Welcome to Graphic Design, the second course in the Effective Communications Specialization. Over 70 different companies have provided this specialization to their employees as a resource for internal professional development. Why? Because employers know that effective visual communication is the key to attracting an audience, building a relationship, and closing the sale.
Graphic Design
This course is part of Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation Specialization
Instructor: David Underwood
Sponsored by Barbados NTI
152,278 already enrolled
(3,262 reviews)
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What you'll learn
Apply inspired design ideas to your own work.
Skills you'll gain
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There are 4 modules in this course
This week introduces you to the importance of recognizing good design as the starting place for creating professional, attractive work of your own. We will look to the ubiquitous world of graphic design to establish a vocabulary of successful design and to find inspiration for our own projects. We will also discuss course prerequisites and review a basic digital design glossary that will help you navigate your chosen application.
What's included
12 videos6 readings1 assignment1 peer review
This week will look at the blank canvas – the untouched rectangle that will become our design project. We’ll discuss the importance of working with a grid, understanding negative space, and using appropriate margins. This week will also explore the palette of elements which, when chosen and used wisely, ensure that the finished design project is successful. We’ll cover type, color, images, and graphic elements such as borders, bars, and backgrounds.
What's included
15 videos5 readings2 assignments3 discussion prompts
It's time to start designing! In this week, we'll discuss the process of composition. We'll use the palette items covered in week 2, and deploy common visual design “tricks” such as contrast, repetition, sublimation, tension, and more. To help see both the effect and the universality of these design approaches, we'll look at design examples from art history, film, and current media. We’ll also cover the strategy of composition. We'll see that providing an obvious target, maintaining a natural visual flow, and prioritizing information are all critical to clear visual communication.
What's included
12 videos4 readings1 peer review6 discussion prompts
As we've said before, designers don't work in a vacuum. Our work will be judged by others, and, as good designers, we will learn to take that judgement constructively and in stride. In this week we’ll talk about what it means to be confident, yet open to criticism. We’ll explore the importance of revision as an ongoing component of design, as well as the need to enlist feedback and maintain distance in assessing our own work.
What's included
4 videos2 assignments1 peer review1 discussion prompt
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Reviewed on Sep 2, 2020
Amazing course content, amazing instructor, really helped to think, what is Graphic Designing. It' a really detail and practical course. I really Thanked the Inspector and Coursera.
Reviewed on Sep 25, 2021
Excellent format. Easy to understand. I love the candor and dry humor from the professor. I would take additional courses from this professor. (Where were you when I was in college???)
Reviewed on Apr 21, 2021
Hello my name is Jemima Clarke , I took a few of these courses that you all have to offer and Graphic Design was one of the . I appreciate the knowledge I obtained. Thanks you guys
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