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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Typography by California Institute of the Arts

4.8
stars
5,644 ratings

About the Course

Typography is the art of manipulating the visual form of language to enrich and control its meaning. It’s an essential area of skill and knowledge for graphic designers. Typography predates modern graphic design by around 500 years; it is rich in rules, conventions, and esoteric terminology—but it remains an exciting space for invention and expression. In this rigorous introductory course, we will study, name, and measure the characteristics of letterforms. We’ll consider the pragmatic concerns involved in selecting and combining type. We’ll peek into the 
rich historical, cultural, and aesthetic histories of familiar typefaces. We’ll discuss time-tested conventions and best practices in setting type, as governed by principles of hierarchy and spatial organization. And we’ll explore the expressive, meaning-making potential of type. Informative lectures will be complemented by a series of three peer-assessed assignments, culminating 
in an opportunity to design a full-scale typographic poster. Please note that this is not a software course; a basic working knowledge of Adobe InDesign or other 
page layout software will be assumed. You will need access to a computer and page layout software, such as InDesign, to complete the assignments....

Top reviews

MB

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The course is very interesting and well presented, the assignments are really helpful for the learning process. I would recommend to anyone interested in design, art, web design or just for curiosity.

SK

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Loved that the main typeface study was carried out throughout this course. Loved beginning with the writing assignment and then evolving into a full on typographic poster. Very fun and informative

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1 - 25 of 1,228 Reviews for Introduction to Typography

By Lynda R

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Oct 31, 2019

The instructions for the final project -- the project is the biggest part of the grade -- are ambiguous. I posted on the Discussion Forum for clarification. No response. I looked up the contact information for and wrote the professor of record for clarification. No response. Peer reviewers marked me down for my interpretation. Disappointing. I want to continue on with the specialization, but if no one of knowledge and experience is monitoring student progress -- why should I? Please note: On other Coursera courses I have sometimes sought and received clarification for assignment instructions. This is first time I have received none, so this is my first bad experience with my go to platform for self-learning. Disappointing.

By Priscila A d S

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Mar 3, 2019

IT has amazing videos explanations and great history lessons about typography, but I would love to have a proper professor feedback on my designs.

By Deanna M

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Apr 26, 2020

Learned a lot about typography, but I feel the certificate is worthless, peers don't really take the time to review your work, offer feedback or constructive criticism, sometimes don't even understand the directions, do it wrong themselves and then grade you based on their misreadings. There needs to be some oversight of this course for it to work properly.

By Stanislav K

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Jan 19, 2018

As compared with the first course, this part I found less interesting from the point of view of didactics. My impression was that I did not learn much. It is true, I found myself interested with the matter of typefaces and other elements of the typographic art. So I got inspired to find books and other means to research deeper. I also found the formulations of the assignments not very inspiring, but rather formal, so I could not develop enough enthusiasm to perform more the the necessary minimum .

By Adler A

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Jun 28, 2019

That was a useful and practical course, like the rest in the CalArts specialization Graphic Design. There were some challenges when I got low scores because my work hasn't passed the subjective criteria score given by peers. I still think that subjective criteria are needed, but want to ask, please don't be tough to peers cause it can letdown newcomers in the area. And those who faced the same situation I want to encourage - sometimes it's really not because your work is bad, there is much of subjectivity also and depends on who reviewed it. Just continue.

By Briana G

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Aug 4, 2020

I thought the assignments worked really cohesively with one another. It helped to keep terms and skills in mind from one assignment to the next. The lecture videos were great, short, and to the point.

By Mariana B B

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Jul 26, 2020

The course is very interesting and well presented, the assignments are really helpful for the learning process. I would recommend to anyone interested in design, art, web design or just for curiosity.

By Saerom L

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Apr 6, 2016

Very organized and detailed about the basic, history, characteristics of typography.

I really enjoyed it and wish there were other courses by the same lecturer.

Thanks for the great course!!

By David D

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May 13, 2017

The good - The teacher is great, assignments are good as well.

However there was a lot more could be included in this 4 weeks course.

The first 2 weeks could easily be combined into one. Comparing this to the previous course, Fundamentals of Graphic design, I thought we could have learned a lot more in the given time.

