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

4.8
stars
17,987 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

AR

Apr 18, 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.

EJ

Sep 6, 2021

I had a lot of fun in this course. I learnt some extra bits of information related to graphic design and I think it's a great start for beginners as well as good practice for intermediate and experts!

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4151 - 4175 of 4,607 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By E. C C

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Nov 19, 2016

Very basic introduction to the ground floor of Graphic Design. Get in, get it done, get out. I like how precise it was.

By Jack M

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Jul 5, 2017

Good course, great for an introduction, hopefully more advanced courses from CalArts will cover more advanced features

By Florence R

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Jul 25, 2024

Great course, anchoring the basics (sometimes might feel slow but at the same time it leads you through a process...)

By Cesar A T D

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Sep 13, 2021

I really loved the course because you can learn different fundamental things to be able to make a satisfactory design

By Ankush

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Oct 5, 2020

It's help me to gain knowledge about the design and introduced it and I learn many type of graphic design . THANK YOU

By Dr R

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Oct 22, 2016

very important for both new designer, who want to enrich their knowledge, and experienced designers, as a refresher.

By Debarati B

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May 27, 2018

Good course for learning the basics of graphics design. More professional / business related topics could be added.

By Maiju S

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Oct 17, 2020

Good introduction to graphic design. Interesting videos and good exercises. Good concept of the course altogether!

By N V

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Aug 29, 2020

i have registered to the course as a part of specialization, but I can't open most of materials. what should I do?

By Adler A

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Aug 7, 2020

Um curso introdutório excelente para aqueles que desejam aprender um pouco de teoria por traz do design gráfico.

By Shammir B

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Jun 24, 2020

I liked the course it started with the basics of designing and brought a deep understanding of graphic desinging

By Carolina L L

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Mar 7, 2016

Maybe too basic sometimes. But the teacher explains everything in a very good way. The platform works amazingly.

By Graham R

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Apr 20, 2020

The only thing I would say is that clarity of instructions was sometimes difficult to follow. Otherwise, great!

By Hien N

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Aug 26, 2021

In addition to peer reviews it would be great to get feedback from a graphic design professor or professional.

By 13_ D S

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Jul 26, 2020

It was great experience. If you want to start from scratch its perfect for you. I would highly recommend this.

By kuanjung c

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Mar 9, 2016

The course itself was great. The only thing lacking is that all the assignments were reviewed only by peers.

By Brian A

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Apr 30, 2021

Great content. Only problem is the learner community isn't particularly active, and reviews are pretty poor.

By Fernanda L

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Oct 11, 2019

It is a good introductional course that starts our mindset to see how the graphic world is built around us.

By Jordan F

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Jul 13, 2017

It was great for fundamentals, I know it is a fundamentals course, but I would have love to dive in deeper!

By Camila L

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Feb 18, 2016

I would like if there was some instructor feedback. That would be great! I loved the course, really useful.

By Anton R

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Feb 11, 2018

I thought the exercise of 10 images was a good intro to thinking of different ways to represent an object.

By Iqra S

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Aug 30, 2020

i learned a lot. it was really helpful and it makes you think from different angles. to create something.

By Erick A R A d l S

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Jan 17, 2018

Basic but good course. The optional assignments should be required to rise the course level and feedback.

By Miranda J

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Jul 12, 2016

Some of the videos seem a little repetitive, but all in all it was a great overview of Graphic Design. T

By Melissa G

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Mar 27, 2020

Excellent beginner course for principles of design. Fun projects, informative and well presented videos.