What design opportunities can high schoolers find?
Design is a wide field for high schoolers: graphic design, product design, user experience, illustration and design for social good.
You can find pre-college programs at art and design schools, design challenges run by museums and nonprofits, online courses in tools like Figma, and design categories in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. A lot of design learning also comes from real requests: a poster for a club, a logo for a friend’s business, a sign for a community event.
How should you choose a design program or competition?
Look for programs that teach a process, not just software: researching who the design is for, sketching many options, testing them and revising. Ask what you'll finish with, whether one polished piece or a set of projects that shows your thinking. Check the cost, which tools you need and whether they are free for students. For competitions, read the brief closely, because judges notice when a design solves the problem it was given.
How can you practice design this month?
- Redesign something confusing you use every day, like a school form or a cafeteria menu, and show the before and after.
- Make the poster for your next club event. Ask three people what they read first.
- Rebuild one screen of an app you use in a free design tool like Figma.
- Fill a page with 20 quick logo sketches for one made-up brand before choosing one.
- Write a short case study of one project: the problem, your options, what you chose and why.
Where Nextreks fits
Design work is strongest with its story attached, and your Nextreks portfolio can hold the sketches, drafts and final piece together. You choose what is public. Design also uses durable skills like empathy and communication every day: understanding who you are designing for and explaining your choices.
Programs in Explore are run by other organizations. Nextreks lists them but does not run or guarantee them.