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# The Blog | The Graphic Design School

> Archive page listing thoughtful, practical blog posts about graphic design education, careers, and industry guidance for students and early-career designers.

**Keywords:** graphic design, accredited graphic design courses, Certificate IV, Bachelor of Design, RTO providers, online design education, bootcamps, mass platforms, design career paths, freelance graphic designer, in-house graphic designer, graphic design students, Australia, design skills and tutorials, design culture

We love to talk about what's going on in the graphic design world. Check out some of our older posts on The Blog Archive. Blog for graphic design students AllCareerComparisonAI & ToolsDesign CultureSkills & TutorialsInspiration Accredited Graphic Design Courses in Australia: The 2026 Guide How to identify an accredited graphic design course in Australia, what the CUA40720 credential actually buys you, and how to choose between the small number of genuine RTO providers. Read the Article Graphic Design Certificate vs University Degree: Which Is Right for You? A fair comparison of the accredited Certificate IV path and the university Bachelor of Design path — cost, time, portfolio outcome, and when each one is the right call. Read the Article TGDS vs Bootcamps vs Mass Platforms: A Fair Comparison of Online Design Education An honest three-tier comparison of online graphic design education — accredited RTOs, bootcamps and mass platforms — with cost-per-hour, credential and support compared side by side. Read the Article Design Career Paths: From Certificate to Art Director The realistic five-band design career ladder from Certificate IV to creative director — what each level requires, how progression works, and where the Certificate IV fits on the path. Read the Article Freelance vs In-House Graphic Designer: Which Path Is Right for You? A fair comparison of freelance and in-house graphic design careers — income, skill development, work-life, and when each path is the right call. Read the Article Graphic Designer Salary in Australia: Realistic Ranges for 2026 Realistic 2026 graphic designer salary ranges in Australia by experience band and city, plus freelance hourly rates — source-cited and honest about variation. Read the Article What Can You Do With a Graphic Design Certificate IV? A concrete inventory of what graduates of a CUA40720 Certificate IV in Design can do — agency, in-house, print, digital, freelance and small business pathways. Read the Article Use ChatGPT Responsibly AI language models belong in your design workflow — but where they help and where they get in the way is worth understanding. Read the Article 6 Tips: Getting Started with AI Image Tools 6 practical tips for graphic designers on getting started with DALL-E, Midjourney, and Adobe Firefly. Read the Article Using DALL-E Ethically AI image generators raise real questions about copyright, attribution, and professional disclosure. Here is how to navigate them. Read the Article 6 Things To Keep In Mind When Designing A Logo Six essential principles for designing a logo that works — from the initial concept through to colour, type, and scalability. Read the Article 26 Logos & Their Design Evolution Our top 26 logo revamps — for better or worse, you decide. A visual history of how the world's most recognised brands have evolved their identities over decades. Read the Article A Day in the Life at the Leo Burnett Agency Art Director Djordje Joksimovic spent a day walking us through life at Leo Burnett — one of the most famous agencies in advertising history. His account is a rare, honest look at what it means to be a creative inside a global network. Read the Article A State of Independents Something big has happened in the publishing world. Something interesting. Read the Article Create a Smartphone Advertising Poster in Photoshop Focusing on a simple approach and execution, this tutorial will teach you tips and tricks to creating professional and dynamic poster ads for your portfolio. Read the Article Do's and Don'ts of Website Design Web design principles that hold up in 2026 — covering layout, mobile-first, performance, accessibility, typography and dark mode. Read the Article European Websites Choosing a handful of European design talents from the whole continent is a daunting task — here is what we found. Read the Article Focus :: Contemporary Type Foundries :: Part 1 Working with typefaces is about as basic as it gets for graphic designers. A solid knowledge of type, a keen eye for which fonts suit each project, and an awareness of what is available are rudimentary parts of the job. Read the Article Focus :: Contemporary Type Foundries :: Part 2 Following on from Contemporary Type Foundries Part 1, here are six more foundries worth knowing — from a Dutch one-person studio to a Croatian practice with a flair for precision. Read the Article Focus - French Graphic Design Next to sculpture, painting, architecture, cinema, cuisine and couture, France's graphic design seems nowhere. Read the Article Focus :: Graphic Design Studio Websites It should come as no surprise that some of the best designed websites are those of design studios themselves. Read the Article Get off the screen, roll up your sleeves and get making. In a profession dominated by screens and AI tools, the designers who maintain a connection to making things by hand stand out. Here is why that still matters — and how to keep it alive. Read the Article How & Where To Get Paid Freelance Work While You're Still A Design Student This inspiring article has been written by graphic design student Jacob Cass. Read the Article Interview with Fabien Barral Fabien Barral is a French graphic designer who built a studio from a remote village, landed the Rolling Stones, and made texture-rich work that designers still reference today. This is his story. Read