Graphic design is all around us, in a myriad of forms, both on screen and in print, yet it is always made up of images and words to create a communication goal. This four-course sequence exposes students to the fundamental skills required to make sophisticated graphic design: process, historical context, and communication through image-making and typography. The sequence is completed by a capstone project that applies the skills of each course and peer feedback in a finished branding project suitable for a professional portfolio. The goal of this specialization is to equip learners with a set of transferable formal and conceptual tools for “making and communicating” in the field of graphic design. This core skill set will equip learners for formal studies in graphic design, and a starting point for further work in interface design, motion graphics, and editorial design.
YM
I highly recommend the course for people who are looking for a introductory course for graphic design like me. I really enjoyed during the course. Assignments are also well-thought and fun to do.
SZ
i really enjoyed this course and i liked the part where we interact with other artists around the world. i learned a lot about typography and i think it'm ready to continue in my journey with art.
RJ
This is more challenging that it seems. It forces you to think creatively and critically with a seemingly simple subject. I recommend this course for anyone who wants to work with their hands a bit
SV
This is another awesome course that I enjoyed thoroughly! I loved and enjoyed learning about the awesome people and institutions of the past that made graphic designing what it is today.
ND
The way the course was designed was very helpful for beginners to understand the process of identity design. But the only drawback was having knowledge of software tools beforehand taking the course.
EC
Great opportunity to practice. Encouraged to make. First time using vector design program Abode Illustrator. Was hard to listen to all Contrast Section. It would be great if there was more diversity.
AC
I would have liked a few more / longer videos, but I really found the assignments helpful. I like how each one built off of each other, so the final project did not feel so overwhelming.
HA
harder than other courses of the specialization which makes it more important and valuable, I didn't know about designing images but now i'm confident I can make cool designs with images
BK
The course provIded me wIth a good overvIew of graphic design history. The classes would easy to understand and assimilate. The assignments were very helpful to understand the lessons. Many thanks!
MW
The course was very interesting but I couldn't get a grade immediately because the person marking it was a colleague I didn't know and it wasn't clear who the colleague was
DM
It's amazing how this course breaks down graphic design to fundamentals that we hardly even think of. It acquaints you with the building blocks, and creates a foundation that'll take you a long way!
ER
Highly useful information to beginners in typography with very well made videos. Balanced exercises push students to implement the knowledge they acquired mixed with their own creativity.
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I was led to believe that I would be learning the fundamentals of graphic design, which to me means learning how to use Photoshop, InDesign, etc. This is more about learning how to create art in general, not exactly what I'm looking for.
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
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.
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.
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.
I would not recommend this one to any paying customer. This is the second intro to Graphic Design class I have take on Coursera, and I found the way the material was presented in the CalArts course to be quite slow and pretty boring. Our assignments were simple and I felt no excitement in doing them. It would have been beneficial to see how these fundamental building blocks could be used in real life design. The other class (by CU-Boulder) made me want to continue learning ,and I felt excited to complete the projects whereas with this class I was forcing myself to sit down to finish just the required ones.
I had a lot of fun in this course. I learnt some extra bits of information related to graphic design and I think it's a great start for beginners as well as good practice for intermediate and experts!
ok, i'm probably not the average student here cause i am old,... saying that i have a fine art qualification and 25 years of 'almost there' design experience to have a point of view. 'almost' being the important part of it...
what this module gives you is a very firm understanding of how design works these days. the main lecturer is really good at what he does, and that's probably the most important part of any teacher-student situation. For personal reasons i committed a bit too much on this course, and i am glad to say that whether you feel like devoting 8 hours a week for it or 28 as i did, there is stuff for you to learn.
although i already knew pretty much 70% of the material, having the concepts reestablished by this teacher in such structured manner really helped me out.
