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

4.8
stars
17,005 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

AR

Apr 17, 2016

very good introductory course. i enjoyed the assignments, they are not overwhelming, easy to start, and the optional ones offer great opportunity to dig little deeper into graphic design fundamentals.

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

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201 - 225 of 4,397 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Alice C

Jan 11, 2016

This class takes you through all the basics of graphic design (type, shapes, colour, composition), perfect for beginners! All the assignments help you to understand the concepts as "you can get better at graphic design only by making graphic design" :) I hope there will be a specialization with advanced levels as well as I would very much like to learn more! Thank you for this class!

By Mohd. U Y

Jun 24, 2018

Consider me a person without any knowledge of designing. In the midway of this course, I started observing with multiple perspectives. I started visualizing things in a way i can use them in designs. I really love this course as it has changed my ability of processing images in my brain. I feel confident of making simple designs but with precision. Highly recommend it to everyone.

By Lauren F

Jan 30, 2022

The course was thorough, easy to follow, allowed me to go at my own pace, and helped me to feel confident in my skills. I liked the peer review process because it gave me the ability to see multiple peoples' takes on the projects I was completing. It gave me a great overview of graphic design. I especially enjoyed learning about the process itself, which is just delightful to me.

By nikita b

Jan 21, 2022

Overall, the course was well-designed and didn't feel crammed. I particularly enjoyed the assignments, and I eagerly completed several of the optional ones. They not only put your practical knowledge to the test, but they're also a lot of fun. The only thing I would have liked to see added is a glossary with all of the important meanings/definitions taught throughout the course.

By Valentina D

Mar 13, 2018

Very helpful and inspiring! For a deeper and joyful experience, I recommend to do both graduated and optional assignments. I was very pleased with one idea that seems to me very important - do not be afraid and experiment, because the fear of failure fetters and prevents us from learning and creating! Thank you Michael Worthington and all the course's creators from all my heart!

By connor c

Sep 24, 2020

Great introduction into the topic. Makes you start to conceptualize and develop and create right away to get used to the habit of being creative as well as teaching the foundation.

The only negative side is there isn't any instructor feedback on assignments, which I know is to be expected but guidance on some of the briefs from an authority in the field would be very beneficial.

By Dominik S

May 8, 2019

This course is a pretty good starting point to get in touch with many aspects of the creation and reception of graphic design. Very good mixture of theorical and practical elements.

Dieser Kurs ist ein wirklich guter Ausgangspunkt für eine Annäherung an zahlreiche Aspekte der Erschaffung und Wahrnehmung von Grafikdesign. Sehr gute Mischung theoretischer und praktischer Elemente.

By Asier

Nov 24, 2015

Based only on the preview, I believe this course approach to design is excellent. Starts from the very basic building blocks that apply to many visual branches. The originality and variety of the included examples perfectly support the explained subject. I can also appreciate the connection from this view/approach to arts.

I miss the possible motivations behind design and arts.

By Chevy D C

Sep 2, 2022

The course is very similar to what i learned from my university, studying Fine Arts, yet I understood the topics more in depth here than in my classes. I also learned to apply what I know, into typography, which I used to find intimidating and hard to include in compositions. Because of this course, I have learned how to use words better and communicate better with my art.

By Lý M T

Sep 10, 2020

The course has helped me learn and improve the knowledge that I still do not know much, such as week 2 about Typography, I have never known how to choose a typeface to match the nature I want to describe. This is such a wonderful experience I have. Many thank the teacher of the California Institute of the Arts and so do classmates who help me through review my assignments.

By Aprajita n

Jul 19, 2023

Excellent for beginners and enthusiasts of Graphic Design. Cleared all of my doubts regarding the fundamentals of basic design. Was very well paced and informative. All explanations provided allow efficient learning and the Peer graded review method is ingenious for providing students with critical feedback and streamline their own introspective assessment of their work.

By Diogo M

Apr 3, 2018

The lessons are very well done and build the content in a nice sequential way. The peer reviewed work are excellent for they encourage communication and constructive criticism between students.

It may seem too simple at first but the fundamental insights you gain in this course become very noticeable when you start looking at simple design pieces around you with new eyes.