By Liza D

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Mar 14, 2016

Good material, but not nearly enough to justify a full course. Should've been 2X as many lectures and assignments at least.

By David K

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Jun 1, 2020

This class seems light on content to me, especially for the price. I expected a deeper dive into typography and came away a bit disappointed.

By Chiara S

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Apr 3, 2017

Would have liked to do the assignments if they weren't all locked by payment requirements

By Cheryl O

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Aug 13, 2017

As a complete beginner to typography, I found this course to be exactly what I needed to get competently acquainted with the subject.

Enjoyable and easy to follow, the course provides a fully comprehensive education from the basics all the way to the essential typographic conventions. My favourite part was learning about the the history and evolution of type, as the knowledge informs the progression up to what we know today as typography.

Tip: It's best to work on the assignments using InDesign, as the program allows full control of the type.

Overall an excellent course that I would highly recommend.

By Aline S

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Apr 12, 2021

This was an excellent course. I learned a whole lot about typography. The videos and assignments were interesting and challenging. I'm happy I was able to complete this course and highly recommend it!

By Jillian C

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Jul 29, 2018

Loved that the main typeface study was carried out throughout this course. Loved beginning with the writing assignment and then evolving into a full on typographic poster. Very fun and informative

By Andre

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Aug 4, 2016

Good but nowhere near as in-depth as some of the other courses found on coursera.

By Sister E B

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Jun 17, 2016

This was just a top-notch course. Despite the fact that the lectures were not particularly long, nor the assignments really onerous, I think I learned more in this course than in other similar courses. Perhaps it was because there were so many "aha!" moments, as I realized why my previous attempts to combine typefaces had not been so successful, or exactly what it was that attracted me (or not) to the appearance of a particular type family.

The story is that Steve Jobs was captivated by typography in the days when the text on the screen did not look at all like the text that would print -- people had to use codes for even simple things like bold-face or underline, and wouldn't know what it looked like until it printed on their single-typeface printer. He fell in love with type, and that contributed a lot to the way the Macintosh developed. I never understood that story until I took this course.

Thank you for a great course, and for giving me enough knowledge that I can continue to build on it.

By Diogo M

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May 1, 2018

This course will help you view written text in a completely new light! You will learn basic vocabulary to describe fonts and vital clues for better text organization and hierarchy construction.

You will also get a glimpse of how a font can be molded to express a feeling, this is particularly useful for poster design.

The exercises are peer reviewed and consistent across the course, in a way that allows you to reevaluate your previous work.

The knowledge I got here improved the way I write simple documents, but also the way simple changes to your style can make a huge difference for the reader.

Thank you

By Torsten R

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May 23, 2016

Initially, I took the course just for general interest in typography. The nice experience I made here convinced me to go deeper into the material in the future. I definitely learned something that took me some steps forward.

I especially liked the well-made videos. They are very good to listen to and they are very clearly designed, it is making things easy to understand.

In the exams and in the peer reviews, it seemed to make a difference that some students had already taken the Graphics Design Specialization.

I can definitely recommend this course.

By Akerke A

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Dec 3, 2018

It is informative, accurate and laconic. It has the least degree of subjection, which makes it easier to do tasks and assess your peers work. I enjoyed taking this course and it helped me to become more confident

By Shomaila K

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Jun 5, 2020

Loved that the main typeface study was carried out throughout this course. Loved beginning with the writing assignment and then evolving into a full on typographic poster. Very fun and informative

By Nisa R

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Oct 8, 2020

Some optional assignments would be beneficial in experimenting with type more. I enjoyed the course nonetheless!

By Vincent P

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Sep 28, 2020

Great content, engaging lectures. Disappointing peer review process.

By Evan M

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Aug 19, 2018

I enjoyed learning about the typographic types but wish I could have learned more about the creation of diverse typographical projects. Showing several posters from professional graphic designers is a good way to see what all is out there, but does not help in the creation process.

By Cris G

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Feb 4, 2020

Very underwhelming course. Doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the topic. A lot of basic information is left out. The two stars are for the reading list--it helped a lot but I guess I could have found out about these books without having to pay a Coursera subscription. More assignments are needed. More basic information. The terms need to be defined more clearly.