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

4.8
stars
17,037 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

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.

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

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126 - 150 of 4,402 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Maureen O

Oct 2, 2019

Fundamentals of Graphic design was such a good heads start for me in design. I started designing 2 years ago but little did i know i was doing it the wrong way all the while. Taking this course, I've been exposed to right design thinking and the basics of design. The exercises, peer graded assignments and quizzes have all played major roles in fine tuning my design basic knowledge. I look forward to taking subsequent courses in the specialization as this has triggered my zeal to horn my creative abilities. Great teachers! Great team!

Thank you!

By Jay M

Jul 28, 2020

I have greatly enjoyed learning from our teacher Michael Worthington who has a very simple yet succinct way of explaining the fundamentals of graphic designing that I felt I already knew about and oh boy was I wrong! I had been a painting student and though Bauhaus did apply the same fundamentals on all craetive strains yet the Graphic play viz-a-vis painting still felt somehow different. And it felt like fun. I loved every single minute of it. Looking forward to doing a few assignments left in week 4.

Thank you Coursera and Thank you CalArts :)

By Faisel K

Oct 2, 2020

The best Learning experience and the best Mentor I have ever seen. This course provides more than what one can expect. I have been doing graphic related jobs for the last 10 years but things which I have learned here change my perception all together towards making an aesthetical and functional piece of Graphic Design. I would recommend this course to anyone who likes to make his/her carrier in the design industry. I'm really thankful to the Coursera Team and faculty of CalArts for making such an incredible and excellent course. Thanks.

By Anna E T

Nov 7, 2016

I really enjoyed this course as it made me stop and take the time to not only make art but to have fun with it. This course made me think about different ways to blend art and text the different elements within a typeface and font. I learned a lot of new and important things to consider regarding graphic design and I really enjoyed the instructors way of teaching. Thank you for taking the time to make courses like this so easily available to individuals like me who do not have the time or funds for traveling to a formal college.

By Harshada D

Apr 7, 2023

A very lovely course indeed! The videos and teaching material are logical and progressive in nature. The instructor is great and has a calming and reassuring persona. He provides a lot of insight and knowledge on the various aspects involved in graphic design. I had fun completing the learning material and especially, the projects. Peer reviews seemed daunting to me at first, but they were a breeze too. I loved reviewing and critiquing others' art. Definitely recommend the course for anyone stepping into the world of design!

By Pratima P

Sep 1, 2020

WONDERFUL LEARNING ,SIMPLE ANY EASY WAY TO LEARN, PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENTS HELPED IN PRACTICAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE COURSE,PEER GRADING HELPED IN UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENT IDEAS OF STUDENTS AND THEIR THOUGHT PROCESS,INDEED A BEAUTIFUL COURSE ,THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR MICHAEL WORTHINGTON ,YOUR GUIDANCE AND TEACHING HELPED ME TO LEARN FUNDAMENTALS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN IN AN EASY WAY.THANK YOU COURSERA COURSE AND BOMBAY TEACHER'S TRAINING COLLEGE FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN AND DEVELOP MY SKILLS ,DIVINE GRATITUDE TO ALL.

By Mateusz G

Jun 9, 2019

This is my first (and for sure not last) course in this website. I always thought that online courses this is a big crap and nothing serious. I was wrong. I learnt a lot in this time with "fndamentals of graphic design" course. I am really surprised about another students - they were evaluating with being honest and pointing what was to improve in homeworks from tasks which we got. Also I got a lot of inspirations from another points of view on simple tasks:)

Best regards for creator of this course, my journey just began.

By Angienskal

Sep 20, 2020

I just want to say thanks to Coursera for allowing me to take the course.

Thank you for offering financial assistance.

Thanks to the California Institute of the Arts for offering the course.

Thanks to Professor Michael Worthington, for teaching the classes and giving of his time and knowledge to learn about the fundamentals of graphic design.

Thank you all the colleagues who review the tasks and are part of the fact that we can give feedback, and be able to finish our activities.

Delighted with the course!

Many blessings!

By María A O

Dec 3, 2015

Very practical and enjoyable introduction to graphic design. It condenses a lot of content in an approachable and diversified way so it's useful to learn a lot in little time.

It's also encouraging to put all the concepts taught into practice with various media, with its balance between technique and talent. I like the instructor's way to express the importance of relying on the idea over difficulty.

Among the MOOCs I've taken on art topics, this one stands out as one of the most clarifying and fulfilling.

By Nath W

Apr 19, 2022

Perfeito! Super didático e dá uma super base para alavancar os estudos daqui pra frente. Recomendo! E aproveitando para agradecer a equipe por nos dar essa oportunidade de estudar em um país tão distante (do meu, pelo menos), com tanta qualidade. Adorei!! Perfect! Super didactic and gives a super base to leverage studies from now on. I recommend! And taking the opportunity to thank the team for giving us this opportunity to study in a country so far away (from mine, at least), with such quality. I loved!!

By Deleted A

May 14, 2020

I want to give many thanks for being given this wholesome opportunity to spend my time meaningfully during this most difficult time! This course has taught me to broaden my perspectives and horizons in the fine arts, with graphic design also being the tip of an even bigger mountain to be scaled. A big heartfelt thank you to the main instructor (Michael Worthington) and many others who worked behind the scenes to create this engaging, colourful course which took me four days to complete. Worth it! ;-)

By Megan C

Mar 19, 2016

This was an amazing course with a very talented and engaging instructor. I suffer from a chronic illness and have recently had to put an unrelated university degree on hold. It honestly felt like my life was falling to pieces. If this course is any indication of what's to come, I have full hopes of being able to start a successful business from home, allowing me to work with my illness and not against it like I was doing before. Thank you Coursera for opening my life back up to possibilities again.

