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

4.8
stars
17,037 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

MN

May 18, 2022

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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476 - 500 of 4,402 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Tommy W O

Jul 22, 2020

Concise, easily grasped, and rather eye-opening. It's easy to take pen to paper or mouse to a document and go to town with expression, but I feel enriched in a way that I haven't felt for a long time by simply studying the basics.

By Shantee J

Jan 11, 2024

Really enjoyed this course and the Instructor was great with explaining things and provided me with an understanding. This course made me excited about taking graphic further and learning more. Help me understand what I want to do

By Nimra W

May 25, 2023

I completed the Fundamental of Graphic Design Course, and it exceeded my expectations in every way possible. From the moment I enrolled, I was impressed with the course structure, content quality, and overall learning experience.

By Meil J F

Apr 3, 2022

I learned a lot from you Mr. Michael. I wish I could use all of my knowledge from this field. I was also hoping to learn more from graphic design. Their teaching method is clear and fun. It was also interesting. Thank you so much!

By Chelsi S

May 31, 2020

Really good course, even for those who already have a bit of experience behind them, good to go over the basics again. I would highly recommend doing all of the briefs, they're not time-consuming and you learn a lot by practising!

By Phoebe B

Apr 17, 2020

I really enjoyed the content and learned a lot of valuable hands-on skills. It was great to be encouraged to make a lot of images in a lot of different ways. I'm actually amazed at how much I have learned taking this short course.

By Assel N

Jun 8, 2016

I was so happy when saw this course for the first time. It became the first step to my dream career. All lessons and assignments are very useful and interesting to watch and implement. Thanks you very much for such an opportunity!

By Dr S S

May 3, 2023

Loved the course lecture videos which are informative and easy to follow. The assignments both optional and mandatory are important for grasping the basic concepts of design. Kudos to Michael Sir for all the efforts ! Thank you.

By Jenny S

Aug 5, 2022

Thank you so much CalArts for this interactive course! I surely learned a lot of stuff about graphics design. I'm forever grateful for the knowledge and very excited to apply my learnings for my future career in graphics design!

By Jelena M

Jul 21, 2022

Very interesting and educative course. The material was explained in a very clear way, so it was notna problem to donthe assignments and quizzes. I would recommend this course to anyone interestednin the basic of graphic design.

By SOUQUET A

Feb 18, 2020

It was very interesting and pretty cool as an introduction ! It was clear and simple, not quite easy but the fact that the instrutor tells us to practice any time, just for fun was so cool and not stressfull. Thank you for that !

By Teo M

Dec 8, 2016

Ha sido un curso especialmente interesante, sobre todo por la claridad en las explicaciones y la calidad de los trabajos prácticos. Recomiendo que las personas que sigan el curso realicen todos los trabajos opcionales propuestos.

By Deleted A

Aug 14, 2022

I really liked this course. The classes are enjoyable and well explained, with examples. In addition, the practical exercises are very interesting and you learn a lot from them. 100% recommended to start in the world of design.

By Jayakeerthikha K R

Jul 22, 2021

Beginner-friendly. I understand the basic concepts in graphic design. I love the sample designs used to teach that helped me to understand the core. Any one wanting to take structured course for beginners I would recommend this.

By Mubashir Z

Dec 16, 2020

This course was well organized, I was already a graphic designer but I never knew the terminologies and technical parts.. this course really enlightened my mind it some kind of broadened my thinking about new creations... Thanks

By Jory H

Jul 9, 2020

I am quite happy with this course. It is very basic, but very necessary for the beginner. I enjoyed the exercises and felt that it was a good breakdown of the rules of graphic design and helped me in the way I design something.

By Juan J L M

May 12, 2020

Un curso que empieza desde abajo y con el que es posible aportar tu toque creativo. La idea de calificación "E2E" (student to student) es un método interactivo para poder ver el trabajo de tus compañeros. Encantado con el curso.

By Ellen T

Jan 7, 2019

Great course - intelligent and incisive instruction. Really do recommend this as a starter course or refresher. Throughly enjoyed it and learned a lot despite having already having studied art and design many years previously.

By Dulce A R W

Sep 28, 2016

I really liked this course, it was a great introduction to this world which is graphic design for me. I also appreciate very much the scholarship, without it, I would not be able to complete this first course session. Thank you!

By Eva M M L

Nov 22, 2022

It was very helpful and I especially liked the way the concepts were conveyed. Clear and simple, so that anyone who likes to design or paint or whatever is related to art, feel again a connection with that facet. Thanks for it.

By Houssem E L

Sep 24, 2021

I learned a lot in this course, although it has 5 to 8 minutes in each video lesson but I guarantee you'll be mind blown at the end, I strongly recommend this course before you start learning anything else about graphic design

By Ajibola T

Oct 26, 2020

Every great idea and dream must be established within you and you alone. Awesome teaching, so impacting and inspiring, actually I wanna thank Coursera for building to this level of being a good graphic design. Thanks Coursera

By Abdullah N Q

Oct 13, 2020

Great course, the instructor is awesome. I got my fundamentals right on graphic design, how to think about typography, shapes, imagery, space and how to fit it all together with right proportions of content and visual context.

By Kinga S

Aug 9, 2016

To break rules and be unconventional one needs to know conventions and rules - and this course is just that! It gives you key vocabulary to name some things which you may consider easy, but never bothered to notice and name :)

By Sergei T

Feb 24, 2016

Absolutely awesome course! Very informative, great examples, every lesson is logically structured and really inspiring. The whole course is helping to acquire a basic knowledge and understanding of a graphic design principles.