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

4.8
stars
17,084 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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3901 - 3925 of 4,410 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

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 J

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 :)

By Daniel A

Apr 15, 2022

O que define o design gráfico é a sua forma de pensamento até a composição da sua arte, nada melhor que este curso teórico e prático para demostrar isso.

By Kit C

Jan 9, 2019

The lessons were clear and full of examples, very easy to comprehend. The assignments were perfect for beginners and were really helpful for improvement.

By Shawn G

Jun 26, 2017

Really good course. Only critique is it could have been a little longer to flesh out some more creative concepts, but it's a good, balanced intro course.

By Dekim K

Mar 21, 2022

It has clear explanation and gives great understanding about graphic design. I am not entirely sure about the peerreviews but the assigments help a lot.

By André W S M

Dec 15, 2015

The course is being great so far and very well taught/instructed by Professor Michael. I hope it will be an important asset to my future career in Arts.

By Paul R

Nov 17, 2020

Well designed course that is encouraging beginners to explore. The sound could be better though, it's a bit tiring to listen for a long period of time.

By Wink K M

Aug 6, 2020

It is a really good course for beginners who wishes to understand the magic behind visual arts The videos are short and sweet with very clear contents.

By Kurt L

Dec 23, 2018

Helpful, even interesting. it covers broad area of graphic design in somewhat meaningful depth, and yet it's still intriguing enough to make people try

By Nicole S

Mar 25, 2018

The teacher is compelling and the lessons are the perfect amount of time and info. The instructions for the assignments are sometimes a little unclear.