”

“It really feels like this is what the process will look like in the professional world. I really feel like I am learning really valuable and practical steps and not some weird abstract concept.”

9. “I am learning so much and in 2 months can see so much progress in my own work and in my thoughts and goals towards design. Shillington has absolutely exceeded my expectations, the class is set up so well, tons of resources, the teachers are very nice and so intelligent and the briefs and work is what is making me get better—I knew I needed something hands on and this really has been a great course so far.”

10. “I always walk away each night amazed each night at what I have learned and accomplished in just 3 hours.”

11. “I loved how the course provided a look into the real-life scenarios/deadlines of a graphic designer which was exciting and will pay off in the real world.”

The Course Structure

How about the online graphic design course itself? Our graduates had lots of good things to say:

12. “I am loving the pace, and the instructors are amazing.”

“The course feels perfect for me, as someone who has already completed a 4-year university degree program and didn’t want to do it all over again. I love how this course is focused on the on-the-job skills and aspects of design, and I’m already feeling confident that I’ll have the skills and portfolio I’ll need to land a design job afterward.”

13. “I loved the structure, brilliant briefs and variety of the course. Having never used any of the software before, it’s fantastic to have learnt skills across a number of programmes and design disciplines. This is exactly what I was looking for from Shillington.”

14. “I love that there is a richness of information provided my the teachers and Shillington resources covering a multitude of basics and important foundations for approaching graphic design as a designer. I enjoy the active application of it and the feedback on all student work as it helps to see other ideas and expand on the dos and don’ts of best practice from those out in the field.”

15. “I love how we have spent the first 6 weeks focusing on the principles of design by working in black and white only. The transition to using colour has meant that we can all implement what we’ve already learned with the basics, and spend more time now implementing colour to make our designs pop! The pace at which this transition from b&w to colour has taken place has been perfect and has really helped to know where to put my focus as the weeks move on.”

16. “It’s a really well designed course that gives you real world scenarios to apply relevant lessons to almost immediately, so you really can leave this course fully prepped to start a career in design, it’s awesome!”

17. “I like how each of the lessons and exercises are directly applicable to the next brief. The curriculum and teaching style is so well thought out and organized! The instructions are clear and questions are easily answered!”

18. “The course is very thoughtfully designed; I like how we learn through doing, and how each exercise serves a clear purpose and opportunity for us to practice specific design principles.”

19. “The course was structured very well. Portfolio time felt ultimately like the heart of the course, and brought great depth to the training.”

“The school gave me insight into the design field—what I can expect in a professional environment, and also what the current landscape of graphic design is like today. I would like a design community like Shillington to be part of my life forever please.”

20. “The range of briefs that we tackled was great—something new every week and a definite progression from brief to brief. The course was structured well, with the learning modules of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign skills spread amongst briefs so as to give us the most benefit. I couldn’t fault the course structure at all.”

The Teachers

Our online teachers are not only super talented graphic designers, but they’re also amazing teachers. Here’s what our online students had to say about them:

21. “The teachers absolutely made the whole experience. They have been fantastic—their energy support and enthusiasm, especially given everything has been online has been incredible—it wouldn’t have been the same without them!”

22. “Definitely the patience and positivity of the teachers. I feel like I have learnt a lot and have been pushed by our teachers, but I feel they’ve done it in a respectful and easy going way.”

23. “I love the sense of community and support provided by the course; from the teachers to my peers, everyone is so inspiring and supportive.”

24. “The teachers are amazingly helpful, very knowledgable and take the time to ensure that we truly have a grasp on what aspect we are working on each week. They also provide consistent feedback & encouragement which is so appreciated”

25. “The teachers are phenomenal humans and extraordinarily talented designers. The quality of teaching was outstanding.”

26. “The instructors are very passionate about their work and that translates directly into their teaching.”

27. “I love the teachers and my classmates. There is much more camaraderie here than any other class I’ve ever taken.”

28. “My teacher made me understand design, not just do it. Her skills are enormous and she is an amazing leader.”

29. “All of the personal attention we got from teachers was fantastic, it really made the course stand out from any other school experience I’ve had”

30. “Having a sense of community support among teachers and students as we embark on our design careers; seeing how far every student has come since day 1—incredible!”

31. “I love my teachers—their knowledge, patience, support was priceless. Also incredibly good with people, making the online experience warm and welcoming.”

We think these comments from Online graduates and students across the world are a testament to how great Shillington’s Online course is. We’re certainly super flattered by everything they’ve had to say. You know what else is great? The graduates themselves—and the amazing portfolios created in the course. Check out some of their amazing work.

Want to learn more about Shillington’s online graphic design course? Read all about the nine month, part-time online course and attend an Info Session to hear from our teachers and graduates directly.