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

4.8
stars
17,129 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.

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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4301 - 4325 of 4,420 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By John W

Dec 10, 2023

Was great although they didn't teach us anything about how to use Photoshop or similar graphics software, I had to learn that myself which was rather daunting. Moreover, I was expecting up to date information especially with regards to the recent developments in AI

By Joseph M

May 8, 2024

Wish there were more real-world projects, and that we didn't have so many rules in our submissions. Also wish the final project (the band) would give us some more creative freedom, something like "pick a cause you want to support and make promotional art for it"

By Taylor S

Sep 22, 2021

It was a bit hard to keep up with everything due to there being no specific definitions on screen or any stress on what we should know. Everyone has their own learning style, and this course didn't really fit mine. I did enjoy the hands-on activities though.

By Aydin A

Jun 28, 2016

Interesting and exploratory but not much was really explained; he just kinda showed examples and said see what I mean. That's great but you're not really learning why and thus in my opinion I don't feel like I learned much about graphic design

By Lika M

Dec 8, 2021

The course covers a very surface explanations of topics, where you get to watch only few minutes video and do much more practice by yourself. I agree that we learn by practicing, but also, I was expected to get more knowladge from the course.

By Mahek S

Aug 14, 2016

Instead of reading blogs and books on graphic design and then following that up with consequent practice I decided to take up this course which would help me do both more efficiently and so far I'm not regretting my decision.

By Khalid G

Apr 15, 2020

this course is kinda useful but I think it needs to go deeper in some details about those fundamentals of graphic design to give a complete imagination about how this world works, glad to be here and thanks a lot!

By divyansha g

Nov 5, 2020

Interesting appraoch to basic elements of graphic design. however, i believe there should be more required assignments instead of the optional ones to gain deeper and better understanding of various elements.

By Aarya C

Aug 22, 2020

It is quite engaging from a beginner point of view but I expected the course to more of a professional level. Expected to work on a Graphic Design software like Adobe Illustrator or something like that.

By Divya A

May 9, 2020

They are teaching you basics of design. The course is pretty good for people who have absolutely no knowledge in design. Overall my experience was good. They did increase my knowledge about graphics.

By Andy B

May 23, 2022

Interesting material, but no interaction with instructors at all. Everything is peer reviewed and unfortunately not all the students speak English well enough to understand the grading rubric.

By Kimmie H

Apr 12, 2023

The course content is good, but I am not happy with the fully peer graded method. There is no way to flag spam users, and often you're stuck with no or unhelpful feedback on your assignments.

By Ezio T

Mar 13, 2020

I was expecting to have more hands on experience and learning graphic designing software, but it was more about theory. I liked the theory and classes, but still I was hoping for more.

By Lim M J

Jun 4, 2020

Great course for anyone who wishes to learn graphic designs. It's eye-opening for me as it is not just about arts, but also the techniques and compositions behind every design

By Antonio C C

Mar 7, 2017

Si deseas conocer los conceptos básicos del diseño gráfico de una manera amena este es tu curso. Es prácticamente autogestivo pero con un diseño instruccional de alta calidad.

By Jessica W

Jan 28, 2021

Very basic and seems a bit outdated. Good if you really need to know the basics, not so good for portfolio development or learning anything that is real world applicable

By Mita M

Feb 2, 2017

I was expecting to learn to use some tools during the course. Looks like I have to teach myself how to use different programs for designing.

By Charleigh L C

Nov 1, 2021

A introduction to graphic design. All assignments are peer review, most of the time you cannot receive useful comment to improve yourself.

By Amina K

Oct 10, 2020

Peer grading is absolutely the worst. Real feedback from a real instructor is needed instead of "ok" and "good" from peers on assignment.

By Mona E

Nov 27, 2016

It's very very basic, I know it's considered an introductory course but I expected more. It was very interesting and informative though.

By Anna S

Feb 22, 2023

I liked the course's content; however, the grades given by peers were very subjective which made me think less of the course overall.

By Ludivine S

Feb 20, 2017

A bit basic, but I guess that's what should be expected of an "Introduction"

It would be nice to get a more advanced alternative course

By Mina M B

Apr 17, 2022

the course is great but I did not understand the point of the first week so without that the course would be 5 stars i think

By O K

Sep 19, 2019

This course is just about the basics. It was very easy for me to take this course, do assignments. Think twice before buying.

By Tushar D C

May 12, 2018

Did learn new things as well what graphic design really is (Spoiler: Its not restricted to only good looking designs).