By Giselle D P

Apr 25, 2016

The learning process is a complete experience, full of knowledge, good videos and excellent teachers. I think is a 5 stars quality course, because of the amount of tools teachers give. Each one special and necessary.

Graphic Design is about making our soul, heart and brain work together. I believe this course is a great way to get this team to complete our expectations.

By Samantha L

Apr 26, 2022

i very much enjoyed the projects assigned, both mandatory and optional. the balance of clear parameters with freedom to create allowed me to exercise my creativity in an effective, structural manner. i really learned so much about the fundamentals of design that I have experienced in various ways in the real world but never knew the decision-making process behind them.

By Ketan S P

Apr 28, 2020

It was a very helpful course. I've never had a professional education in this field except for the immense passion towards it. This course has definitely taught the fundamentals really well and in an organized manner. The teaching was very clear and easily understandable. I'm really confident about my fundamentals now. Looking forward to many more courses from CalArts.

By Ellen H

Apr 19, 2020

I learned a lot about the basics of graphic design. In undergrad, I never took a graphic design course but now as a graphic designer for 5 years, I was hoping to learn the academic side of graphic design that I never got. This course was a great back-to-basics class that taught me valuable approaches and information about the different components of successful design.

By Adeeb A

Jun 14, 2020

It's really a great initiative on behalf of both COURSERA and CALART. Thanks a ton for facilitating such a wonderful learning opportunity for us!

About Required assignments to be evaluated by peers, my suggestion is there should be a system for appeal by the CALART moderators in case some peers unjustly or out of ignorance give a poor grade to his or her fellow peers.

By Igor L

Apr 26, 2016

Ive really enjoyed this course, in fact ive never painted before. So i glad i start, i was a little bit shy to post my work for classmates review, but i understood that its only begin of Graphic Design, so i will learn a lot of interesting things and i have to work hard for that. Thanks to teachers, wish you all the best.

Want continue my graphic design education.

By Attilio P

Mar 16, 2021

Very interesting course indeed. I needed it as a prerequisite for the UI/UX specialization. It might not have been fundamental for it, but I am definitely glad that I decided to go through this graphic design course and complete it. It gave me lots of hints and understanding behind image composition, that I could reuse many underlying ideas also for photography.

By SALLY Y Y L

Jan 19, 2016

I love this course so much, and I have learnt a lot of skills, techniques and knowledge about Graphic Design. Though some of the assignments are optional, I guess is to reduce the workload of the learners, I strongly emphasize learners to try all of them since the results won't affect the overall performance. It is a good introduction course for Graphic Design.

By Mia H

May 4, 2021

A great overview of information. Well presented and easy to understand. You get out of the assignments, what you put into them. I would suggest completing all of them, even if they're not required. You learn a lot by "doing". This is a great course for people new to Graphic Design and also for those who just want refresh their basic skills. Highly recommended.

By Carla B

Oct 4, 2016

This was a great intro course. I had no previous experience to graphic design and it was something that has always caught my attention. This course is perfect for giving you the basics and really getting you to start designing. I was always intimidated by it and now I feel compelled to continue taking any related coursework as well as to keep creating designs!

By Oleksandr T

Dec 20, 2016

Great course for beginners to get the basics of graphic design as well as for specialist to refresh these basics. The great advantage of the course is practical assignments that are all connected, so that in the end you will use material from previous assignments in your final one. I would make all those optional assignments obligatory, though. Great course!

By Martina F

Jun 1, 2022

I definetly enjoyed the ride! It was an amazing learning experience since I have naver had the chance to take graphic design classes. I am happy with the learning materials and the lectures. Also, it was fun to put directly into practice the concepts from the lectures and create conscious and artsy materials while exchanging comments with the other peers.

By Edet J U

Feb 18, 2022

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO SAY A VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR GIVING YOUR TIME AND RESOURCES TO TEACH THIS COURSE, I APPRECIATE IT. I HAVE LEARNT ALL FROM THE FUNDAMENTALS OF DESIGN. AND IT HAS TO OPEN UP MU UNDERSTANDING OF DESIGN AND TO WHAT I SHOULD BE LOOKING AT WHEN DESIGNING.

THE TEACHING PARTERN IS SO AWESOME AND THE STRUCTURE OF LEARNING IS FLEXIBLE AND GREAT.