You don’t need to step into a classroom to get masterclasses from design professionals on topics such as motion, graphic, and UX design. All you need is a YouTube account and you’re ready to start.
But with the number of channels out there, it’s nearly impossible to settle on one video or YouTuber to start with. That’s why we curated this list of the fifteen YouTube channels all digital designers should check out.
Subscribe to these YouTube channels for inspiration, tutorials, or just to get a little creative break from your workday.
1. femke
Creator: Femke von Schoonhoven
Subject: UX, research, and product design
Suggested video: How I got a design job at Uber
Femke von Schoonhoven is a full-time product designer at Uber who launched her YouTube channel early 2019. Her channel hosts a variety of different videos on UX and product design as well as a look into her own career trajectory. Subscribe if you’re interested in seeing an in-depth look into the life of a UX designer.
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2. Hello, I’m Alexa
Subject: UX and product design
Suggested video: A day in the life of a UX designer in San Francisco (but forreal)
Alexa Herasimchuk is a Bay Area-based product designer who created this small but fantastic channel to help viewers learn more about the product design industry. She covers everything from career topics like how to create a UX design portfolio to interesting talks with other designers like this one with a design systems designer for DoorDash. Highly recommended for those looking to get a start in UX and product design.
3. Satori Graphics
Creator: Tom Cargill
Subject: Freelancing advice and speed art
Suggested video: 3 mistakes I made as a young designer
Tom Cargill brings a great mix of no-nonsense tutorials on topics such as workflow tips and poster design, and even career and personal development videos such as breakdowns of a good design contract and the mentality you need to be a successful designer. It’s a great channel for any young, early-career designers looking to learn more about the industry.
4. Zimri Mayfield
Creator: Zimri Mayfield
Subject: Design inspiration and memes
Suggested video: How to design 1 logo in 3 unique styles
Zimri’s irreverent personality injects a lot of humor into each of his videos making them very entertaining. Along with a host of design tutorials, he also frequently engages with his audience in video challenges like this one where he redesigns user submitted logos.
He’s a frenetic YouTuber more akin to the likes of PewDiePie than what you’d expect from a design tutorial channel—and that’s exactly what makes him great.
5. Sketch Together
Creator: Pablo Stanley
Subject: Design tutorials
Suggested video: Late night design: Design leadership
Pablo’s channel mixes design tutorials (well, it’s mostly design tutorials) with interviews with design leaders and live design sessions. Pablo’s walkthroughs of his own successful projects, like Humaaans and Buttss (no, we’re not kidding), give insight into both his design process and how he comes up with his wild ideas.
6. Google Design
Creator: Google
Subject: Material design and Google design principles
Suggested video: Making material design
Interested in the design systems and values that drive one of the most successful companies in the world? Google Design is the search engine platform’s YouTube channel dedicated to exactly that
Along with providing insights into their design processes, Google Design also uploads videos of their in-house speaker series, where they invite design innovators such as Golden Krishna to speak about developments in the design world.
7. Mike Locke
Creator: Mike Locke
Subject: UX design and career advice
Suggested video: Getting started in UX design in 2019
Product designer and educator Mike Locke teaches his viewers the principles behind UX design. Though the topic can be pretty confusing to even the most seasoned designer, Mike breaks it down in an easy-to-digest way. He also offers an online course for anyone who wants to get a handle on UI/UX concepts.
8. Will Paterson
Creator: Will Paterson
Subject: Logo design, calligraphy, and freelancing advice
Suggested video: How to design a modern logo
Will Paterson created his YouTube channel in 2012 and has since become one of the platform’s biggest names in graphic design. His channel offers great and informative videos on everything from hand lettering tutorials to how to make passive income as a designer.
Will’s not afraid to inject his personality into each video and teaching skills that you may never have even thought existed—like creating logos with coffee beans.
9. Eyedesyn
Creator: EJ Hassenfratz
Subject: Cinema 4D tutorials, 3D modeling, and motion graphic design
Suggested video: Creating soft body dynamic strings
EJ Hassenfratz is a Denver-based motion designer drawing upon more than a decade of experience working with Cinema 4D and creating stunning motion graphic designs.
His videos help you get started using motion graphic software. If you’re interested in learning even more about motion graphic design, EJ collaborated with the School of Motion to offer a course on how to get started with Cinema 4D.
10. The Futur
Creator: Chris Do
Subject: Design career advice
Suggested video: How to Start & Run a Design Business: Pricing & Estimating Creative Design Jobs
Founded by Emmy-winning director Chris Do, the Futur dedicates itself to teaching creatives how to be successful entrepreneurs. Along with lessons such as how to charge more for a logo and how to build a brand, The Futur also gives great lessons on design concepts like UX design and typography tips.
For those interested in diving even deeper, their website also has a robust catalog of courses to help you jump start your design career.
11. Flux
Creator: Ran Segall
Subject: Vlog, design tutorials, and freelance/business advice
Suggested video: How to price your first freelance project
Ran Segall is a designer and startup founder who created a channel to share their design work, freelance stories, and work process. He uploads a video every day of the week (!) for his 88k subscribers and they’re rarely longer than thirty minutes—though he’s also known for teaming up with other designers for interviews and #deeptalks.
12. CharliMarieTV
Creator: Charli Prangley
Subject: Vlog, design tutorials, and freelancing advice
Suggested video: The three types of design jobs
Charli Prangley is a digital nomad, entrepreneur, and designer for ConvertKit — not to mention the creator of one of the most popular design channels on YouTube. Her videos cover the gamut of design topics such as how to design a website, how to get paid on time, and what it’s like to work from home as a designer.
13. Vox
Creator: Vox
Subject: Explainers on culture, politics, art, music, design, and pretty much everything else.
Suggested video: Their entire “By Design” playlist
Vox is famous for its video explainers and articles breaking down complicated news in a digestible way. While any one of their videos can be a great font of inspiration, designers will love their “By Design” series where they take a look at “the intersection of design and technology.” It’s a fantastic resource for design history and a deep look at why certain designs are the way they are.
14. TED
Creator: TED
Subject: Lectures from leading thinkers and innovators
Suggested video: Check out our article on the 7 TED Talks every designer should watch for great videos
TED Talks gives viewers a look into the thoughts of some of the foremost innovators and thought leaders in the world. They also have a host of great talks on design—more than 300 of them in fact. If you don’t have time to watch all 300, be sure to read our article on the ones you should watch.
15. Jesse Showalter
Creator: Jesse Showalter
Subject: Design and code, design thinking, and the business of design
Suggested video: 5 best places to find remote and design jobs
Jesse Showalter’s channel gives his 10K+ subscribers a look into his life as a full-time full-stack designer balancing freelance, family, and surfing. His product reviews, looks into his personal creative process, and design 101 explanations (see: UX vs. UI design) give a full look into a designer’s life.
Surpise! 16. InVision
Creator: InVision
Subject: InVision tutorials and interviews with professional creatives
Suggested video: What is the UX design process?
You didn’t think we’d go the entire list and not shout out our channel did you? That’d be crazy—especially since our channel contains great videos breaking down exactly how to use the InVision app for your design process. Along with helpful tutorials on InVision Studio and Sketch, you’ll also get great interviews with leading designers in our DesignBetter.co podcast videos and our Design Talks series.
by Tony Ho Tran
Tony is a content marketing consultant and freelance writer. His work has been seen in Business Insider, MSNBC, Hootsuite, and GrowthLab.
