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

4.8
stars
17,463 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

EJ

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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!

MB

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This course is awesome and I recommend it to anybody who is interested in making design.

I learned so many thing and I'm ready to jump through the next course.

Thank you Calarts and Coursera.

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726 - 750 of 4,505 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Mauricio G F

Mar 14, 2016

Fundamentals of graphic design is a terrific introductory course!!! This was my fist contact with art and graphics. Thank a lot for your lessons and advices.

Mauricio García

Colombia

By Thomasina I

Feb 17, 2016

This is a good course and you will learn to be creative and learn about things you haven't done before. I would suggest anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals to take this course

By João R P

Jan 30, 2016

I've barely started this course and it's already been a great artistic breakthrough for me. It certainly has opened my mind to the variety and depthness that graphic design can have.

By Mariana M

Dec 26, 2015

I really enjoyed the classes and the explanations were clear, precise and professional. thank you very much for preparing this classes. The exercises and references were very useful.

By Fran C

Feb 14, 2021

This was a great introductory class to graphic design. The assignments really helped get my creative juices flowing. A great course for anyone who is interested in any design field.

By Mariela

Feb 4, 2021

It was great fun! I have learned so much in such a short amount of time! I just wish I had more Instructor grading and feedback than peer, not that I appreciated peer feed back ofc.

By Harry B

Jun 29, 2017

The instructor was great! His tone, style and word execution kept my focus. His projects invited learning and experimentation which is very important in working with Graphic Design.

By Maria C V

Jan 11, 2016

Excellent course. Enjoyed the classes and all of the projects. I recommend doing the optional projects as well, because you get a chance to apply everything that you learn on class.

By Renaldo Q

Aug 7, 2017

Thank you for a great introduction to Graphic Arts and helping and old student reach his goals and dreams to work in the Artistic field. CalArts is awesome and well worth the cost.

By Ausi S

Sep 4, 2016

This course teach me a lot about graphic design in a whole. For those who wanted to learn more about graphic design and has no knowledge about this, I recommend to try this course.

By Alex Z

Dec 26, 2015

excelente, me gusta que puedo ir a mi ritmo, el profesor explica de manera muy digerible, los temas son amenos y los brief despumes de cada capitulo ayudan a reafirmar lo aprendido

By Ailen B

Oct 31, 2021

Estoy satisfecha con el contenido de este curso, me ayudó a desarrollar habilidades. También a pensar y analizar en lo que se puede transmitir con una composición. Muchas gracias.

By Samuel C D

Apr 19, 2021

This course has been helpful in improving my knowledge of graphic design. It has been well worth the time and effort. You should enrol too and achieve whatever goals you may have.

By Mohammed m k

Jul 21, 2020

This course is Wonderfully designed to give a strong base to your concepts and the way the tutor teaches you is amazing!,I recommend this course to all the Graphic Design Newbies!

By Ghadah B

Jun 29, 2020

I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGNER I DIDNT EXPECT TO KNOW THAT MUCH IN JUST ONE COURSE! THANKS FOR ALL WORKERS IN THIS COURSE SPECIALLY TEACHER Michael Worthington.

VERY HAPPY!

By Олександр С М

Nov 7, 2018

Thank you for such a great fundamental course! It helped me to understand the basics of graphic design and improve my skills! Thank you once again and wish you all the best! Alex.

By Diana R U N

Sep 12, 2016

Excellent!!! I could understand things not previously understood. I could not perform activities that my computer was damaged and could only watch the videos during lunch at work.

By Mary P

Jan 17, 2016

I am a professor in the arts. I enjoyed the projects and felt this course was very organized and easy to follow. The videos and project examples brought it all together.

Thank you!

By Катерина С

Nov 21, 2015

Very-very complex and saturated course. It makes u believe in yourself and reduce fear of the white sheet))) easy to understand)

Thanks a lot! i want to create after your lectures!

By Saundarya G

Oct 15, 2021

This course has been very informative. I enjoyed doing all the assignments. This course gives ample amount of time to submit the assignments. I am glad I enrolled in this course.

By Sherif T

Jun 17, 2021

Even as an experienced graphics designer, I found this course very helpful as a starting point in deconstructing graphics design into its fundamental rules. Fantastic instructor.

By CATALINA V F

Apr 16, 2021

It was a great experience, the course was very interesting and complete, I learned a lot and I've already started using my new knowledge. Thank you very much for this opportunity

By Aigoz A

Mar 25, 2020

Clearly delivered information about the basics of graphic design. A lot of practice works. I am happy that I had the opportunity to learn more about my favorite topic. Thank you!

By Antoniya V

Mar 12, 2018

This course is perfect for beginners in graphic design because it makes you DO things not only to learn about them. You can see different aspects of visual presentation of ideas.