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

4.8
stars
5,303 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

AS

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!

BG

Aug 3, 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.

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51 - 75 of 1,134 Reviews for Introduction to Typography

By Amanda W

Apr 16, 2016

Great introductory course, that really helped me to understand typography a LOT better. I now get what my friends are on about when they get all excited about typefaces! I really like the way that the course develops your knowledge, and gets you to practice and upgrade your skills as you go. Although it was only 4 weeks, I feel SO much more confident in my knowledge and understanding.

By Anand P D

Apr 19, 2018

A really useful course in learning about the basics of typefaces and typography. I was able to learn that Typography is what conveys the meaning in various designs compared to the other forms like colors and shapes. Also learning about the history of various typefaces and designers enabled a curiosity in me to learn more about the history of some of typefaces that i use often.

By Chana M H

Jun 15, 2018

I am finishing my final project and am amazed at how much I have learned in this abbreviated and accelerated course. As with all learning, you have to do a little unassigned research to expand on the info given, but the basics are nicely presented and easily understood.Thanks Coursera and CalArrs for this wonderful learning opportunity at such an affordable price.

By Balaji S

May 7, 2020

This was just a beautiful experience, what I originally thought would take me only a few minutes actually kept me thinking and diving dep into things that never thought I’d be diving into, this course just like the other courses gave me a few view on a few things and as my knowledge expands i start to notice a few tiny details that make all the difference.

By Dalía C d S

Oct 28, 2020

It's a great course for those that look for a simple, practical, and compact course. I did like the structure, all the subjects, and the explanations. I learn a lot of interesting things. I recommend! If you don't know where you should start, do this course first. It's great to get it started. Thank you to all developers. Hope we study together again!

By MOHAMMED T A

Sep 8, 2020

I learnt the value typography adds to graphic designing and how any graphic design work is incomplete without a good understanding of type. Also the course is designed in such a way that it gives you first hand experience of graphic designing by motivating you to learn more practically in form of assignments.

I love the course Instructors also!!!

By Anna E T

Nov 7, 2016

I really enjoyed this course as it made me stop, look, and think about the different elements within a typeface and how to typeset text in an interesting and professional way. Thank you for taking the time to make courses like this so easily available to those of us who do not have the time or money to travel long distances to a formal college.

By John A W

Jan 26, 2017

I really enjoyed auditing the course as I've been meaning to take a short course on typography for a while. Some concepts I already knew, but others were new to me, especially some of the technicality of measuring and displaying type. For designers, I definitely recommend taking this course as part of a holistic graphic design concentration.

By Chi Z

May 16, 2021

The professor is very helpful with videos that contain tons of useful information about each stage of the course, lots of notes taking for sure but it really offered a great sight of understanding not just what is in the typography field, also knowledges of what a designer needs to pay attention throughout the layout, design processes!

By Teri L

Jun 23, 2018

This course was really interesting, brought about more awareness to my knowledge of words and typefaces and some histories of them. The assignments built upon one another and proved how working hard really pays off :) This was an easy to understand course, and definitely is essential if people want to go further into graphics design.

By Trang P

May 17, 2016

This course was incredibly interesting and informative, even for an introduction class. The layout made a lot of sense even for someone with only a little bit of experience in typography. Definitely do all of the assignments because they have been planned out with a lot of care and thought to further your understanding in the topic.

By Minjeong K

May 31, 2020

We learned about typography through the lens of historical context and learned to set type in ways that was expressive and legible. I have gained foundational knowledge that is already letting me see details in type in the real world that weren’t apparent before. The workload felt a tad lighter compared to the Image Making course.

By Roberto K

Apr 4, 2022

Thank you for this course now I knew the history of each typeface, I knew how to choose the right typeface for my design, and how to put all elements into the design so that legible and readable but still has creativity inside. I was really happy to do all assignments in this course and I have fun when I did experiments on type.

By Fatin I

Aug 23, 2016

I've always wanted to learn typography but learning on it's own without any practice is really boring. The assignments are really good in applying what I have learnt, making the learning really enjoyable. The course teacher is super zen and loving his style of teaching. I would want to take this full design course some day.

By Mohd. U Y

Jun 30, 2018

This course came as a savior to me. I had to make a project report during my summer vacations, and I did not the technicalities that have to be looked upon in text. I am glad I joined the specialization and enrolled in this course as soon as the last one was complete. I had a fun time learning. Highly recommend it to all.

By Ŋυʀ s

Jul 31, 2021

My third course out the 5. I really enjoyed my learning experience and the most of the assignments really help me understand better what they taught. The reviews assignment by other people had given me a different perspective. Most of the feedback I got from them are definitely one of things I would look out and improve.

By Heleina E

May 2, 2016

I really enjoyed this course. I learned so much things and I feel like my typography skills just went up on a whole new level. Signing up to this course helped me understand all the stuff I've been reading about typography. They teach typography in a way that's so easy to understand and process. Highly recommended. :)

By Robert C S

Dec 16, 2020

Going in, I knew very little about Typography, but learned so much through this class! Instructors were very clear, and very good about efficiently pointing out just the right things to teach. Impactful, and with some great resource references for further study. Can't recommend this class enough, it was amazing!

By Aymen J

Dec 15, 2019

I was always confused whenever I've heard the word typography. This course opened my eyes to the world of typefaces and made me discover the richness and beauty of typography. Now I feel that I have a better understanding.

I can not go without expressing my gratitude for allowing me to benefit from this opportunity.

By designeraj

Dec 14, 2021

Absolutely loved this course. It was a great experience. The speakers were good designers who shared their vision from beginning to end. I do it just for a few weeks, and I am happy to receive my certificate. I will recommend who wants to learn Graphic Designer to once get into this course. Thank you, Calarts!

By Abhilash

Dec 24, 2016

Typography is an important part of graphic design.This course will give a brief introduction to the historical context of typography and the evolution of typography in this modern computerized age.A great course for those interested in graphics design and can be used as a refresher for the working professionals.

By Shivansh S

Mar 30, 2016

This is a very informative course. There are so many books available on Typography but I think this is best way typography can be defined for the graphic designer. As a person belonging to design and architecture fraternity, I would definitely recommend this course to every aspiring graphic designer and artist.

By Miruna F

Mar 12, 2021

I learned a lot about typography thanks to this course. The projects and the homework make you practice all the theory you learn during this course and i find them awesome and exciting. Of course, you have to read some books/articles on the side but for the fundamentals of typography the course is amazing!

By Зубрихина А А

Sep 20, 2020

Hello! I'm Ann from Russia, and I'm really happy to have completed this course! I've found a lot of new information about typefaces, grids, and so on. Now, I'm ready to use it in my work! Thank you so much! I definitely will recommend this course to my friends if somebody gets interested in typography.

By Maria I F

Jul 24, 2020

This course is an amazing tool for anyone who is interested in design and may not know too much about it. I have always had a liking for fonts and typefaces, so this course was amazing to me. The course is easily digestible, the lectures are engaging and visually appealing, and the instructor is great.