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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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901 - 925 of 4,507 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Patrycja

Dec 2, 2020

This is an excellent course. Even though it is introduction to graphic design, it is packed with knowledge. The assignments help a lot. I highly recommend it.

By Vladyslav B

Apr 12, 2020

I think that this course is done with excellence, it boosts your creativity and allows you to get a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Deleted A

Feb 17, 2019

I enjoyed a lot this course! So creative, fun, easy explained and inspiring. Highly recommended!

Congrats to everyone involved in the creation of this course!

By Rosana A

Nov 5, 2018

It was very interesting. I had the opportunity to understand graphic design from a good point of view, I went from nothing to a really good knowledge. Thanks!

By Manpreet K M

Jun 19, 2023

My heartfelt thanks to our Mentor Michael Worthington for making the course interesting and I have learned a lot throughout the course. Huge respect for him.

By Serena J

Jun 4, 2020

The instructor was eloquent and learned and clear in his delivery. He was easy to listen to and his lectures were informative. Thoroughly enjoyed this couse.

By Barbara C d S

May 16, 2020

Excellent course! As a beginner, was very helpful to learn all fundamentals and basics of graphic design. All concepts are clearly explained, I really liked.

By Theo W

Dec 15, 2019

Excellent way to dive into this fun field. The assignments are easy to follow and learners walk away with a lot more confidence in their designing abilities.

By Craig S

Dec 7, 2019

I really enjoyed this course as an introduction to Graphic Design. The videos are full of good information and the practical parts are really fun to work on.

By Rebeca O

Nov 6, 2018

Thoroughly enjoyed the course and its learning, definitely will recommend it to any of those interested in the graphic design process and creative path ways.

By Diego S M

Aug 26, 2018

Great course! It worked all the basic principles and gave me a lot of knowledge that will be used in my future works. I'm very grateful for this opportunity.

By Iuliia

Jan 21, 2017

Its very good course, has different kind of interesting tasks which force you discover your own creativity . I recommend it for every graphic design beginner

By Kimberly A C N

Aug 10, 2016

Really awesome course. I like that it has all the theory and a lot of hands-on projects to practice and learn the how-tos of design. I totally recommend it.

By AMIT R

Dec 27, 2015

I enjoyed Fundamentals of Graphic Design. The course in such a small time makes you understand the thinking that goes behind any creative work.

Thank you.

Amit

By Veronika L

Nov 6, 2015

I've been working with designers as the client for 5-7 years now - I foudn this extremely interesting to get little bit of insight in what the potential is.

By Namya G

Jul 27, 2024

As a beginner, this course was very helpful. It really took me through the basics because before completing this course I had zero knowledge in this field.

By Joselin S

Mar 15, 2021

An awesome course for beginners in graphic design. It is a free course, so it helps me a lot. Thank you so much calarts team for this wonderful opportunity.

By Diana M R E

Jul 9, 2020

This course is amazing, it explains the basics in an easy undestandable way and gets you excited to get to know more about the field. I absolutely loved it!

By univon a

May 29, 2020

Es simplemente fantástico por que da la oportunidad de seguir aprendiendo con los conocimientos básicos que tengamos, muy buen curso y muy buenos compañeros

By Kanmani M

Apr 23, 2020

This course is designed for beginners and is very well thought of. Simple instructions help in grasping concepts and provide us with confidence in creating!

By Ahmad A J

Nov 30, 2019

Really helpful course for the fundamentals of Graphic Design. Recommended for all of those beginners who are trying to improve their base on graphic design.

By Shinta S

Jun 15, 2019

I am really glad that I took this course. It gave me very specific details about graphic design that I could not get in another online course that I joined.

By gerry w

Mar 14, 2019

I really enjoyed the course and the pace, it suited my time schedules jumping on when I can and I found the tutorials well delivered and easy to understand.

By Chrisha M

Feb 17, 2019

Absolutely helpful when you're a beginner. It explains as well as put examples so it's easier to understand, especially in visual art, I think that's needed

By David W

Jun 12, 2016

nice overview to get you started in graphic design. Lots of practical tasks to do which are fun and give a great opportunity to really explore the concepts.