the Article Interview with Luke Feldman Luke Feldman's SKAFFS illustrations have been described as what Tim Burton is to cinema. Clients include Coca-Cola, Apple, and Disney. Here he talks process, style, and what it really means to develop your own visual language. Read the Article Interview with Veerle Pieters Veerle Pieters is a Belgian graphic and web designer whose tutorials, blog, and work for clients including Google and the Library of Congress have made her one of the most recognised designers in the field. Here is her interview with The Graphic Design School. Read the Article James Victore: Don't Be a Design Zombie James Victore believes that knowing about jazz, wine, and auto-racing can make you a better designer. He also believes the best designs punch you in the gut. Both things are true, and both say something about how he works. Read the Article Logo Design Love A review of David Airey's Logo Design Love — one of the best books on identity design, covering the full creative process from sketch to PDF. Read the Article Logo Trends and Galleries A curated collection of the best logo galleries and trend resources, with notes on what trends mean for logo designers — and why some designers argue against following them. Read the Article Mind Maps for Graphic Design :: Ideas Generation Techniques Mind mapping is one of the most effective brainstorming techniques for graphic designers. Learn how to use mind maps for idea generation, concept development, and creative thinking. Read the Article Print Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 1 :: Self-Promotion & Winning Work In the first of a series of lessons entitled Professional Practice, we have sourced one of todays hottest working English based freelance designers to give you the leg up on building yourself a truly professional Graphic Design practice. Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 2 :: Freelance Fee Structures and How to Quote :: Updated Providing a quote for graphic design services is one of the most difficult areas of the field to navigate. It can kind of be like going on a first date. Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 3 :: Project Planning This week's article on professional design practice concerns project planning. Good, thoughtful project planning can be indispensable to the smooth running of your professional life as a freelancer. Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 4 :: Dealing with Clients They come in all shapes and sizes, from all different professional backgrounds, and we rely on them to pay our fees. A large portion of the freelancer's life is spent looking for them, bagging them, and spending a considerable amount of our daily slog trying to work out what they want. I'm speaking of course about clients, and this article is all about working with them... Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 5 :: Invoicing Clients At the same point each month, every month, an employed person receives a wage packet from their payroll department, and their bank account is credited with their salary. Safe in this knowledge, they can plan their finances around this fixed point. Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 6 :: The Presentation So you find yourself pitching for a job and have come up with an ingenious solution to a fiendishly tricky design conundrum, and all you want to do is get on the phone to the client and sing it from the bottom of your lungs. Slow down there pardner. Read the Article Professional Design Practice :: Lesson 7 :: Graphic Design Contracts A rookie mistake in the design world is working without a contract. I too have fallen to the sorry plight of ultimately working for free with no promise of continued work or payment on the horizon. Read the Article Putting Together an Effective Portfolio Save perhaps their personality, the freelance graphic designer's portfolio is, undoubtedly, the most valuable asset in their professional life. The portfolio is the freelancer's shop window — an intimate glimpse into their being for all who view it. Read the Article The Best of European Typography... Ooh la la! We went to France, Italy, Spain, and everywhere else where they serve great wine after dessert, to find the most inventive typographic designers Europe has to offer. Read the Article The Creative Brief :: Part 1 The brief. That genesis of the creative process. All design jobs begin with a briefing from the client, usually in written form (the preferred option) though they can also be given verbally. Read the Article The Creative Brief :: Part 2 In Part 1 we discussed the role of receiving and understanding the creative brief — a vital part of the designer's job. Now for the fun part. Read the Article Visual Culture :: Brazil Brazil's graphic design scene combines European rigour, Afro-Brazilian visual energy and a distinctly Latin imagination — here is some of the best work to emerge from this creative giant. Read the Article What Is Open Source & How Does It Relate To Graphic Design? Chances are you have heard of Open Source. But what does the term actually mean, and what does it offer design students in 2026? From GIMP 3.0 to Krita and free AI tools — a practical guide. Read the Article When Times Are Tough, Graphic Designers Get Tactile Read the Article You Too Can Create Your Very Own Digital Characters Luke Feldman generously made TGDS students a tutorial using his distinctive style and one of his quirky characters. See how Luke transforms a hand-drawn sketch into a vector character in Illustrator. Read the Article Your Business Card is Crap! Not quite! Your business card leaves an impression of you even when you are not in the room. A thoughtfully designed card keeps you on the radar of the people you hand it to. Here are some of our favourites. Read the Article Explore all 47 articles across design, professional practice, and AI. Browse the full archive →