We Need to Talk About Online Design Courses

Over the past few weeks, designers we respect have started speaking openly about something that’s been quietly bothering a lot of people: the explosion of online surface pattern design courses that promise a creative career but don’t quite deliver the reality of one.

We’re not here to call anyone out by name. That’s not our style. But we are here to be honest, because that’s always been our style.

What we’re seeing

Courses are everywhere. And the marketing behind them has become extraordinary. Passive income. Six figures. Creative freedom. Build the life you deserve.

We get it. Those words are appealing. Especially if you’re sitting in a job you don’t love, with a sketchbook full of ideas and a very reasonable dream of doing something with them.

But here’s what doesn’t get said nearly enough: a lot of the people selling those dreams are earning their income from the courses themselves. Not from designing. Not from real studio work.

That’s not an education. That’s a product dressed up as one.

We’ll go first

We’ve made mistakes in this business. Real ones, that cost us real money.

We tried licensing. Brought in a consultant. Created a beautiful, considered collection. Had genuine interest from large brands. Real conversations. Real momentum.

And then it fizzled. No deal. No return. Just a significant bill and time we never got back.

We don’t teach licensing at The Print School. Not because we don’t understand it, but because we tried it properly and it didn’t work for us. It’s also not a feasible business model for the Fashion industry. Fashion brands want exclusivity and to be able to use the print for all eternity. What we’re saying is, if we haven’t used something successfully ourselves, it doesn’t go in the course. Simple as that.

That’s what we mean when we say no sugar coating. We’re not going to stand in front of you and sell you a path we haven’t walked.

But here’s where the sugar does come in

Because there is something genuinely wonderful about this work, and we don’t want that to get lost in all the noise.

We come to work every day and we design. We work with colour, with motif, with composition. We work alongside other creatives who love what they do. We present collections to global buyers. We get on planes and meet face to face with our clients, getting the intel, the loves/dislikes/needs and insights. We see our work go into the world on products that real people use and wear every day.

That is the dream. And it is our reality.

Not passive income while you sleep. Not a shortcut to six figures. Just the actual, daily joy of being a working creative, doing the thing you love, and building something sustainable from it.

That’s what we want for our students. And that’s what we teach toward.

Where we come from

Longina Phillips Designs has been a working commercial studio since 1988. We design every single day. We present to buyers every season. We know what a repeat needs to look like before it goes to print, what buyers will actually pay, and what it takes to build a body of work that moves from a portfolio to a purchase order.

We built The Print School because designers kept asking us how the industry actually works, and we kept realising that nobody was telling them the truth.

Not the aspirational version. The actual version.

What good education actually looks like

One question: does the person teaching it actually do the thing they’re teaching?

Not historically. Not occasionally. Right now, for real clients, to a professional standard.

Because the industry moves. Buyer expectations shift. If your educator isn’t in the market, they cannot teach you the market.

The other thing good education gives you is honesty. Not hype. Honest feedback on your work. Honest context about how long this takes and how hard it is. Honest information about what the commercial world actually expects from you.

That’s what we try to do. Every time.

The conversation happening right now

Designers are starting to ask harder questions. Calling out the gap between what’s promised and what’s real. We think that’s a healthy and overdue thing.

It means the community is getting smarter. And smarter designers make better decisions, about the courses they invest in, the clients they pursue, and the careers they build.

If you’re weighing up whether to invest in your education, here’s our honest advice: ask who’s teaching it. Ask whether they’re working designers or primarily course creators. Ask what a realistic outcome looks like. Not the best case. The realistic one. Don’t buy into a false dream.

And if you want to know what we teach and why, you know where to find us.

Bec and the TPS Team x

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