In-Demand Topics

Looking for your next great class idea? This article highlights what Skillshare members are actively searching for, where we see opportunity and how you can use top-searched topics to help your content get discovered.

In this article:

How to Use This Data
What’s In Demand Right Now
High Opportunity Areas
Top Search Topics By Category

How to Use This Data

Teachers frequently ask us: What kind of content are students looking for? This article is to help you answer that question, and to make sure your next class aligns with your passions and student demand.

We’ve pulled together insights based on search trends and engagement data across Skillshare, highlighting:

Topics members are actively searching for
Insights from student interviews and/or class structures teachers tend to see success with
Common search topics (keywords) to help optimize your content for discovery in search

There are a few ways you can put this data into action:

Find your next class topic. Start with what excites you within your area of expertise, then use this list to narrow in on high-interest areas or under-served niches that match this.
Leverage for discovery. Already have a topic in mind? Use the topics as keywords here to inform your class title and description, so it’s easier for students to find.
Expand your offerings. If you’re planning a 1-on-1 Session or digital product, these topics can help you identify what members might need support with or tools for.

Check back often! We update this page quarterly to reflect what members are searching for most.

What’s In Demand Right Now

Our top searched creative areas on Skillshare are very consistently: Watercolor, drawing, illustration, graphic design, photography, Animation & Video Editing.
Our top searched tools on Skillshare are: Procreate, Blender, After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva and DaVinci Resolve.
Students want to make things! We’re seeing a seasonal rise in search terms like knitting & crochet, and projects across Art & Illustration remain very popular
Students are interested in how you’re using AI! We saw an increase in searches for Claude last quarter, and notice that classes around leveraging these tools in practice tend to resonate more than simple how-to’s. For example: How are you using Claude in your Design Practice? In your small business?
As Skillshare continues to focus on the creative disciplines where learners are most engaged, a reminder that we recently reduced our investment in the following categories: Development, Home & Lifestyle, Writing & Publishing, Personal Development, Marketing & Business, Music & Audio, and Productivity. While many classes in these categories remain available on the platform and continue to serve engaged audiences, we are prioritizing growth and new class development outside of these categories.

High Opportunity Areas

These are topics and class formats where we tend to see demand and hear an interest in from students. Consider how you can incorporate these insights into your class!

Bite-Sized, Time-Bound Learning Continues to be in Demand

We often hear from students that they have limited time in a day to dedicate to Skillshare and love when they can take a class in digestible ‘chunks’. In that vein, challenge classes - classes that guide students through a sequence of small, achievable projects over a defined time period - continue to perform well on Skillshare, especially in Painting.

This format can be a great way for a newer teacher to find an audience: giving students a chance to make something with you in an achievable period of time lets them get to know your style and what they can expect to learn and make from your classes.

While Art & Illustration topics, especially watercolor and drawing, tend to be a natural fit for this format, teachers have also seen success with journaling or creative prompt classes. Any class idea that offers a series of quick, shareable projects could make a great challenge class.

Promise Something Tangible - And Get Into it Quickly!

Name what they’ll walk away with. Many new classes that see strong performance don’t promise a subject, they promise an outcome - something a student can picture finishing. For example: 10 patterns in 10 days or Nomad Sculpt Tutorial: [insert character here].
Make the first lesson short & break up the lessons. The classes students stay with longest tend to open fast with a short intro around 1-2 minutes. Use your introductions to enable students to get to know you while also getting to know what they came to do.

It’s also worth breaking your class into more, shorter lessons rather than fewer long ones. T. Smaller steps give people a natural place to stop and come back - which is how a class gets finished.

Clarity Meets Personality

One thing we hear again and again is how much students value connecting with Skillshare teachers. This is part of what makes Skillshare unique: the ability to learn from someone whose approach resonates with you and who brings their own perspective. At the same time, many students arrive with a specific goal in mind and are looking for clear guidance on where to start - and where to go next.

We encourage you to offer both. Set expectations upfront by clearly outlining what students will gain from your class, while also infusing your teaching with your personal story. How did you learn this skill? What sparked your own learning journey? And once students finish the class and complete their project, what should they do next?

Classes focused on AI for Creatives

Aligned with our AI Principles, we know Skillshare can be a meaningful destination for creators and creative people to learn and explore how to use AI effectively and ethically without replacing what makes creativity so powerful: the human behind it.

Keep in mind: you don’t need to be an AI expert to teach in this area. AI is ever-evolving and we’re all explorers here! If you’re using AI to streamline your creative process or grow your business, there’s likely an audience eager to learn from your experience, even in a short class. Just be sure to go beyond the hype: members are looking for practical, thoughtful guidance they can apply to their own work.

Since AI is non-stop and ever-changing, we continue to be interested in showcasing how you’re exploring AI as a creative now and the results you’re seeing with it. When it comes to AI, we’re all learning together. Think about:

We’re interested in classes that showcase:

How you’re using different tools (e.g. Claude, Canva AI),
…for different applications (e.g. image generation, workflow simplification)...
…across a multitude of categories (e.g. Design, Film & Video, Art & Illustration)

There is definitely an opportunity for short classes here and we encourage you to think about that format!

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