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

4.8
stars
17,911 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

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.

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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1451 - 1475 of 4,596 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By David D

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May 13, 2017

Great course, all 4 weeks were super interesting and provided lots of insights and tools for moving forward.

By akshayaa

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Mar 26, 2017

Very interesting and a beautiful course that gives you the essential basics needed for the graphic designer.

By Salih M

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Aug 18, 2023

thatnks for everything, greatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt superrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

By Roberto V

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Apr 11, 2023

Excellent, both kind of activities graded and optional are very good to increase the practice of knowledge

By Rajonna C

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Aug 14, 2022

I loved this course, in general. As I got the oppurtunity to develope my basic skill as a graphic designer.

By Mohammed T

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Oct 3, 2021

It has been such a great beginning step, I liked every thing in this course and I do gained great benefits.

By Roshini V

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Dec 11, 2020

It was actually a very good experience. I did gain a lot of new techniques. This course helped me very much

By JESSICA B G

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Jul 30, 2020

Me siento muy satisfecha, aprendí cosas importantes y los ejercicios me ayudaron a explotar mi creatividad.

By Tonmoy S

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Jul 17, 2020

It is a great course for the beginners.There is a lot of things to learn.I think it will help me in future.

By Khushi K

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Jun 17, 2019

An amazingly designed course that can be readily applied in day to day graphic and visual content creation.

By Brenda G

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Jan 1, 2019

Clear instruction with good examples in lessons. Some of the students are pretty harsh in their reviews...

By Mohnish R

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Oct 12, 2017

The course was very information and interactive. The teachers made this course a very enjoyable experience.

By Tanya E

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Nov 25, 2015

I really like this course. It's simple yet very interesting!

Thank you, Fundamentals of Graphic Design team.

By Sarah M E

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Nov 6, 2015

I learned a lot from this course. Thank you California Institute of the Arts for this wonderful experience.

By Sarah S

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May 31, 2021

I really enjoyed the course. I really think this has helped me rethink my strategy towards graphic design.

By Katherine r

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Mar 22, 2021

It is very good course to make.. It is gives you a main ideas about graphic design. Ideas you most know it

By Steven E P

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Mar 7, 2021

A great course, well explained, and constructed to introduce you to the building blocks of graphic design.

By Mary C

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Sep 6, 2020

This class was a really great overview of Graphic Design! I learned a lot and and inspired to keep going!

By Rachel L

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Jul 21, 2020

This was a very basic, easy intro to graphic design. I have no experience but enjoyed the course very much

By Itzel S C M

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Jun 20, 2020

It is a very complete and useful course to understand the bases of graphic design. I totally recommend it!

By Grecia M G G

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Mar 24, 2020

Es un curso muy completo, con actividades realmente importantes para el desarrollo de nuestra creatividad.

By Yuliia N

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Sep 7, 2018

Well explained basics which will make everyone interested to go deeper and learn more! Highly recommended!

By Lisa J

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Mar 2, 2018

I really appreciated Cal Arts' approach. This felt more from heart and organic vs. other typical courses.

By Alice Z

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Apr 12, 2017

It helped me to learn the fundamentals of graphic design,it likes a key which can open the door of design.

By Lara S

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Mar 10, 2016

It is truly a lot of fun to experiment and to find your own way of designing during this class. Thank you!