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

4.8
stars
16,087 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

FS

Jul 13, 2020

Excellent course to learn and refresh about fundamentals of design....It applies to all spheres of MULTIMEDIA..Highly recommended... As a suggestion course and notes should be available in PDF format.

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151 - 175 of 4,125 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Sabrina S

Apr 23, 2020

I loved this course. It really sparked my creativity. An amazing jumpstart into Graphic Design, the basics, the first compositions. It helped me getting a feel for Graphic Design, but also resulted in getting me hyped and intrigued, too. Michael Worthington is an amazing sparring partner for the beginning of a new creative start :-) I can really recommend this class to everyone who's in need of inspiration, techniques and creative ideas.

By Kim W

Sep 14, 2017

I enjoyed taking the Fundamentals of Graphic Design class...it was fun & I learned a lot more than I expected. This class will help me to continue my path in graphic design. I'm glad we learned how to design business cards as well as a poster and to create our own original designs. I give this class an A+ ...the instructor is excited about graphic design and gives a practical summary in his videos. Very creative and interesting class!

By Sister E B

Feb 9, 2016

The course provides just what it promises. Each module presents a set of concepts or theories are foundational to graphic design. These come to life in the lectures with many real world examples. The design assignments don't work toward a single fixed solution, but ask the student to explore many possible solutions -- a training in divergent thinking and creativity. I am looking forward to the other courses in this specialization.

By F A

Jul 18, 2018

I always loved design so everything that has do to with it gets me exited. This course is great introduction to it, and its great to get your hands "dirty" and get the creativity flowing. Very easy to follow, with great instructions and examples. I recommend to everyone with a taste for design, if your're only starting it's very fun and easy to follow, if you're experience it's a reminder that design can be created from everything.

By Sahil S

Apr 9, 2021

Unlike tutorials and things, this actually gives you just the right amount of stuff and lets you off on your way, that said, this course can be completed without any troubles, but there is great benefit in people who are willing to go into the details in the short videos and reflect on it and follow their guidelines to the T and work on assignments, you will surely gain valuable insight and knowledge.

This course was worth my time.

By Catalina R P

Jan 24, 2017

I really liked this course, I think it has broadened my mind to a whole world that my heart and my intellect were expecting for so long. I enjoyed every single part, from the classes to the activities. The only think I would add at some point (maybe towards the end), would be an expert's feedback so we can challenge ourselves a little bit more. I would really recommend it and of course, I will keep going with the specialization.

By Vinay S

Jan 20, 2019

As the course says, it is a fundamentals course and offers insights into the basics to get started in the field of Graphic design. This is an excellent beginner course which talks about concepts at core, to make you think more properly about what Graphic design is, different elements and aspects, how one can take inspirations from common objects around and opening up your mind for complex things. Will recommend this highly.

By Kishen S

Apr 11, 2021

Great course. Please note that this does not show you HOW to use any graphics arts program (like Adobe PS etc.) it teaches you the basics of DESIGN THINKING which can then be APPLIED to any program/project. A graphics artist is not limited to a particular program, but rather a way of thinking. You will know how to design art in any situation even without using any program after doing this course.

Hope this helps guys, cheers!

By Jordan J

Jul 8, 2021

I absolutely loved this course! It goes perfectly in depth and leaves no corner unturned. I am a professional in the healthcare sector but I also have a freelance business and wanted to branch out into graphic design to gain more clients this also helps because now I don't have to outsource my marketing tasks for my Coffee Business, I do it all myself. I plan to continue and finish the entire specialization course set.

By Aidana M

May 23, 2020

Even if you have some experience with design, then anyway this course will help to learn or consolidate your knowledge! Very interesting and easy to follow. At the beginning of the course, the teacher said the phrase “I want you to get your hands dirty” so that everyone will try their best at actually creating. It really brought a lot of benefits and a pleasant pastime over creating and developing each and every task!

By Lori N ( C U

Feb 24, 2023

A great refresher for the experienced designer and phenomenal course for the beginnger. Michael Worthington teaches in a relaxed and open manner so that everyone feels confident in their design process. Solid examples of acceptable designs, and quizzes that challenged my learning (I want to learn more about fonts) and an overall feeling of accomplishment while collaborating with other students around the world.

By Patricia A

Jan 11, 2017

Amazing Course! I loved every minute of it. The videos are well done, helpful to understand the process and a big part of understanding each element. The practice exercises are a great way to apply what I learned. Leaving Feedback on my peer's work was also very helpful. It forced my mind to analyze the design in ways I was not used to. I've am excited to keep on learning.

