The first step in your creative career?

Preparatory courses in arts, design and architecture. For 12 years - with excellent results.

Download our free Admissions Guide

Are you unsure about where your dream career could start? Do you feel insecure about what are the best schools? Download our free Admissions Guide and see our top pick Universities for creative fields!

Scandinavian quality preparatory courses in visual arts, design and architecture

Scandinavian Design School helps you in applying to the college or university of your dreams. Our highly qualified teachers teach preparatory courses in arts, design and architecture with excellent results. Over 90% of our students have been admitted to bachelor's and master's degree programmes with Scandinavian Design School portfolios!

SDS online courses are made for you to succeed in applying to your choice of art, design or architecture bachelor’s and master’s degree studies, but are also helpful in creating your portfolio for professional use.

We help you stand out from the crowd with polished artworks and improved skills. In our classes, you get to practice your technical skills and conceptual thinking. Our goal is to make sure you will succeed throughout your career: applying to school, in classroom and navigating professional life.

How do our courses work?

SDS Testimonials & Results

Play

I took the Portfolio course to prepare for the entrance exam to Finnish universities and I'm really satisfied with it, especially:

- prompt and clear feedback from teachers who are expertised in the design field
- personalized study plan (In my case, they modified the content to fit my situation, as I only had a few months left to submit.)
- flexibility in contacting the teacher (email, call, zoom etc)

Thanks to the teacher and practices in advance, I got accepted to a Finnish university even though I had no previous experience studying design. If you are worried about the entrance exam or the portfolio, I recommend you to contact them once.

It's really worth it! All the assignments the same as the real admission exams (some are previous year's) and you get to know what would they ask for, how you can improve your work and how you can approach the assignments in all the stages of the process. The content is well organized and sufficient, and I love that they show us how other students did the assignment so that we could also learn from it.

This course (Aalto BA in Design preparation course) has become one of the best learning experiences for me. By the end of the course I have gotten a clear vision of what to expect from the preliminary and intake assignments and how to approach them. I got much more self-confident and understanding. Feedback I got from the teacher was honest, informative and constructive. What I appreciated the most is how the teacher has been leading us through the whole process of learning. It felt very personal and professional. She didn't restrict her advice to only the topic of the course, but has been very open and helpful in giving advice beyond the Aalto BA in Design. I would strongly recommend this course to everyone intending to apply to any design school.

Our goal is to help you get you where you want to be - be it an art school, design college or your first job as an architect, designer or artist.

Professional, Scandinavian-quality teaching

Finland is famous for great education. At Scandinavian Design School, we combine Scandinavian design expertise with world-class teaching as globally accessible online courses.

Proven methods to increase your chances of getting accepted

You’ll get the highest chances of getting into the art & design school of your dreams. Over 1000 of our students have proceeded into degree studies since 2009.

Improved technical and conceptual skills in arts and design

Learn to express your ideas in an inspiring way and get detailed feedback and personal tutoring to polish your art skills!

Courses

Live Online Preparation Course for Entrance exams

Live Online Portfolio Preparation Course

Digital Design Preparation Course

Design Preparation Course

Architecture Preparation Course

Graphic Design Preparation Course

DAE portfolio preparation course

Art Preparation Course

Art Portfolio Course

Aalto BA in Design preparation course

Start preparing for these college and university applications now!

Our courses are suitable for preparing for any arts, design and architecture college or university admissions. Here are some of our picks of top arts, design & architecture schools to consider as your first choice. The application period for these schools is approaching, so now is the moment to start preparing!

Joseph Cals, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Parsons School of Design at The New School

New York,

USA

Open

Image: Joseph Cals, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Umeå School of Architecture

Umeå,

Sweden

Open

Image: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Drefer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Aalto University

Espoo,

Finland

Open

Image: Drefer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Donaldytong, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

RMIT University

Melbourne,

Australia

Open

Image: Donaldytong, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hello,
we are your teachers

SDS teachers are experienced professionals passionate about arts, design and architecture education. We have been teaching in top universities and colleges and acted as jury members in entrance examination boards. Our goal is to help you get accepted onto your first choice of art & design college or university.

What our students say

Attending the course was the best decision I ever made. I got more self-confident and learned a lot about myself. If you want a solid base for both the entrance exams and your future studies, I recommend that you sign up. I got into every school I applied to.

Netta KuosmanenArchitecture student at University of Oulu

You get the most out of the course by routinely doing your homework. The feedback from teachers was really helpful for understanding how your skills are progressing.

Jessica FalckJunior Designer, Concepts & Content at Nitro;
Bachelor of Culture and Arts, Industrial Design, Metropolia UAS

I got so much practice and self-confidence in the course - the boost I needed to really go after my dreams! I got into Aalto University to study design, which was my first choice.

Photo: Italo Moncada @italo.mancada

Roosa HarjuStudent at Aalto University, Department of Design

The first step in your creative career?

Preparatory courses in arts, design and architecture. For 12 years - with excellent results.

Download our free Admissions Guide

Are you unsure about where your dream career could start? Do you feel insecure about what are the best schools? Download our free Admissions Guide and see our top pick Universities for creative fields!

Scandinavian quality preparatory courses in visual arts, design and architecture

How do our courses work?

SDS Testimonials & Results

Here to help you get in

Our goal is to help you get you where you want to be - be it an art school, design college or your first job as an architect, designer or artist.

Professional, Scandinavian-quality teaching

Proven methods to increase your chances of getting accepted

Improved technical and conceptual skills in arts and design

Courses

Start preparing for these college and university applications now!

Parsons School of Design at The New School

Umeå School of Architecture

Aalto University

RMIT University

Hello,we are your teachers

What our students say

Photo: Italo Moncada @italo.mancada

SDS Blog

Ready to take the first steps of your dream career?

Courses

Contact Us

Contact Us

Contact Us

Hello,
we are your teachers