Sustainable design is a relatively new concept but becoming increasingly important. Currently, you can not find as many resources on sustainable design but thankfully for you, I’ve managed to put together a list of courses that might be of value to you.
If you are a designer, artist, or other types of creative interested in sustainability it would help to learn more about sustainable design and its principles so that you can implement it in your own work to make your hobby or your brand more eco-friendly.
As there are different types of design, here, I’ve put together online courses for some of the main types of design including fashion design, graphic design, packaging design, and product design.
I hope you find them helpful!
Where Can I Find Online Courses?
You can find amazing online course everywhere on the internet. You can find some for free, some at affordable prices and others can be a bit more expensive. However, if you are serious about learning something new and want to become a better designer, it would be a good idea to invest some of your time and money on resources. Here are some online platforms where you can find courses:
Domestika
Domestika is a platform focused on creativity courses. They are mainly in Spanish with English subtitles but there are some courses in English as well. The courses are taught by skilled professionals and they explain everything in detail.
Many of the courses below are from Domestika. You will love them. It’s one of my favorite websites. No matter what kind of skills you want to learn, Domestika will help you enhance your creativity.
Coursera
Coursera is a popular platform for online courses and has many free courses to choose from. And of course, it has paid courses for those looking to advance their skills even more. It covers a wide range of topics going from design to business and science.
Edx
EdX is another general online course platform that again covers a wide range of topics. Their courses are made by respected universities around the world. They are not focused on just creativity courses, but there are definitely many courses on there about design and other creative skills.
Skillshare
Skillshare has become popular in the last few years and the go-to place for creative individuals. They cover topics from photography, video making, illustrations, and countless other subjects. It’s a great community to be a part of and it offers so much. With a small monthly membership fee who will have access to all their courses.
Sustainable Fashion Design Courses
01. Embroidery: Clothing Repair
By Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Upcycling our clothes is an important part of sustainable fashion because it keeps them out of the landfill for longer. This course will teach you creative ways to upcycle your clothes and make them unique using various embroidery techniques.
If your clothes need repairing, don’t throw them away. This course will teach you cool ways to make them look even better than before.
02. Sustainable Fashion: Introduction to Upcycling
By Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
This is another course that teaches you ways to upcycle your clothes. But whereas the one above, focuses on embroidery, this one focuses on taking clothes and transforming them into new ones. Ximena Corcuera, the fashion designer that is teaching this course, aims to show you the amazing possibilities of upcycling. This is becoming very important as fast fashion is having a big environmental impact on the planet and we need to find better and more sustainable ways to make clothes from existing garments.
03. Upcycling: Creating a Fashion Collection
By Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Another course focused on upcycling that will teach you how to make your old clothes into fun outfits. The teacher of this course will show you amazing ways to transform your old clothes which you don’t like or have forgotten and will give you the skills to create your own unique wardrobe with your unique style.
04. Circular Fashion: Design, Science and Value in a Sustainable Clothing Industry
By edX
Language: English
With the fashion industry being so polluting and harmful to the environment, we’ve had to come up with a new system to produce clothes. And this is when circular fashion came to be. If you want to learn what circularity means in the fashion industry and how we can create this system, then take this course.
It will teach you about textiles, closing the loop, garment recycling, creating a circular business model, and a lot more. It’s important to learn what circular fashion means. Not just for designers, but for consumers as well.
05. Botanical Dye 101: Create Sustainable, Natural & Stylish Clothing
By Skillshare
Language: English
Normal dyes for clothes are often toxic and harmful to the environment. A better alternative is botanical dyes. Learn how to dye fabric and clothes in an ecological way that makes them look stylish while keeping them free of toxins.
You will learn how to dye clothes using natural ingredients like Tumeric powder and onions. And don’t worry, everything that you will need to dye them you will find in your kitchen. It’s a natural process that will make your clothes look unique and stylish.
Sustainable Graphic Design Courses
06. Introduction To Sustainable Graphic Design
From Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Are you wanting to become a graphic designer with a focus on sustainability? This course will be perfect for you. The initial part of any project is the most crucial part as it determines the impact the design will have on the planet. Designers have a responsibility to ensure their design will as little harm as possible to the environment. This course will teach you the essentials and will help you become a more sustainable designer.
