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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

EJ

Sep 5, 2021

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!

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.

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876 - 900 of 4,555 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Cameron D

Mar 17, 2021

The title of this course delivers exactly and amazingly the most important foundation of graphic design paving a way towards the broad subject of graphic design.

By Taqi H

Oct 13, 2020

This course serves as a good building stone for creating a "designer's mind" as it shows us the basics and fundamentals. Would surely take the remaining courses!

By Valeria T C

Aug 25, 2020

I feel it like a very kind course, a very easy, complete (within the boundary of fundamentals of design) and very encouraging for me to keep on design. Thank you

By Loven P

Aug 8, 2020

It's totally worth the time and the projects are intuitive, learning-wise, and lesson-filled especially for me who learns better by doing the presented concepts.

By Jeannie F C

Jul 6, 2020

Coming from a person without a background or degree in arts, the course was very helpful. I was able to gain a lot of new knowledge that I can use for designing.

By Snehdeep k

May 2, 2020

Coursera is wonderful platform for free education and knowledge. You can find amazing courses as per your interest and develop your skills .Thank you coursera .

By Oleksandra Z

Apr 10, 2020

It was a great learning process!

That was my first experience with graphic design and very successful one!

Thank you Coursera and California Institute of the Arts!

By Laura M

Jun 20, 2016

Very informative, and the instructor was clear and engaging. The course challenged me, but not to the point that it was overwhelming or felt beyond my abilities.

By Heleina E

May 5, 2016

I enjoyed this class. The concepts introduced here were easy to understand. It's like graphic design made easy. It was very engaging as well. Highly recommended!

By Nimra A

Jun 5, 2022

this course was extremly fun to study adn learn. all the video sessions were clear to understand, and the assignment help very well to practice what we learned.

By Indie S

Jan 22, 2021

Esse curso, sem dúvida, é uma excelente introdução ao mundo do Design Gráfico. Sem contar que as atividades são maravilhosas e necessárias pra fixar o conteúdo.

By Ria V

Oct 6, 2020

Amazing course

It widened my imagination, thinking and various ways to see a single image. It helped me to learn and understand the basics of graphic designing.

By Judith M

Sep 1, 2020

The course is easy to follow, the instructor gives great examples, and having to put in practice the knowledge acquired in every lesson really do help to learn.

By Ana K

May 26, 2020

It was the most exciting and interesting to me. Working on something that makes you happy is the greatest feeling. I think every designer should do this course.

By Amber F

Apr 18, 2020

The course was a lot of fun and informative! I'm glad to have gotten the experience from it and will definitely be pursuing further coursework from CAL Arts. :)

By Ajit N

Mar 23, 2017

Thing I liked the most about this course was that there were so many practice assignments. It had me practicing and designing every day which improved my skills

By Nathaniel M Z

May 10, 2016

This is my first formal instruction to Graphic Design this course made my appreciate my work and instilled interest on my part to pursue and improve in my craft

By Andrea Y

Dec 29, 2015

This course was very enjoyable. It was nice how the videos were broken up into many short videos, and the assignments were useful in understanding the concepts.

By imran m

Feb 5, 2023

Loved this course. I have been designing stuff for years. This course gave me the vocabulary to to talk about designing. Many thanks for designing this course.

By Harshita S

Mar 10, 2021

This program have helped a lot to learn the basic and fundamentals of graphic design. I got a learn the ideas in very interesting and it was easy to understand

By RoamietheHomie

Mar 1, 2021

Great introduction to the world of graphic design. The course is very straight forward, and provides some optional assignments to help get some extra practice.

By Tia S

Jan 1, 2021

It was great, really helped me to creative and think in different and new ways! I'd defiantly recommend for someone considering or interested in graphic design

By DIBYA J P

May 27, 2020

Pretty good course to nurture the skills in graphic design. Learnt a lot about the typical terms used in various designs which I was ignorant before. Thank you

By Sakshi K

Jul 30, 2019

Very insightful course. Gives very detailed information about fundamentals of designing.This course had helped me in defining the boundaries of design making.

By Philip B

Sep 18, 2023

Very straight forward and insightful course. I learned some new things and reviewed some concepts i'm familiar with. Would recommend to any graphic designers.