Landscape Design
Turn your passion for the outdoors into a rewarding career as a professional landscape designer. You can become a certified professional from home and launch your own business in a few short months with QC’s online landscape design course!
Throughout this course, you’ll learn how to design custom exteriors from plants to pathways and more. You’ll discover how to use different design styles and materials to create unique outdoor spaces designed to relax and inspire clients.
In step-by-step videos, you’ll learn how to create professional scaled drawings that bring your vision to life. You’ll also study color theory and the basics of horticulture in order to recommend the best choices to your clients.
Through hands-on and theory-based assignments, you’ll learn how to work with a variety of budget types, scenarios, and client personalities. If you plan on running a landscape design business, the final unit of the course will teach you everything you need to know about launching and running a successful business.
Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to work with an industry expert and develop your skills!
Upon graduation, you’ll receive an industry-recognized certification and the designation of International Landscape Design Professional (ILDP). With your certificate and professional title, you’ll be ready to start your own business or work for an existing landscaping firm right away.
This Course Is Best Suited For
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Anyone with an interest in designing and decorating outdoor spaces
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Those who wish to start their own landscape design business
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Creative professionals ready for a career change
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Individuals looking for a creative hobby or part-time career
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Professionals already working in the design & decorating industry
Course Curriculum
UNIT A
Foundations of Landscape Design
Learn about the landscape design industry and the role of a professional landscape designer. Your introductory text will take you through every step of the design process, from the initial consultation and site visit to the final landscape design drawing. You’ll learn about the types of sites and projects you might work on throughout your career and the reasons your clients will hire you. You’ll discover how you can increase the perceived value of your clients’ homes and properties by improving curb appeal. Then you’ll jump into the landscape design process and learn how to gather essential information during a consultation and site visit.
Introduction to Landscape Design
Find out what professional landscape designers do, and learn about the skills and personality traits that will help you succeed in this industry. You’ll discover the landscape design process step-by-step and explore the types of sites you can expect to work on, including residential site renovations and new builds. You’ll also learn about some of the many job opportunities in the landscape industries and the industry professionals you’ll work with throughout your career.
Curb Appeal
In this section, you’ll learn about how your landscape design services can add value to your clients’ homes and properties by addressing curb appeal. Discover the important views you must consider to boost a properties curb appeal. Learn about the importance of maintenance and function when it comes to the plants and structures in a front yard design. You’ll also explore popular home architectural styles and how you can complement these styles with your landscape designs.
Conducting Site Visits
Learn how to conduct an initial consultation and site visit to gather essential information about a project. You’ll discover the main points you should cover during a consultation to ensure you understand your client’s goals and expectations for the site, as well as the project budget. Learn to identify the key areas of a site you must consider and evaluate before planning a design, including orientation, buildings, structures, soil quality and plant health. You’ll also learn to collect accurate measurements and take photos to help you complete various landscape drawings throughout the design process.
UNIT B
Creating the Concept
In this unit, you’ll discover key factors in developing a functional landscape design. You’ll learn about spatial planning and the “outdoor room concept.” Explore the ways you can use these concepts to organize a site into distinct areas that meet your clients’ functional needs. You’ll also learn about planning the hardscape and softscape of a landscape site. The hardscape consists of all the non-living elements of a site, including decks, fire pits and gazebos. The softscape refers to the garden plants, trees, shrubs and all other plants on a site.
Planning Outdoor Spaces
Learn how to organize a site into three broad categories based on the outdoor room concept, including living areas, public areas and service areas. Each of these areas serves a distinct function. You’ll learn about popular uses for living areas in the backyard of a site, including entertaining guests and relaxing in the garden. Explore important considerations for planning the public area, or front yard, of a site to design functional and attractive spaces. Discover strategies to disguise service areas of a site, which usually contain unattractive tools and equipment designed for functional purposes. You’ll also learn important considerations for planning safe sites.
Softscapes
Learn about the living, growing parts of landscape design. Discover how flowers, garden plants, greenery, trees and shrubs add structure and visual interest to a site. You’ll learn about different types of softscape and the functional roles each type plays in a landscape design design. You’ll also find out essential information about how growth conditions on a site will affect the health of the softscape.
Hardscapes
Learn about the non-living, man-made features of the landscape. Find out how to design attractive hardscape features that add structure and purpose to your designs. You’ll also discover the different landscape contractors you might work with to advise you on your hardscape designs and complete site installations. You’ll learn about common preparations a site may require before hardscape installation can begin. Discover the variety of materials you can use to design beautiful, long-lasting hardscapes and the types of structures and surfaces you might include in your designs.
UNIT C
Plants in Landscape Design
Learn about how plants live, grow and die to design healthy softscapes. You’ll read about plant classifications, physiology and growing conditions and learn how these factors will affect your landscape designs. Discover popular garden styles through the ages and how to design modern gardens that exceed your clients’ expectations. You’ll learn important factors of sustainable and environmentally friendly landscape design.
Understanding Plants in the Softscape
You’ll learn about plant classification and physiology to introduce the basic science of plants. Discover how plant processes such as photosynthesis and respiration will impact your landscape designs. You’ll also learn how to use a site’s sunlight, soil and moisture levels determine the health of plants and find out how to recognize signs of disease in plants.