I would recommend this course to everyone!

By Jonathan C A

Jan 2, 2021

Enjoyed the class overall- videos were informative and detailed. Personally for me I felt as if I was back in a high school art class, (which is a good thing, please note) in which the environment was fluid and (more or less) was up to me on how quickly or how slowly I wanted to move through the entire course.

I'd definitely recommend this course to a couple of my friends and family who're interested in the arts.

By Ann-Marie C

Apr 18, 2021

This course forced me to think creatively. To consider what I was trying to say with each design I put together, and to really analyze what was working and what was not working in each piece and to try again where necessary. I liked reviewing the work of my peers and being able to make an honest suggestion where I felt I could. I was grateful to have others review my work and give me new ideas and suggestions.

By Faria M

Jun 21, 2021

I love this course as it starts from the root of graphic design. I have learned alot from those videos and by submit those assignments. I thought leatning fundamentals of graphic design would be so complicated, but it is so easier than my thought. Every part was broken down so simple and now I think that I have a clear definition of what garphic design is. I more confident to move forward with graphic design.

By Sreng S

May 6, 2020

The course is useful for beginner to explore the creatively in working on graphic design. This is the fundamental course that all students in any field of studying should take in order to enhance their regular designing since sense of having good image is essential is the future. However, it would be more nice if the course has more preparation material like powerpoint or doc that we could review or practice.

By Tsiupko H

Jan 14, 2020

Thanks for a very interesting course Fundamentals of Graphic Design.

Information is broken into small pieces and it is very convenient. All the information that you provided was important and necessary. I did not hear anything superfluous or unnecessary. I easily managed to complete my homework. Your team perfectly thought out the program of this course! Thanks to all! (Sorry for possible grammatical errors)

By Etienne M

Apr 15, 2020

Just finished the course, and it's been a blast. Not what I expected maybe, but definitely what I needed to get to the core foundations of graphic design. It helped me understand graphic design principles & "science". I got to build on my skills and creativity with exciting accessible exercises. And now, I know where to look next to go forward on my learning journey! Thanks CalArts and Michael Worthington :)

By Maria P

Mar 13, 2019

For someone who has always been a little bit afraid of Graphic Design for lack of completely knowing what it was about, this was a great course to tackle those fears while really understanding that to start entering the world of Graphic Design the only thing one needs is taking the time to learn the basic concepts, try thinking about them and then apply them. Thanks for a really great and eye-opening course.

By Vandana c

Jun 21, 2019

The content of this course is really crisp and clear . Good examples are used to explain the concepts. This course has really made me believe that i have a hidden sense of art and creativity. I have learned to use various tools to learn and practice typography, sketching, water color art, logo and pattern making. I would highly recommend this course to people who wants to learn the basic of graphic design.

By Helene C

Oct 12, 2017

This course is a great starter to Graphic Design and its basic principles. The tutorials are clear, well paced and effective. The assignments are an opportunity to manipulate those principles and to create composition with much depth and control. I definitely recommend this course to novice and to intermediate that need to strengthen their skills. Peers reviews are also important so everyone can be active.

By Rhonda C

May 17, 2019

Great instruction with plenty of practice. I got a good start on my very first graphic design portfolio. This course gave me the perfect introduction to graphic design and left me with the desire to continue. I just recently have become more interested in art and design. It might be a little late in life for me but I am a lifelong learner. I want to learn more about this fascinating artistic concept.

By Amanda M J

Oct 31, 2017

Professor Worthington's videos were absolutely fantastic! I took this class seeking refuge from the disorganization and disappointment of a competitor's course. Now I wish I had come here first, like I intended in the first place. This course does such a great job of explaining theory while also giving plenty of opportunity to put that learning into action. It's really got me thinking like a designer now!

By Nimra

Oct 20, 2022

Firstly I'm thankful to my Allah for giving me this oppertunity and than I'm thankful of this platform. It's a fantastic course on Graphic design specialization for beginners and professionals too. It's my fortune that I'v got a chance to do this course. A big Thanks to all my Teachers who guided me and help me to achieve this course cirtificate and helps me to learn new skills. Once again thanks a lot.

By Elizabeth R

Dec 4, 2019

I enjoyed this so much that I'm going to do more courses. It was presented extremely well and the way the content flowed made it easy for me to follow along. At first I didn't bother submitting assignments, but when I got into it more I went back through them all again and decided to submit them because it all became so much FUN. No hard work here - just pure joy in learning and experimenting. Thank you.