About NextGen's NYC Graphic Design Summer Camp
Creative high schoolers will probably find their passion in graphic design. Graphic design can draw attention in unexpected ways, express emotion and feeling, and help to translate a business or organization's mission into an easy-to-absorb message. You can see graphic design in apps, websites, logos, games, advertisements, illustrations, and more.
Learning graphic design will give you access to work and professional positions in almost every industry. Whether you’re trying to get into marketing, video streaming, photography, fine art, creating patterns for textiles, or animation, graphic design is a great place to start. Understanding graphic design concepts is a useful skill for practically any kind of visual creative project.
If you like being creative and using computers but don't want to learn how to code, graphic design is an excellent career path to explore. You may find that you love designing and want to pursue a job that falls under the (extremely large) umbrella of graphic design. Or you may just be happy to learn a new skill that you can apply in a hobby, internship, or volunteer position. You can also use graphic design as a stepping stone to web design, which involves some coding.
Summer Graphic Design Bootcamps for High School Students
Learning graphic design in high school will give you a creative outlet, prepare you for a cool and lucrative career path, and give you the confidence to apply to college or internship programs with a real-world ready portfolio.
When it comes to design, it helps to have time to hone your style before putting your work out into the world – which means high school is the best time to start learning. Once you’ve learned the foundations of design and essential design software, you can create your masterpieces and portfolio without overthinking it.
Why You Should Learn Graphic Design Over the Summer
Learning graphic design over the summer gives you the time and space to create more freely. You won’t have to worry about balancing class time and creative time with your schoolwork, extracurriculars, or friend time. When you can focus on learning one big thing, you can make a ton of progress in just one summer.
If you know how to use the internet and some basic marketing skills, you can build a lucrative side hustle for yourself with graphic design. You could also work for someone else as a graphic designer after high school or head to design school for college. Whether you want to learn graphic design as a hobby or a job, it’s definitely worth learning over the summer.
What can I do with graphic design in high school?
There are so many ways you can use graphic design in high school and right after high school. From leveling up your projects to applying for remote internships, graphic design will boost your high school experience if you’re ready to learn fun and complex design software.
You can create logos with a branding agency, illustrate independently, make web or advertising graphics in-house at a corporate company, or design book covers and magazines. There are so many other ways graphic design can be used now and into your future, whether you choose to work for yourself or someone else.
Graphic design is so versatile that it’s a great way to break into any industry. Who knows what you’ll actually be when you “grow up”? So why not learn a skill that will support whichever career path you decide to go down without having to decide everything right now?
Hands-on graphic design projects at NextGen
When you attend a NextGen summer camp, you’ll be learning through hands-on projects and world-renowned workbooks. Our instructors will guide you through design concepts and essential software so that you can create a professional portfolio during camp.
If you focus on just graphic design bootcamp, you’ll create a graphic design portfolio. If you decide to add web design with the graphic design and web design summer camp, you’ll design and code a website with HTML, CSS, and Sketch!
In-person summer design camps in NYC
In-person learning is ideal for most students. You can ask your questions in real-time when you have them so that you can learn faster in our small group classes. Plus, you’ll get to connect with other high schoolers who are excited about design.
Professional tools like Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop are hard to learn on your own. You can try learning online from free resources, but nothing compares to learning from an industry expert with hands-on projects and a roadmap laid out for you.
Our instructors are trained to be teachers. They’re using a globally trusted curriculum and workbooks to help you learn the skills you need. They’ll make sure you actually understand and can use your new graphic design skills in the real world, not just hypothetically.
High School Summer Design Bootcamp For a Variety of Learners
You can learn graphic design this summer in New York City at the NextGen offices in Midtown Manhattan where we provide you with a computer. With our industry-experienced teachers, you’ll build a graphic design portfolio. If you choose our web and graphic design course, you’ll also design and code your own website!
If you want to learn graphic design only you should attend the Graphic Design Summer Camp in NYC. This bootcamp teaches graphic design theory and the essential Adobe applications including Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator in this summer camp specifically for high schoolers.
Take your designs one step further and attend the Graphic and Web Design Summer Program in NYC. You’ll learn graphic and web design in one four-week course that’s just for high school students. This bootcamp covers the essential Adobe apps, graphic design theory, and web design concepts.
The Graphic and Web Design summer program for high school students also teaches HTML and CSS, the two most basic programming languages that are the foundations of web design and front end development. Don’t worry, HTML and CSS are easy to learn and you don’t have to have any coding experience to take this course.