How Otis Extension’s New Digital Design Tools for Fashion Certificate Builds Industry-Ready Skills

Instructor and author of Adobe for Fashion: Illustrator, Robin Schneider explains how the accelerated online program prepares designers for today’s fashion industry.

Otis Extension’s new Digital Design Tools for Fashion is an accelerated, fully online certificate program intended to get students up and running in targeted, applicable, and advanced technical skills. Over two terms, emerging and experienced designers alike take three courses that each cover programs needed to transform concepts into professional-quality sketches, digital flats, illustrations, and presentation-ready designs: Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Students come away with practical, job-ready digital skills while understanding how these tools support concept development, technical design, fashion illustration, and professional presentation.

This accelerated certificate is ideal for designers who want to strengthen their technical foundation, improve their visual communication skills, and build a more professional digital workflow. Students learn from faculty with expertise across fashion design, illustration, Adobe tools, textile design, and professional creative practice. 

Robin Schneider is one of the program’s key instructors and is the preeminent source on teaching technical tools for fashion, having authored Adobe for Fashion: Illustrator, the textbook used in fashion design programs around the world. She also has created several Illustrator and Photoshop for fashion courses on LinkedIn Learning and trained designers at such companies as Juicy Couture, Belk, and Liz Claiborne. 

Schneider recently shared more about Otis Extension’s new Digital Design Tools for Fashion certificate program and how she brings her real-world knowledge into the classroom. 

Who is the Digital Design Tools for Fashion certificate ideally suited for? 

The program is good for recent college graduates who want to have an edge in job interviews, or anyone currently working in the fashion industry who wants to improve their digital design skills and bring them up to current industry standards.  

What insight from your own experience do you bring to this program?

I have devoted my career to training students and professionals in the latest digital techniques to give them a strong skill set for entering the fashion industry. Because everyone is so busy, I want to give value to every student willing to devote their precious time to taking one of my classes.

What balance does this program offer in terms of teaching specific skills versus industry preparedness?

Since this is an Otis Extension class, we focus on the key skills needed to draw professional-quality computer-assisted designs (CAD) for fashion. We help get students up and running in record time with the skills needed to excel in this fast-paced industry.

How important is it for fashion industry professionals to stay current with changing technology and skills? 

It is critical. Even if you are in a position to hire out for CADs and tech packs, you need to know if you are getting the most for your money. If you know what the reasonable expectations are you can be a better supervisor or business owner. If you are the one doing the technical work, time is money, so knowing how to work quickly and efficiently will allow you to take on more work in less time and bill accordingly.

What do you enjoy most about teaching Otis Extension students?

Most Extension students have professional experience and bring that to the table. They ask great questions, sometimes steer the class into new territory, and really appreciate the value in what they are learning in class. They already know how to apply it, or have had situations where this information would have made a difference in their work.

More about the Digital Design Tools for Fashion program, the first class of which begins September 24, 2026. 

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