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

4.8
stars
17,754 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.

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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351 - 375 of 4,554 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Ridhi R

Jan 15, 2019

Covers a wide range of topics and really focuses on getting the foundation right to understand graphic design before we jump to executing it. The video lectures are simple to understand the variety of examples and demos is brilliant!

Can't wait to finish the rest of the courses.

By Martin S

Dec 12, 2016

I like this course as its the fundamentals but we do it everyday doing it without knowing it. I am very happy that i am able to recognize what i have been doing. Course is great clear and designed simple to learn but one has to work hard on its end to show how far they can go.

By Fedir C

Aug 30, 2023

I have enjoyed taking this course. It was fun and useful in the same time. The lector is good at teaching this subject. I like that there is assignments that are reviewed by real people and I'm given feedback. I took it for general knowledge and I very happy about my experience

By Sushmita P

Mar 16, 2022

It was Brilliant! for someone like myself who is interested in Graphic Design and Visuals but, lacks a foundational theoratical background. This course in my opinion made me get acquinted with all those crucial elements and fundamentals every designer must posses in their bag.

By Anastasia K

Feb 16, 2021

Very good course for the total beginners. You can learn and understand basics/fundamentals of Graphic Design and how it built. I would recommend this course for the people who thinks about Graphic Design, in order, to understand if it's really yours and you're interested in it.

By Paul T

Jun 17, 2020

Great course and well worth the time. The instructor is clear, he makes the course intriguing and easy to follow even if you have absolutely no prior experience with graphic design. Coursera is an easy and great learning platform to use. I especially like the discussion forums.

By Kristin C

Aug 6, 2018

A really interesting, hands on and practical course suitable for complete beginners in the area of design as well as for those with some knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed this course and look forward to partaking in the following Fundamentals of Graphic Design courses. Thank you!

By Haruna T

Oct 19, 2019

Very clear lectures and hands-on assignments covering the fundermental basics of graphic design. It would have been great if this course explained the context of graphic design such as brief hisory of graphic design or where graphic designs are utilized in the current society.

By najma k s

Aug 18, 2020

I learned a lot in this course especially since I am a visual communication design, it really helps in this pandemic era. The lessons is not too far from what I studied in university, so I did explore many visual design assignment that my uni did not give. Thank you, Calarts!

By Alicia R

Jan 29, 2016

I really am enjoying this course! This course makes you jump right in and play, which is something I love! So far it has been helpful to me and I'm beginning to understand the basics of Graphic Design as well as experimenting with different techniques to create unique images!

By Pamela P

Oct 15, 2020

It was just pleasure to take a part of this course. I learned how even to look at design, what's process, how to stimulate my brain for better ideas, what's important and I could even try it in several projects which was reviewed. Nice experience and I can only recommend it!

By Greeshma N

Jul 10, 2020

It was really amazing to learn from this course. Got to learn something new and many interesting facts about designs in a broader perspective. Would surely recommend this course to someone who needs to build a base in Graphic Design before practically getting into the field.

By Tae C

Feb 12, 2016

Great course for anyone!

Excellent learning and hands-on for those in any field and creative interests, also non graphic/visual designer like me. Lessons inspired me and helped applying to other projects I am working on by stimulating creative thinking and ways to experiment.

By Khadiga E

Feb 10, 2016

wonderful course, very helpful with basic knowledge of graphic design usage of elements and forms and terminologies. Thank you, the videos were very helpful and very insightful and easy to follow. I'd so love to carry on taking more courses that can help broaden my knowledge

By Dennis C B

Jul 17, 2021

The content is very clearly explained, with examples at every step of the way. Assignments are hands-on, and optional assignments are a fun challenge to do. I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from this course. I intend to take the other graphic design courses in this series.

By Aaron M

May 8, 2021

I am such a huge fan of this course! You are given all of the fundamentals you need to get an in depth understanding of Graphic Design. It’s challenging and fun all in one course, I highly recommend anyone who might be on the fence about learning the basics to give it a go.

By Rahul B

Jun 7, 2020

This course was easy yet very helpful building the basics of my skills, Thanks to Coursera to provide such platform to develop our skills with so much of ease & convenience. This course was very easy to understand cuz of such an organized interface & great interface. thanks

By Julie W

Mar 24, 2020

I appreciated the bite-sized video lengths, which made it easy to pop in and out of the content to handle life. Excellent audio and production, and fun, engaging assignments and I look forward to working through the remaining courses in this specialization. Would recommend!

By Temitayo O

Sep 13, 2019

I was so surprised at how much I didn't know. I really appreciate the design process. I always looked forward to learning new things and also loved rating people's assignments too. It was indeed eye opening. Looking forward to what the next course has to offer. Thanks guys.

By zairi s

Mar 24, 2023

I'm very proud of myself for obtaining my first design certificate. Coursera is a fantastic self-learning resource; I had a great time taking the course and found it to be beneficial. I'm excited to complete the remaining four courses in the Graphic Design Specialization.

By Rhea

May 5, 2020

This course was excellent. The instructor presented the information in a way that was accessible to both novices and experienced designers. Each project built upon the previous one, and by the end of the course I felt that I had retained knowledge and developed new skills.

By azmina a

Jul 26, 2020

I have enjoyed this course and learned various aspects of graphic design. I look forward to the next course. This was an amazing course and I would recommend it to all who would like to pursue a career in this field and as well those who have an interest in arts as I do.

By Uzair A

Nov 3, 2020

To start with graphic designing this is one of the best course. I have learned from various platforms but this course is the best for beginners. The best part of this course is the exercises given which help you understand better by practically doing everything yourself.

By Simran K

Jul 15, 2018

I absolutely loved this course! With the use of examples, quizzes and assignments I was able to understand and practice what I learnt. This course taught me a lot about how you can employ simple, small tactics to make a piece of art more sound and aesthetically pleasing.

By Bria C M

Feb 21, 2016

Very clear and not too complicated! I really appreciate how Michael Worthington gave us the history behind each term to give us an in depth understanding of how it functions. This lesson was very thorough and I will definitely apply everything I've learned to my designs.