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

4.8
stars
17,701 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!

AR

Apr 17, 2016

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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4001 - 4025 of 4,540 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Pragati A

Jun 25, 2020

Loved this course :) It helped me a lot in learning about how typography, colours, texture, weight, scale, direction and many other factors can impact the image so much.

By PHENOM V

Aug 16, 2023

I love this course because it gave me an avenue to relate and learn from other learners in this field. I also love the style of teaching. I'm really grateful Coursera.

By ANUSHKA S 1

Jun 25, 2020

It was great and I really learnt a lot but I think they could have taught us a little more about using any particular platform to create or test the things we learnt.

By Robert P

Jan 31, 2021

A very good basic overview of fundamentals. As someone just starting to dip his toe into graphic design, this was a nice introduction. Looks forward to more courses!

By ZhaoDong

Dec 29, 2017

very valuable fundamental course. the termology introduced seldom use in daily life and the content of the course trigger me to be more interested in Graphic Design.

By Fernanda V

Jun 15, 2016

Great way to get acquainted with the basic tools of graphic design. I will be sure to use them next time I am creating a presentation at work or in my personal life.

By Heather H

Feb 23, 2016

This had some really good fundamentals and some really helpful exercises. I recommend this to anyone who would like to understand a little more about Graphic Design.

By Mariam a

Sep 26, 2024

I learned a lot of things in this course , It reallyt helped me clearly understand all the basics of graphic design and motivated me to keep going and learn more .

By Alina I F S

Aug 29, 2016

O curso é ótimo para obter conceitos bem iniciais em design gráfico. Ele não aprofunda muito, mas oferece o ponto inicial para estudos na área e dá uma visão geral.

By Ekaterina B

Jun 11, 2016

Its a good course for people who never look at design but its a lot surface. Of course if you want to know the main aspects of design very quikly it course for you.

By Devendra J

Jul 24, 2023

Very helpful

Was very excited to do some graphic designing

the course was kinda basic but very helpful for me as a new comer in graphic designing field

enjoyed a lot

By C. M C

Apr 14, 2016

I really enjoy the exploration journey of this course!

Especially the moto of the tutor : "The best part to create it's to have fun in the process!"...Thanks a lot!

By Lina R M I E

Aug 6, 2020

It's so good, giving the principles of design without the need to complicated tools or programs. But I guess some optional assignments should have been required.

By Judith T V

Jul 20, 2020

Es un excelente curso, pero siento que puede ser más dinámico, es muy magistral para ser un curso de diseño, eso hace que se tornen un poco aburridas las clases.

By Xue Y

Jan 22, 2016

The course is pretty good and not difficult to take. I've learned basic graphic design skill via this course. Looking forward to taking more classes here again!

By Wendell O

Apr 20, 2021

I was expecting to learn a bit more about HOW to use Adobe, but I think the course theory was helpful and inciteful to gain an understanding of graphic design.

By Bašić, A A

May 16, 2020

This helped me quite a bit, I learned some more stuff about typography and made my horizons broader with layout and composition. Great course, I would suggest.

By Amjad F

Jun 8, 2020

One of the most important thing I feel that this course was very flexible to use. In fact, I had the opportunity to learn all fundamental of graphic design.

By Deleted A

Jul 12, 2016

As a self taught person in Graphic Design, it was interesting to put words to my basic knowledge. I found particularly helpful the lesson about composition.

By Laura D

Jan 3, 2023

Pretty basic things. I knew all the concepts just not the name for them even though I've never taken a graphic design course before but it was taught well.

By awinash s

Jul 1, 2020

Great course who wants to start a carrier in graphics designing. I've learned so many new things that you couldn’t learn on youtube or any other platforms.

By Gloria S

Dec 27, 2016

Great examples and excercises. A good way to get into the graphic design. I enjoy every assignment and it gives a lot of ways to keep doing graphic design.

By Sivaraj B K

Jun 18, 2020

A great starter course for anyone who's interested about graphic design. The course has a good foundation of basic design principles that can be built on.

By Rasa

Mar 11, 2016

The material is really good for beginners. In order to make it more useful I think all the tasks should be mandatory, there shouldn't be any optional ones

By chris m

Feb 20, 2016

This course is a good start in understanding the basics of graphic design, I felt it could go a bit deeper into the materials but its a good beginniing :)