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

4.8
stars
17,036 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

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

CS

May 9, 2018

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.

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501 - 525 of 4,401 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Niamh F

Feb 21, 2016

Although this was a beginners class and a lot of the concepts were really simple, the instructor still found ways to make the class fun and get me thinking creatively. This class got me excited to learn even more about design!

By Priscila S C

Feb 5, 2016

A great course, I liked very much the way the teacher speaks, I could understand everything clearly, the activities were well made and even the optional ones had some deep meaning. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

By Ho N

Dec 19, 2022

Good course covering quite a few fundamental design concepts. One suggestion is to change those optional assignments from optional to required, such that learners will have to do all of them and get more designing experience.

By Danielle C

Apr 28, 2020

Great course, highly recommend. I was skeptical at first, but came away with a better understanding of how form, color, space, repetition, typography, and other elements of graphic design fit into the big picture of a design.

By Piyaporn K (

Apr 26, 2020

This course is very fun and eye-opening! You will not only learn about thr theory, but also get to through express your creativity through hands-on projects! Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in art and design :)

By sarwar a

Jan 1, 2017

this course is so full of information in a deep manner of details and give best knowledge, instructions, guideline and education of graphic design. I'm so inspire from this course and take have a so many education from there.

By Thushera D

Oct 2, 2022

i have learned so much about basic knowladge about graphic desing even some of these name that used in graphic designs were new to but still the way these lectures teach us really helps us understand well thank you again <3

By Vesela

Apr 4, 2022

This is a fantastic course for learning graphic design basics. The instructional videos explain perfectly the theory. The assignments are also very well written, simple, however, they still challenge you to think creatively.

By Serikbol B

Sep 18, 2021

I loved the course!! It really did teach the must needed fundaments of graph. design. The thing I liked the most is how the speaker used his own examples to explain stuff, which made the explanation way eaesier to understand

By Rohan T

Sep 13, 2021

Fruitful. The course is truly foundational which equips you with foundational graphic design knowledge and skills. All assignments, graded or optional, boost your confidence and help showing your understanding of the course.

By Ilva A

Mar 4, 2021

I really enjoyed this course. Thank you for this interesting journey for myself. I enjoyed every week! What I would like to add - professional mentor commentaries and evaluation would be nice to see after assignments aswell.

By Ana C F

Aug 19, 2020

I loved this online course! It was my first contact with Graphic Design and I've learned a lot. I really appreciated the fact that we had to fulfil tasks and not only listen to videos. For sure, I want to keep learning more!

By Yue D

Feb 18, 2020

It is a very basic course of graphic design, which is very suitable for those who do not have a basic knowledge of graphic design, but generally it involves less knowledge, especially the interpretation of some proper nouns.

By Alberto A

Feb 12, 2020

For me, a non professional in design, but a lover, it was an exciting experience. Now I have more clarity with the main concepts, so I am grateful for the simplicity and enriching course. I also had much fun with the briefs!

By Eusebio S

Sep 23, 2019

This course was a great introduction to design that I can take and share with my students. I think it is great for beginners as it is easy to understand and well thought out. The activities are meaningful and worth the time.

By Charlie R

Apr 9, 2018

Greetings from Saipan, Northern Mariana Island. I am graphic designer by profession and I want to continue improving my skills. This is online course surely help me attained that goal. I intend to finish the rest of courses.

By Tatyana S

Dec 2, 2015

This is a great course to start learning graphic design. Though I expected to find a bit more profound information, I still recommend it to those who has never had any experience (or conscious experience) designing something

By Zhanna D

Nov 13, 2015

I like this course. It is great.

It is not the easiest course ever, but it gives a lot of important information.

I do like it has theoretical and practical assignments. So you will have Fun and Challenge :)

Highly recommended.

By Bethany T

Sep 13, 2022

I am brand new to this subject and this is the very first course I have taken regarding Graphic Design. I have learned so much and my understanding of the basics has increased dramatically! I highly recommend this program!

By Molly L

Apr 3, 2022

I really enjoyed this course. I had seen some comments in general forum about this being kind of basic, but for those who are just being introduced to core concepts, it is very valuable! I enjoyed the homework. Thank you!

By JOSEPH R M C

Apr 16, 2020

The course was greatly structured. I had great fun watching the videos and doing all the assignments. I think this is an amazing course for beginners. The strongest point of this course, in my opinion, were the assignments.

By Leonel I C

Jul 16, 2021

Es un excelente curso, pero lamentablemente no es para mí (Me interesa más la rama del IT) Sin embargo, no niego qué aprendí muchas cosas nuevas qué desconocía totalmente y me motivó a aprender más sobre el Graphic Design!

By Emanuel A

May 17, 2020

The course was a watershed in my career, because I didn't have design techniques in my head and of course practice outside the computer. This has improved the quality of my work and I am more motivated to create new things

By Akshid R

Dec 12, 2016

Great instructor and lessons. I love the organisation of the course and it really provides a great basis for looking deeper into aspects of graphic design! Looking forward to doing the other courses in this specialisation.

By Marina T

May 4, 2022

That's a complete course about Graphic Design. An amazing experience, during this course I was able to learn the theory and practice of the Design concepts. Though experimentation, I could discover and try new techniques.