Garden Design
Learn how to combine plant science with design to plan beautiful gardens. Discover the evolution of gardening and garden styles to inform your garden design projects. Learn to recognize notable features of popular garden styles, such as French traditional and cottage style gardens. Find out the steps involved in planning a garden front start to finish and discover useful strategies to help you select plants for and place plants in a garden design.
Environmentally Friendly Landscape Design
Discover how you can make environmentally friendly choices in your landscape designs. Learn about the key factors involved in sustainable landscape design, including water conservation and preserving native plants. You’ll learn environmentally friendly gardening techniques that you can recommend to your clients to help them organically deter weeds and pests. Find out how you can use environmentally friendly landscape design to specialize your services and market your business.
UNIT D
Technical Skills
Explore the principles and elements of design and discover how to apply these foundational aspects of design to a landscape site. You’ll also discover the many different types of landscape diagrams and drawings you’ll develop throughout the design process. Learn how to develop high-quality, professional drawings that you’re proud to present to your clients.
Principles and Elements of Landscape Design
Discover the essential design considerations you’ll need to account for when you design beautiful outdoor spaces. You’ll learn to use balance, focalization, scale and other principles and when you plan the hardscape as well as the softscape. Explore design elements such as color theory, fragrance, form and texture to design truly beautiful spaces that your clients appreciate and enjoy.
Landscape Design Drawings
Learn about the tools and supplies you’ll use to complete your work. Discover the concept of scale and how to develop scaled landscape drawings that accurately represent your design. You’ll learn about common landscape design features you can use to represent different features in your drawings and important information you must include in your designs. Learn about the step-by-step processes you’ll follow to develop essential landscape drawings from base maps to your final landscape designs.
UNIT E
Optional Business Unit
Once you’ve competed units A-D, you’ll have the option to complete a specialized business unit designed for landscape designers. Learn important steps involved in business start-up. Explore the world of marketing and promotion, including how to build your brand and market your business online. Learn to communicate with clients and discover practical techniques to help you sell your services. You’ll also cover special topics such as working with vendors and contractors and developing a professional portfolio of your work.
Starting Your Own Business
Knowing how to operate a business is a highly valuable skill. Discover the business skills you’ll need as a landscape designer, including business start-up, setting up an office, managing your finances and writing a business plan. Learn about the tasks you’ll need to complete as a business owner, and the professionals you’ll consult with to help you along the way.
Marketing and Promotion
Learn about the different ways you can advertise your landscape design business to find new clients. You’ll learn to build a brand that speaks to your target audience, develop a website and use social media to advertise your business. Study pricing strategies in order to create your own professional rates and service packages and write offers and promotions. You’ll learn how to write effective advertising copy using the AIDA formula, one of the most widely used techniques in the marketing world.
Portfolio Development
A professional portfolio is one of the most effective ways to market and promote your business. Discover how to select the right photos of your work to captivate potential clients. Learn the elements involved in taking professional photos. Explore the different ways you can present your work, including printed and online portfolios and learn how obtain the proper permissions to share these photos for marketing purposes.
Working with Clients
Developing and maintaining strong client relationships is an essential skill for a landscape designer. Familiarize yourself with warm and cold prospects. Study various examples of prospect conversations and learn how to build positive client relations. Learn strategies to overcome objections and sell your design services. Explore formal documents such as client invoices and contracts that a landscape design professional will use for every project.
Working with Vendors and Contractors
Discover the many landscape professionals you’ll work with to complete different types of landscape design projects. Learn how these professionals can help you plan your designs and develop project estimates. Explore strategies to build a network of local professionals to work with on your projects and develop mutually beneficial referral programs. Learn important skills for project management and discover techniques to negotiate discounts for your clients.
Sample Assignment
QC’s step-by-step program will take you through every aspect of the landscape design process. Hands-on assignments are created to put you in the designer’s seat. You’ll analyze real-world scenarios that will develop your creative and professional skills as a professional landscape designer.
In the sample assignment below, you’ll help a mock client create a low-maintenance backyard garden.
When you enroll, you’ll receive a Course Guide with easy-to-follow instructions on uploading your assignments to the Online Student Center and downloading your tutor’s evaluation and audio feedback. Additionally, QC’s helpful Student Support Team is ready and willing to guide you through your assignments and answer any questions you have along the way. Connect with the support team by phone, email or Live Chat – whichever you prefer.
“I have gained so much with the courses at QC Design School. It’s helped me gain confidence and knowledge as [a designer] and looking forward to more certificates ahead. The staff and teachers have been great and they have been so helpful through the courses I’ve enrolled in. Thanks, QC.”
Lorraine PutzInternational Design & Decorating Professional
Learn from Industry Experts
When you enroll with QC Design School, you’ll be matched with an industry professional currently working in the field who will review your work and provide you with in-depth feedback and advice on every assignment. These accomplished tutors have years of experience in the design industry and are eager to share their professional insight to help you succeed.
Your personal tutor will provide you with in-depth audio feedback on each assignment to let you know what you did well and how you could improve. Use this feedback to guide you through the next unit in your course.
Flexible Payment Plans
Your Tuition Includes
- Online lessons and instructional videos
- Lifetime access to digital course materials in the Online Student Center
- Access to student support 7 days a week
- A complete business training series
- Your certificate upon graduation