Advanced College Diploma - Graphic Design

The Graphic Design advanced diploma is Humber’s full three-year design credential, taught as a studio program with a work placement in the final year.

The sequence builds from drawing, composition and design fundamentals through typography and typographic systems, brand identity and visual systems design, editorial and publication design, packaging design, information design and data visualisation, digital and interactive design, motion graphics, advertising concept development, and design research and strategy. Third year is portfolio and professional practice: client management, pricing, contracts and the mechanics of a design career.

The difference between this and a one-year certificate is conceptual rather than technical. Both teach the software; only the longer program teaches design thinking — how to interrogate a brief, defend a concept and build a visual system that scales. That capability is what moves designers from production into art direction.

The work placement is a graded part of the program, so you finish with documented Canadian experience and a referee rather than only a transcript.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The North campus in Etobicoke is its main site, running technology, engineering, health science, business and skilled trades programs in purpose-built labs and shops rather than lecture halls, with three intakes a year and the deepest employer network in the Greater Toronto Area.

Its field maps to CIP 50.0409 (Graphic design). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Humber publishes a PGWP-eligible program list with CIP codes; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.