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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Fundamentals of Graphic Design by California Institute of the Arts

4.8
stars
17,036 ratings

About the Course

Graphic Design is all around us! Words and pictures—the building blocks of graphic design—are the elements that carry the majority of the content in both the digital world and the printed world. As graphic design becomes more visible and prevalent in our lives, graphic design as a practice becomes more important in our culture. Through visual examples, this course will teach you the fundamental principles of graphic design: imagemaking, typography, composition, working with color and shape... foundational skills that are common in all areas of graphic design practice. I don't just want you to watch a video of someone talking about design, I want you to MAKE design! If you want to be a designer you have to be a maker and a communicator, so this course will offer you lots of opportunities to get your hands dirty with exercises and with more practical projects. At the end of this course you will have learned how to explore and investigate visual representation through a range of image-making techniques; understand basic principles of working with shape, color and pattern; been exposed to the language and skills of typography; and understand and have applied the principles of composition and visual contrast. If you complete the course, along with its optional (but highly recommended) briefs, you will have a core set of graphic design skills that you can apply to your own projects, or to more deeply investigate a specialized area of graphic design. To succeed in this course you will need access to a computer. You can complete this course without one but it will be tougher. Access to, and a beginner's level knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite programs, such as Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign will help you, especially if you want to complete the optional briefs....

Top reviews

GA

Aug 20, 2018

Very interesting, I liked the format. Easy to follow, nice excercises. It's actually good to cover the basics of design, even if you are not an absolute beginner, and especially if you are self taught

CS

May 9, 2018

An ok course for beginners. A bit too basic for someone who has already had experience in design, but is great anyway cause it breaks things back down to the simplest parts to help you remember roots.

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376 - 400 of 4,401 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Nimmy C

Jul 4, 2020

The course... Yes it was a very informative and interesting session with wonderful drawing/hands on assignments..... I like this course. Being an electrical engineer it was a new experience and a new opportunity to learn this course. Thank you the coursera team. 👍

By David R

Jun 1, 2020

Perfect for those of us who need an introduction to the basic principles behind graphic design. I'm a writer and know next to nothing about how my work gets laid out and included in the composition of modern graphics. This course put it all into perspective for me.

By Druzhkov K

Mar 23, 2016

I enjoyed the course a lot! The information was well-structured and clear. There was great emphasis on practice that helped to understand the given material on a deeper level. Receiving feedback from students and analyzing the works of others was also wery helpful.

By Murtaza M

Feb 6, 2022

First of all, thanks for giving me the oppurtunity to study this course, it has helped me understand the design and the fundamentals that goes behind in making a good design! I would ask more people to enroll in this course and understand the basics of designing.

By Sandra B

May 30, 2020

I really enjoyed every week, and the different assignments. The professor, his instructions were clear, concise and easy to understand! I would love that the forums were more easy to participate and follow the comments, overall this class exceeded my expectations!

By PANTHANGI S

Sep 28, 2020

I loved doing this course. It gave me a clear and a broader perspective understanding on the fundamentals of graphic design. Every topic was explained clearly and relevant examples were given for each topic. Now I feel confident about my work! Thank you Cal Arts!

By Alice S

Jul 3, 2018

It isn't rocket science, but this course gave me an opportunity to ponder design, to start seeing patterns EVERYWHERE, and exposed me to student work that helped me understand concepts. My advice is to peer grade as many projects as you can. You will learn a lot!

By Ilyes S H

Dec 17, 2015

Great course, I had a lot of Graphic Design courses recently and this is the best , it's the best approach to learn Graphic Design and be a designer too, not like other courses just reading theories as a story without knowing even how to make a step in the field.

By Aya B

Mar 16, 2023

This course is amazing and worthy of your time and money, it teaches you the very basic skills that you need in graphic design, and what I loved the most is the briefs, you get to practice the skills that you've learned in the course...I absolutely recommend it.

By Stephanie M

Jul 3, 2017

This was a very interactive course. I loved that it combined practical applications of the coursework with peer graded assignments. The process of both receiving and providing feedback to classmates is very helpful in improving your work throughout the course.

By Ige B

Apr 3, 2021

I really love this program thanks alot this program as really helped me most especially in my color picking and different way of making monograms and business cards I really appreciate and I will make sure I register for the next course under this same programs

By Juachi O

Aug 3, 2017

I have an Architecture background and have done Graphic Design work on the side. It was nice to properly learn about the concepts I use intuitively and learn to apply them intentionally.

This is a really well paced program and I enjoyed the assignments as well.

By هبة ا

Sep 11, 2023

لقد أحببت هذه الدورة لقد علمتني بعض الأساسيات التي لم أكن أعرفها

والجزء الأفضل فيها الوظائف والتطبيق العملي

شكراً لهذه الدورة

I loved this course it taught me some basics that I didn't know

The best part is the functionality and practicality

Thanks for this course

By Debarati S

Jan 7, 2022

A well created compact yet so lucid course designed for beginners like me, who had no background or idea about graphic designing. I had a complete ball while doing this course, and fell in love with the subject. Thanks for creating such an inspiring programme.

By Kalluri P K

May 30, 2020

I'm really satisfied with the course and learned the basic fundamentals . But instead of option peer assignments if you make it required then that would work effectively on students.... as they will try to learn something new , work on it , and get experience.

By nivedita p

May 25, 2020

I have learned a lot through this course. Some people might find it a very basic course but to anaive like me it helped a lot. Assignments and peer review process was also very good and it was really a fun to submit assignments. I would recommend this course.

By Viktoriya F

Feb 23, 2020

I enjoyed video lectures very much. Interesting practical assignments, useful forum, helpful staff and mentors.

After course I have much better understanding how principles of graphic design working, how to use color wheel and typography in more efficient way.

By Seung L

Feb 2, 2020

I really liked the course, it motivates you to start from the very fundamentals which is a great way to strengthen your overall graphic skills. The courses are simple and informative and I would continue to take other courses as well within the specialization.

By Selby C

Jan 24, 2017

This course really demystified graphic design, and taught me some basics so I feel like I'm not completely lost anymore when I make or design things. The videos are really well produced and easy to follow, and I learned a lot from the assignments and projects.

By CARLOS R A H

Mar 14, 2021

Good course for beginners. It was very fun and informative, looking forward for the next course in the specialization. I think all activities should be evaluated though, some of them being optional makes people upaload anything and not having serious reviews.

By 程若茜

Oct 20, 2017

I really enjoy this course. It not only talks a lot practical techniques about graphic design, but allows me a lot of chances to creat my own artworks. I enjoy the processing of doing hands-on tasks. I am very motivated and encouraged during the whole course.

By Tina M

Jul 20, 2017

This course deftly forms the necessary base in Graphic Design study - I especially appreciated that it begins with the practice of making images using different media. The core concepts are well presented and the exercises actually help reinforce the lessons.

By Oluwasola M

Nov 17, 2015

Learnt a lot more about the design process so far in the week two of the course. Experimentation is constantly encourage during the classes and course exercise, i believe its an essential process every designer should embrace to communicate ideas effectively.

By umar w

Sep 2, 2023

This was an incredible course, I learned the original concepts of creating objects, and shapes and then converting them into a texture. This was awesome, before this I was downloading the images of textures to use in my designs but now I am creating them. :)

By Andres V

Aug 30, 2020

Excellent course, very well structured. Starting from the basic notions in a single month it was possible to learn about the bases of graphic design. Excellent tutor, his videos were very clear and illustrative. The activities help reinforce learning. Great