No. The Accelerator is built to take you from zero to a professional portfolio. What we do require is commitment — this is live, hands-on, and you’ll be working between classes. If you already know the software but can’t get hired, you’re in the right place too; we fix the part that’s actually blocking you.
No — but it’s already replacing designers who only do production. AI doesn’t design: it can’t tell you why one layout works and another doesn’t, it can’t ask a client the right question, and it can’t defend a concept in a meeting. What it does brilliantly, in trained hands, is speed up everything around the design — research, briefs, moodboards, ideation, production. That’s why AI is in the curriculum from Class 2: you’ll learn to use it the way working agencies do, as a tool like the software — it multiplies your judgment, and the design is always yours. The designers with the most to fear from AI are the ones who refuse to learn it. You won’t be one of them.
Three months. Eight weeks of live classes (16 sessions, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:00–8:15pm Pacific), followed by a month of live group Office Hours twice a week. You leave with a portfolio, not a certificate you have to explain.
Live. Every session is taught personally on Zoom — you ask questions, you get answers, and your work gets critiqued in real time. There is no watch-later version of the course — live critique is where judgment gets built — but recordings of your cohort’s sessions are available to you for reference throughout the program, so missing a class never means losing it.
Michael Marsland-Root, Owner and Creative Director of the award-winning agency, Red Five Creative. Over 20 years in design, branding and marketing, 13 of them running his own agency — and a former university graphic design instructor. Thirteen years of running his own agency — and contracting freelance designers along the way — have taught him exactly what gets a portfolio noticed and what gets it passed over. That’s the difference here.
For 13 years Michael has been taking client briefs, questioning them, presenting work, absorbing difficult feedback, and navigating the design process to a finished, approved, paid-for result. That’s what you’re actually buying: not theory, but the real-world judgment of someone who has done this successfully, on deadline, for real clients — and can teach you to do the same.
Let me be honest with you, because you’ll respect it more than a sales pitch. If you have four years and the money for a degree, take the degree. There is no substitute for what a full program gives you — the depth, the time to develop, the level of instruction. Same goes for a good two-year diploma. Those programs are excellent, and if you have the runway for one, I’d point you there before I’d point you here.
But most people asking this question don’t have four years. Or two. They have a job they need to leave, bills that don’t pause, and a decision to make now. That’s who this is built for. Three months instead of four years — because we teach you to work the way a professional actually works: strategy, briefs, client presentation, production, and the business of design. It’s compressed, it’s demanding, and it only works if you’re motivated and willing to do the hard work between classes.
Most schools only teach design. We teach design and train designers to get out there. If you’re ready to do that in three months, this is the program for you.
You can. There are thousands of design tutorials online. But tutorials teach software. They don’t teach judgment, and nobody is reviewing your work. You can watch hundreds of hours of graphic design videos and still not know why one layout works and another doesn’t — or how to defend that choice to a client.
From Week 5, the classroom becomes an agency. Assignments stop being assignments and start arriving as client emails — with briefs, budgets, timelines, revision requests, and difficult feedback. It’s the closest thing to a real job you can get before you have one.
A Mac or PC, reliable internet, and a webcam for live classes — that’s it for hardware. For design software, you choose the platform. This program teaches design and the business of design — not a piece of software — so you’re free to work in whatever professional design platform suits you, desktop or online.
Prefer Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop)? Adobe bills its monthly subscription directly (student pricing available). Prefer an online platform? Also great — just know that free plans may not carry a full course workload, so budget for that platform’s paid tier. Either way, software is billed by the platform you choose, never by Red Five Academy — tuition is the only thing we charge. And no design software is needed for the first two weeks.
You’ll also need free accounts on a handful of online platforms we work in throughout the program — AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity), moodboarding and collaboration (Milanote or Pinterest — plus Figma and Canva, which can also serve as your main design platform if you choose), stock and image sources (iStock or similar), portfolio platforms (Behance, Adobe Portfolio or Squarespace), LinkedIn, and Google Workspace. For these supporting roles, the free membership version of each is all you need — a paid tier only comes into play if one of them becomes your main design platform.
Fifteen, maximum. That cap is the point — it’s what makes real critique and one-on-one mentorship possible. Once the seats are gone, they’re gone.
Tuition is $3,950 CAD — one flat rate for every student. Payment plans are available. Full payment secures your seat. Attend the first two classes; if it isn’t for you, full refund.
Red Five Academy is a private, live training program, and several BC funding pathways may help cover the cost. Eligibility is always determined by the funder, not by us — but most people don’t ask, and they should.
If you’re unemployed or precariously employed, your local WorkBC Centre may be able to fund tuition for third-party training directly on your behalf — up to $7,500 for eligible participants. Start by meeting a WorkBC Case Manager to build an Employment Action Plan. This is the most common route for career changers.
You can claim the B.C. Employer Training Grant for yourself: self-employed people apply as the employer and name themselves as the trainee. The Province reimburses up to 80% of eligible training costs — pay $3,950 tuition and, if approved, claim back $3,160 for a net cost of $790. Your business must have been operating for at least a year, you’ll need a free Business BCeID (allow two weeks to get one), and your application must be submitted before training starts — see our Employer Grant page.
Career Paths for Skilled Immigrants helps professionals use their skills and foreign qualifications to get matching jobs in B.C. — talk to a settlement agency (ISSofBC, MOSAIC, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., PICS, DIVERSEcity). Separately, ISSofBC’s Global Talent Loans offers low-interest loans of $1,000–$30,000 to newcomers who completed post-secondary education outside Canada, covering tuition and course costs, accepted on a rolling basis.
Ask your employer about the B.C. Employer Training Grant, which reimburses employers 80% of training costs, up to $10,000 per employee. The employer applies, not you — see our Employer Grant page.
Start early — most of these require approval before training begins, and our seats fill first-come, first-served.
A full month of live group Office Hours, twice a week — you bring your portfolio, your resume, your interview nerves, and your first client questions, and get real answers.
Two ways in: book a 20-minute call if you want to talk it through first, or enrol straight away. Full payment of $3,950 secures your seat. Enrolment closes September 4, 2026 — or when the 15 seats are filled, whichever comes first.
Then apply and let’s talk. The interview is a two-way conversation, not a sales pitch — we’re both deciding whether this fits. We’d rather tell you honestly that it isn’t than take your money.