By Nandagopalan V

May 26, 2018

I guess this is one of the very few courses available online in graphic design from a reputed institute. It is a great course for a beginner to get started off with. The course content was optimum for a beginner and useful information was provided in all sections. It is definitely a good course to get you thinking in the direction of graphic design and help identify your areas of interest within the domain. I am grateful to Coursera, Calarts and Prof. Worthington for giving me this opportunity.

By Altemur B

Aug 16, 2020

I really like that course. Instructors were very good. I always heard good things about calarts. And know I understood that everything was true. Really good school, really good instructors and really good assignments for improving ourselves in a better way. As they said in the course, Graphic design is learned by design. And we made a lot of design assignments in that course. And we review our friends and get feedbacks from our friends, it was really helpful. I suggest calarts and their courses.

By Mrunal P S

Jan 17, 2019

The Course of Fundamentals of Graphic Design has been created in a precise way throwing light on the important topics of Basic Design elemental study, Color theory, Typography and Design composition, making it interesting and simple to understand by a layman.

Professor Worthington has done a marvelous job and has been able to translate the Graphic design understanding and terminology through his videos. This was my first course from Cousera and I feel privileged.

Thank You

Mrunal Sinha, India

By Simona J

Mar 15, 2018

I like the course, not knowing anything I've learned a lot. Learning that objects and letters can trigger emotions and feelings, learning the typefaces, the colouring, the playing with shapes, was very educative and interesting for me. I have never worked in Photoshop or any other photo editor so I had to learn part of that as well. This course was A+ and I thing that with the basics now I can start exploring for more and also now I see things and surrounding with second pair of eyes.

By Tran L P

Nov 15, 2016

Excellent course! I find this Fundamentals of Graphic Design very useful for everyone not just designer. It does not only provide me with very basic yet very useful knowledge of graphic design but also helped me greatly in practicing certain skills that I never thought I would have. The assignments and all peer-review sessions are quite challenging too though the video sessions with the teachers always sound very easy to understand. I love this challenge anyway. Strongly recommended.

By Beatriz A

Mar 28, 2019

I really like of this course, because I'm not from the Area of Design or take classes about it, but it is something that I always enjoy to work (most, in school works).

I learned, in general, the basics about the Design (terms, practical exercises),which gives me other perspective of my previous knowledge and confirms that this is something that will continue to work as a hobby or, perhaps, something more professional at the future.

Congratulations, Professor Michael Worthington :)

By Hannah C

Jan 5, 2021

It took me a little by surprise. I definitely had some expectations for what this course would be like, but I was taken in a different direction. I especially loved how they explained that the process for idea generation was more important than executing a specific idea perfectly the first time. And how you might stumble upon what works best by just continuing to experiment with ideas. The segments also went more in-depth than I anticipated. I learned far more than I expected to.

By Anano R

May 26, 2019

This Course Exceeded expectations, it is very comfortable to study online. this is my first experience to take online course, also what i like mostly is that every videos have subtitle it is realy owesom. also you can make your notes, also assigments is realy interesting to have a practise, when you check your classmate works it is also good experience too see what they do, and ask them recomendations, also they give you recomendations, it is realy comfortable and good course.

By Sarah N

Apr 28, 2016

A thoroughly inspiring, empowering, exciting, and enjoyable course.

During the course, I found myself wanting to rush on to the next part because I was delighted to find answers to questions I've had for years and other pearls of wisdom, but on the other hand I also wanted to linger and revel in the process of making.

I most heartily recommend this course to anyone looking to start out in graphic design, or who, like me, enjoys hobbies such as card making and creative embroidery.

By Елена Ю

Jan 23, 2021

Я уже проходила другие базовые курсы по графическому дизайну, но они были ориентированы на практику, а знание практики без знания фундаментальных понятий не дает возможности делать выразительные проекты.

Этот курс дал мне понимание фундаментальных вещей, которые кажутся простыми, только если не начать их осмыслять. Теперь те проекты, что были удачными и которые раньше я делала интутитивно, я могу проанализировать и повторить уже с более четким пониманием их сильных сторон.

By Emma M

Nov 3, 2016

I really enjoyed this class. The lectures were very well done and I learned a lot about design that I had not thought about before. I love the optional and required projects. I was inspired to be creative again, which was a nice surprise. I think the final project could have been a bit more challenging/creative similar to the first project. Maybe there could have been one more image, so 7 total, that could have been included and allowed us to be more creative and go crazy.

By Kyi P K

Aug 9, 2021

I'm a junior graphic designer who didn't attend any courses. I studied them from you-tube so I've got some problems for example I don't know exactly how to do, knowledge is scattered and I don't know how to organize them. This is my first Graphic Design course. In this case, this course helps me a lot to reach my goal and helps me understand all about the fundamentals I didn't know. The teacher is really good and his exercises and assignment are really helpful for me.

By natalie n

Dec 12, 2017

This is a great fist step for anyone who is looking to come into Graphic Design with no prior knowledge or perhaps for those who need a refresher to start thinking creatively. Micheal does a fabulous job of explaining thoroughly, clearly and communicates everything in a manner which is easy to understand for everyone but also makes the student start thinking creatively, like a designer. Highly recommended course as a foundation for anything in the creative industries.