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

4.8
stars
17,839 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

GA

Aug 20, 2018

Very interesting, I liked the format. Easy to follow, nice excercises. It's actually good to cover the basics of design, even if you are not an absolute beginner, and especially if you are self taught

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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4176 - 4200 of 4,573 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Pramita B

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Jul 29, 2020

This course was very informative .Thank you coursera for providing such a awesome course.

By Tina L O Z

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Feb 12, 2019

Rigorous if you take the time to do the optional work which has a lot of depth and value.

By pooja

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Feb 25, 2021

very good course to learn basics and how to approach graphic design in the initial stage

By Manali R

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Jun 15, 2020

this course for who not came basic for graphic design . It nice course learn from basic.

By sonika v

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Jun 4, 2020

good experiences it made me do a lot of art work , made me know my skills of imagination

By Harshshikha I

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Dec 10, 2019

it was great but should contain more of graphics designing than basic drawing and shapes

By Hassan M

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Jul 14, 2019

I am learning very well due to this course.

It includes Basic ideas of graphic designing.

By Mandella E

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Dec 25, 2017

Even though this is a beginner course, I feel it could have been a bit more challenging.

By Patty N

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Aug 8, 2016

Over all a good experience to get a solid understanding of basic graphic design aspects.

By 晴天小猪

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Oct 29, 2020

This course is overall good. It helps me understand some basic ideas of graphic design.

By Huon S

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Jul 13, 2019

Great course! I would really have like to have had some more time covering composition.

By Giulianno C C

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Dec 27, 2015

Amazing classes to create some interest over the graphic design! I finished and aprove.

By Think T

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Apr 1, 2020

It was good it helped me to learn about the form and creating images with meaning ....

By Robert O A

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Aug 10, 2017

Good basics and forces you to rethink what you know about form, composition and color.

By Volha F

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May 29, 2017

This course gives a good overview on the basics of the graphic design and image making

By Sharan j

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Jun 7, 2020

This was simple, but always remember without basics we cannot do anything. Thankyou:)

By Sayem W

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Nov 22, 2017

It is a good introduction to graphic design. Some assignments are however uninspired.

By Филатов Д О

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Aug 29, 2023

Good basis.

But some videous (for example: painting apples) is too long and boring.

By Deng Y

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Jul 11, 2020

When it comes to peer review, some reviews are not very helpful for me to improve.

By Rhythm

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May 13, 2020

It was a fun and informative course, the assignments were interesting and engaging

By Alison J

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May 23, 2021

I learned a lot of basic concepts that I hope I can expand on in the next course.

By Melissa W

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Nov 22, 2020

Thoroughly enjoyed this course. Very simple yet packed with valuable information

By david v

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Mar 15, 2016

Good course. Interesting clear lectures and interesting, enjoyable assignments.

By Sarmishta S

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Mar 31, 2016

A very precise and interesting overview into the world of design and graphics.

By Janaina L V

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Dec 4, 2017

student's support should be better, they take long time to answer our doubts.