This article explores the idea of pedagogic affect in both onsite and online graphic design learning spaces, and speculates on the role that this affect plays in the formation of the design student. I argue that embodied design knowledge is built by interactions with design professionals, activities that mimic the daily work of designers, and practices of display such as exemplar student work galleries within design schools. Therefore bodies in motion, and the places they move within, take on more importance in the making‐up of a graphic design student than we may expect. This idea has obvious implications for online design learning. Drawing on concepts from both Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) and Non‐Representational Theory (NRT), this article works three empirical instances of affect. The analysis presented is targeted towards exploring the contribution of affect to teaching in onsite and online learning spaces. As the practices described here carry through time and space to other design schools, the findings put forward have implications for a broad suite of practices in design education. Thinking through how affect plays out in the onsite design school points the way towards the creation of more vibrant online learning spaces.