If we're to get sentimental, i can honestly say that i feel this module was the best thing i did this past month, cause through fine art i have been designing for the past 25 years, but this gave me the STRUCTURE to think of DESIGN in relevant terms.
awesome.-
do it!
btw.,i've tried to be as honest as i can possibly be here, hope it helps. if it was crap i would say it's crap. but this one isn't. and of course it's up to you to fully exploit this wonderful possibility.
i hate to say it, but this course is really really bad ... not practical at all. i'm not sure where this is all going. maybe by the fourth course in the series, 100 hours later of lectures, you might have something practical but this approach feels wrong. i'm sorry, it's a reputable school and who the hell am I, but one man's opinion: rethink how you go about introducing the newbie to graphic design as it's applicable to the real world.
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.
I have taken graphics coursework at a number of institutions of higher learning. I appreciate the straightforward, simplified and accessible way the information is presented in a logical and sequential format to create a foundational understanding of the essential elements of graphic design. Weeks 3 and 4 are where it really comes together. I found these lectures of such critical importance that I saved them all. For a short term course, without the more extensive commitment of a full 16-week term one might find elsewhere, if one commits the time and effort to undertake all of the assignments, I found as much value in this course as I have in more traditional programs. It's reminded me of why I love graphic design, and although it's a basic introductory course, I was excited to undertake these exercises and do it all over again. This class is worth your time, effort and attention. Thank you CalArts and Coursera!
first i am very thankful to you to give me this opportunity to understand graphics designing in the real way . its very creative course i really learn a lot from this course . amazing . thanks a lot.
The content, lectures, examples, assignments, etc were all great! I thought doing the assignments and the optional practice assignments were really helpful. The reason why it's 4 instead of 5 stars is because I wish there was more engagement or feedback from the course staff. While doing the assignments were an useful experience, I didn't get much useful feedback. A lot of people just wrote "good". I also would have liked to see more examples of serious work from the students. When I was reviewing classmates, it looked like a lot of people did not take the assignments seriously and didn't put much effort into their submissions. I feel like there's as much to learn from peers as there is to learn from the teacher, so I was a little disappointed to not learn much from my peers (except a few students who did take the class seriously and that was really helpful for me to see their creativity and skills!!)
As someone who has not really practised art or design in 20+ years, I found the course excellent. It introduces fairly basic concepts - shape, colour, patterns, composition, typeface etc. which may seem obvious, but they are the building blocks of design and it was beneficial to give thought to these things which we may take for granted ordinarily.
I would generally say that I struggle with creative block and I found the course incredibly beneficial in this regard. It is not intimidating at all - the concepts are simple and you encouraged from the very beginning to just create and worry about finessing the results later. It's not a question of quantity instead of quality, but reinforcing that we learn through process, trial and error, practice and experimentation. This was a valuable lesson for me (I get stifled by the desire to get things right!)
The course has definitely built my skills and confidence. It's a good grounding for further study and with some additional time and energy I have come away with a number of designs that I would be happy to put into a portfolio.
Great opportunity to practice. Encouraged to make. First time using vector design program Abode Illustrator. Was hard to listen to all Contrast Section. It would be great if there was more diversity.
Loved this class! Michael is a great teacher, it is very clear that he has a lot of knowledge and i feel that he truly cares about teaching as well as his students. The exercises were perfect and gave me the basic design skills that I needed.
This is a very basic course, not at all college level.
Great class. I really enjoyed all of the assignments. At times, I wish the lectures would have been a little longer so as to include more information / detail. All and all, really enjoyed the course!
I really enjoyed how this course was laid out. I took design in high school, but never really grasped the concepts of design until my final year. This course really added a structure to the basic things I already knew and gave me a way to understand them separately, how to use them separately and then smoosh them all together. I had great fun doing the assignments and the course work was explained in a clear and understandable way.
This was a great course for expanding the way I thought about making, communicating with, and looking at graphic images.
At times I was frustrated because I did not know how to easily do certain things with the programs I was using, but I reminded myself that this was not a class on how to use Photoshop or Illustrator. If you are looking to learn about actually using programs, look elsewhere, but if you are looking to build a strong basis for thinking about creating images, this is a great resource.
The course work and necessary time input is flexible - if you are stretched for time you can still complete this course, and if you have a lot of time you can get a lot more out of it. Either way, a lot of the learning from this work is dependent on how much effort you put it.