And for design to be sustainable, it also has to be circular which is why you will also learn about the importance of designing for a circular economy.
07. Introduction to Sustainable Graphic Design
By Teachable
Language: English
This course on sustainable graphic design will teach you how to become make the world a better place through your design skills. It’s about time we use design to help people in meaningful ways and help the planet. You will learn how to apply the sustainable design principles to the real world and into your very own work or business.
Sustainable Packaging Design Courses
08. Sustainable Packaging Design for E-commerce
By Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
When you have an online store, it’s important not to forget the environmental impact of the packaging. Ensuring you have sustainable packaging for your products and being open about it with your customers will also make you more trustworthy. Right now, more people than ever are thinking about their consumer choices and fewer people are willing to buy items that are wrapped in plastic.
This course will teach you how to create beautiful and eco-friendly packaging for your products that look professional. From start to finish, this course will tell you everything you need to know.
09. Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy
By edX
Language: English
Packaging is found everywhere and it has become even more prominent now that e-commerce has become such a big part of our lives. But so much packaging is ending up in landfills and the ocean that we cannot continue with our current habits.
Take this course if you want to learn more about how we can design packaging that is fit for the circular economy and ways to create packaging from bio-based materials.
10. Introduction to Ecological Packaging
By Domestika
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Here is another course that can teach you about sustainable packaging. Tati Guimarães, the teacher of this course, will take you through creating aesthetically pleasing and sustainable packaging. From creating a mood board to sketching, right through to creating the final packaging, she will teach you everything you need to know about eco-friendly packaging.
Learn how to apply sustainable design thinking to your packaging design.
Circular Design Courses
11. Circular Economy: An Introduction
By edX
Language: English
To design in a circular way we must first understand what a circular economy is and what we need to do in order to make our society truly circular. If you don’t know what the circular economy actually is, this course will give you an excellent introduction to it by teaching you the difference between the circular and linear system, the benefits, and the ways in which we can implement this in our society.
If you are new to this concept, it will provide you with the basic principles ad knowledge to understand what it is and the importance of building this type of society for our future.
Sustainable Product Design Courses
12. Sustainable Product Design Online Short Course
By UAL
Language: English
It’s important to design products sustainably. The University of the Arts London has created this short online course for you to learn more about this. If you are interested in learning more about sustainable product design, take a look at this one. This sustainable product design course is perfect for designers, entrepreneurs, and other creatives interested in this field. It’s a paid course but you will gain a lot of knowledge about the key principles of sustainable design and how to make your own products more sustainable. It’s taught through online classes, live sessions but you will also have access to forums and will even receive personal feedback.
More Courses You Might Enjoy
13. Artivism: Create Inspiring Art for Change
By Skillshare
Language: English
Art is a very powerful form of communication. This course will teach you how you can use your art as a form of activism. It will inspire you to become an artist with a mission and make the world a better place. It’s time we use art and design for a good cause and change the world with it. If you don’t know where to start, this course will help get started on that path.
14. Design for Sustainability Online Short Course
By UAL
Language: English
This course takes a multidisciplinary approach to sustainable design so it doesn’t matter what you specialized in, whether that is product design, architecture, or UI, it will give you an overview of how to incorporate sustainable design thinking into your work. It’s suitable for all levels so even if you are new to the design world, you can still take this course.
It’s very hands-on and so by the end of it, you will be equipped with all the necessary skills and knowledge to embark into the world of sustainable design.
15. Botanical Printing on Fabric and Paper
By Domestika
Language: Spanish and English
Do you want to learn how to dye your own clothes in an ecological way as well as printing your own designs on textiles and paper? This course will teach you how. Taught by a textile artist, you will learn lots of tricks and techniques to dye textiles in cool ways. Later on in the course, after you master the basics, she goes on to teach you more advanced techniques that have even cooler results. This unique course will give you amazing skills in botanical printing that you can use in different ways.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are lots of ways to learn more about sustainable design, no matter what you specialize in. I hope to see even more courses in the future about sustainable design that cover every part of design including illustration, web design, and UX design. Because the truth is, everything has an impact on society and it’s our responsibility to make sure that it is making the world better, not worse.
But for now here are some other articles that you might find interesting:
