I recently completed the "Fundamentals of Graphic Design" course, and I highly recommend it. The course provides a solid foundation in graphic design principles and is incredibly accessible, making it easy to understand even for beginners. I gained a wealth of knowledge that I can now apply in practice, thanks to the course's emphasis on hands-on projects. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was the opportunity to receive feedback from my peers and provide reviews in return. This collaborative environment allowed all of us to grow and improve together, making the learning experience even more enriching. Overall, this course is an excellent choice for anyone looking to learn graphic design fundamentals and gain real-world experience.

Very rewarding, with easy to understand but comprehensive lectures and optional exercises that can be done with each sub-section of the lecture. These exercises were interesting, relevant and challenging. It was also educational to do the peer reviews and see how other students approached the assignments.

The instructions for assignments perhaps could be broken into bullet points, as sometimes they were perhaps not fully understood on the optional exercises. Some guidelines to help give more substantial or constructive feedback (beyond "This met the assignment criteria" or "I liked #3") could be helpful.

I'm very glad I did this course, and I was thoroughly engrossed in the exercises. It was sad when the course ended. :-)

The course responded very well to my expectations. It outlines and analyze all the elements and strongly prompts you to think about design making and to ponder each component of it. And it makes you work!! I learned a lot, technically, by myself, having to submit assignments. Looking at the materials I made, I almost cannot believe I did it by myself. The only thing: I wish I had more time to work on it and, perhaps, if the students knew since the very beginning they will finally make use of each assignment to create a very final one, they would probably consider this when choosing objects, styles, techniques. But maybe this is stated since the beginning and I did not realize that. Anyway, absolutely worthy.

This online course provided me with essential knowledge about Graphic Design And Design Theory in general, Also On the practical side, it qualified me to start experimenting and coming up with creative By creating a series of images using different image-making techniques, Implementing the fundamentals of color: visual, rhythm, and pattern in a piece of design, Typesetting text and experimenting with letter forms And Using form, scale, weight, direction, texture, and space in a composition. Big Thanks to the course instructor Michael Worthington and Calarts, for curating and providing such helpful and priceless resources, and Coursera for providing the best environment for effective learning.

This course really helped me a lot and changed my thinking about graphic design. In the past, my studies focused more on the principles of design and the beauty of the public, but this course is more inclined to guide you in the creation of graphic design, research your own methods, and how to express it flexibly and creatively. Graphic design finally returns to what kind of message I want to convey, and what I feel is that graphic design can be very interesting. It seems to have taken me out of a certain framework and have more imagination! I am honored to participate in this course. I am grateful for the teacher's teaching and the students' mutual evaluation, which made me think about it.

Excelente course! I graduated in Advertising and Audiovisual, but I'm algo a motion graphics designer freelancer. This course was an inspitation for me. And due to my schedule, it was very accessible and convinient at this point in my life. I've tried other courses online, but in this one I felt I could actually put the exercises in practice and learn by doing as the design area suggests. Another thing I found interesting was the variety of people, skills, tecniques, knowledge I got in touch. This plattaform is very democratic and for this area this is very very interesting. I'm satisfied and I plan to continue on the next modules. The course deliver everything it says. Thanks you, CalArts.

The course is simply amazing. Prepare to do a lot of hands on work, and use your creativity. The instructor gives hands on work that is really fun to do, and you end up with the knowledge and the skills to actually make a good poster, especially if you do the bonus assignments, which are really nice.

I must note, though, that it is very useful to know how to use computer programs to arrange files and text. I used Adobe Illustrator (like the instructor) and Pages, but basic knowledge of Microsoft Powerpoint or similar is enough, as you will scan hand-drawn pictures and put them in, arrange them, then export them as PDFs. Considering you are on this website, I'd say you are ready! Start ASAP!

Wonderfully crafted course. Really gets you to get a grip of what Graphic Design is. The peer review assignments allow you to astronomically expand your sense of criticism. Now I can't look at the world the same as I did - everything I see decomposes itself into forms and shapes, and the Typography chapter really gets you into understanding what type is and makes you look differently at posters, signs, etc.

The only aspect that put me a bit off is that you don't get professional feedback on your works, so you have to rely on your peers to really understand what exactly is right/wrong with your designs.

Overall, however, great course. Definitely taking the next step in the specialisation!

Loving this course! It has a really nice pace. I always prefer shorter videos cause then I can divide the week up and not have to find hours to do it all at the same time. Also it is easier to think along (I am doing it as an after work extra activity). Probably a lot of things are basics but this was exactly what I was looking for. Also the system of mandatory and optional tasks is really nice cause people can choose how deep they want to go. I have skipped optional things cause I do not want to design myself, more work better together with the designers but I might change my mind during the next course cause I am definitely taking the hole spezialisation!

Really loved the course and learned a lot. I am a beginner and after enrolling into this course, I gained so much knowledge about graphic designing. The course content is easy to understand and it prompt us to complete the assignments which I think is really helpful. We can apply and implement our ideas and knowledge on these assignments and make design in our own way. The best way to learn graphic design is to make graphic design. Reviewing peers work and getting peers feedback in return was also an amazing thing in this course. I enjoyed learning and really excited about the other courses in graphic design specialization I am enrolled in.

Very well organized course, with interesting topics and assignments. I took it as a free course and was very grateful for all the good information and practice was available. Many of the other students were very talented and it was fun to see their work during Peer Review. The 2 only criticisms are that (1) I wish they had recommended good, free software for completing the assignments. I ended up doing the 2 required assignments in an outdated version of MSWord, but managed to make that work, though it was time consuming. And (2), I never figured out how to request reviews of my work except as a "reply" to another post.

I really liked this short course. Having not been exposed to any kind of arts classes before (not since elementary school anyway), I felt this instructor explained things in a way (and used examples as he explained) that I could understand. It got me to appreciate just how much you can do just by changing simple things like typeface and size. This class got me doing stuff that I hadn't done in a long time, like painting with water colors. It was not a complicated or challenging class, but it was a very good introduction, which is what I think it was intended to be. It was approachable and it inspires further exploration.

This course was excellent. The instructor not only has a grasp on what he is teaching, but he is also able to put the concepts into small digestible bits of extremely helpful information. The practice exercises were challenging and enjoyable. I would love to see more course offerings from this instructor. I plan to take the rest of the courses in this track but feel like I need more experience with Adobe suite to really get the most out of the courses. I would have like to have known in advance that experience with programs such as Illustrator or In-design would have been recommended. Thank you for a great beginning.

I'm fully satisfied with all course.

I was able to systematize all existing knowledge about graphic design and also fill some "holes" in basics of creating graphics, especially I'm very gratefull for lesson about typography (it has always been my Achilles' heel :) ).

All assigments are very interesting, I got a lot of fun considering what I will do for each of them and also enjoyed whole process then.

This course is highly recomended for all, who wants to start in graphic design industry and for those, who already experienced in it, but also needs to put in order existing experience in appropriate form.

Thank you!

I loved the content. I loved that you get a lot of relevant info packed in short videos, the content doesn't make you feel overwhelmed. If you are an artist or designer sometimes you can feel like you "already know" some of the things your watching, I like to think that it is important not to skip the content, sometimes it can help you refresh some of the knowledge you have.

IMPORTANT: This is NOT a course to learn how to use any design program ( Illustrator, In design, Photoshop etc), they explain that at the beginning. This is a course to help you understand the essence of design and its creative process.

LEARNING SOFTWARE IS NOT EQUAL TO LEARNING GRAPHIC DESIGN. LEARNING SOFTWARE PLAYS A MINOR ROLE IN THE PATH TO BECOME A GRAPHIC DESIGNER. LEARN DESIGN THEORY, LEARN RULES OF DESIGN, LEARN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND INCREASE YOUR CREATIVITY. ALL OF THESE THINGS YOU WILL GET IN THIS COURSE.

THE COURSE IS NO DOUBT GREAT AND MORE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE BEGINNER GRAPHIC AND VISUAL DESIGNER. IT WILL CREATE YOUR STRONG FOUNDATIONAL SKILL & KNOWLEDGE ON THE TOPIC OF GRAPHIC / VISUAL DESIGN PROVIDED YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE ALL THE ASSIGNMENTS AUTHENTICALLY & HONESTLY MANY TIMES. THANK YOU VERY MUCH CAL ARTS !!

Calarts Faculty, School of Art - Program in Graphic Design, Michael Worthington teach you the fundamentals of graphic design the theoretical side of it. He dissects the parts in easy to understand manner. The project assignment keeps you busy and of course the best way to learn is to get your ideas flowing and create something within the perspective of graphics design. I definitely recommend this course if you want to understand graphic design. By the way the instructors of this Graphic Specialization Course is all professional faculty member with years of experience both academe and corporate.

This course has been a starting point for me to understand how the design processes. I learnt about the usage of tools and creating an image for a given theme. There are no limits when it comes to creativity. The video lessons are not that long but helpful. There are mini quizzes at the end of each sections and for those who want to learn more further readings are available. The assignments felt real because if I would got to a studio to learn the basics of design I'd recieve many reviews on my work. Here in coursera it is also possible to have that community and people are really helpful.

The course and the professor are excellent! If you are a beginner, like me; there is no better place to start your journey. My only gripe is the student reviews. Sometimes the commentaries are thoughtful and help you, and others, just a waste of time. The same goes for the works I reviewed. Some students put time and effort to complete an assignment, and others, they just put anything down to get it out of the way. The same as in life, I guess. You'll get out of this class as much as the effort you put in. Once again, the course and professor are outstanding! Many thanks to Cal Arts!

I really liked it! Even though the course has very basic topics about graphic design, I think it's a great option for beginners or designers that want to refresh their essentials. As designers, we have to remember that these basic concepts are the basis for more complex and structured creations, we all need to know them and learn how to correctly master them. I recommend it if you would like to start learning about the fundamentals, or if you're like me: a designer that wants to specialize and switch careers (I'm a fashion designer). Thank you CalArts, Coursera, and Mr. Worthington!

This is a great course for getting into art in general. A lot of the course is very cursory and never goes too far into detail like some classes do, which can be overwhelming.

The structure of required vs optional assignments was great, allowing you to choose where you'd like to practice more or even just additionally be able to continue (whereas some people cannot).

I would highly recommend this course to everyone. I look forward to continuing the entire specialization when I have more time. Until a couple of months from now, CalArts - you have made me a happy student!

This course is a perfect beginner's course about graphic design. It tackled and explained the basics in the simplest manner. It also provided exercises that made me understand the theories more. The videos and audio and visual aids are very clear, as well as the sample outputs. This course has definitely encouraged me to look closely on the fundamentals on graphic design, how they work as a single unit and how they can go together to make a pleasing and informative piece. My gratitude to Coursera, CalArts and Michael Worthington, the instructor, for this course.

Muy buen curso , aprendí muy bien las bases de diseño gráfico , lo único que le recomiendo a los estudiantes de habla hispana es que tengan un traductor a la mano , algunos subtítulos tienen algunas palabras mal traducidas y las tareas se tienen que enviar en inglés. Mientras tengas conocimientos básicos de inglés y un traductor digital que te ayudé lo vas a pasar sin problemas.

Eso sí hay pocos videos que no tienen ninguna traducción , ten en cuenta eso , sí entiendes algo de inglés no se te hará complicado pero si no sabes nada de inglés si será un problema.

The course was very cool. If you have already studied anything design-related, the content might be too basic and might look boarded in a rather shallow way. However, if you are new to the topic, I think the course is the perfect introduction to how the design process works and also, to the specialization (if you are interested in that). Additionally, the assignments offer a great chance to practice every concept reviewed in the videos, so that even a person who knows those things, but is a little rusty on the whole practice side, might benefit from the course.

This is a really beneficial course to wrap your head around terminology. While some may be review or feel like "yeah, duh" ideas in terms of the uses of contrast and space, for any novices or amateurs looking to better their skills, or anybody exploring graphic design from its roots, it's a necessary jumping off point. The only thing I'd add is a module on software, both to explain what software is being used for the demo, and what options are out there for beginners, including open source software, to make the course as affordable and accessible as possible.