Chevron Left
Back to Fundamentals of Graphic Design

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

4.8
stars
18,381 ratings

About the Course

The Fundamentals of Graphic Design course offered by CalArts on Coursera provides a comprehensive introduction to the essential building blocks of visual communication. This practice-oriented program focuses on four primary pillars: imagemaking, typography, shape and color theory, and the principles of composition. Unlike software-specific tutorials, this curriculum emphasizes the act of making and the mastery of design principles. It encourages participants to transform abstract concepts into tangible design projects. Learners will explore diverse techniques for visual representation and gain a technical understanding of how to manipulate rhythm, pattern, and contrast to organize information effectively. Please note that this course focuses on conceptual and formal principles rather than technical software instruction. While projects may be completed using tools like Adobe Creative Suite, specific tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign are not provided. The curriculum is designed to build foundational design proficiency that is applicable across any analog or digital toolset. By the end of the program, learners will have developed a core set of graphic design skills applicable to personal creative projects or further specialized study in professional design. This course serves as a critical first step for any aspiring communicator looking to master the universal visual language that shapes global culture and media....

Top reviews

RT

Jun 24, 2020

It is a very useful course in which i learn typography Image making virtual,single,multicontrasts And what not it is a very good course i ever scene thanking course era for giving this oppurtinity

XZ

Jan 2, 2020

Very great course to start designing. It helped me become bolder in creating contrasts in my work. Great for anyone interested in graphic design, or anything like bullet journalling, cooking, etc.

Filter by:

3951 - 3975 of 4,686 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By Musa A

May 10, 2025

yes

By Priyanshu N

Jan 10, 2023

Wow

By Faisal J

Feb 26, 2022

osm

By إسحاق م ع ق ا

Dec 14, 2021

حسن

By Salem N A a

Oct 19, 2020

thx

By Gayatri D

Jul 30, 2024

🤍

By NORAH M A

Oct 25, 2022

,

By Chiara P

Sep 7, 2021

hi

By Jenifer C D l G

Jul 24, 2021

:)

By Henry E G

Oct 25, 2020

:)

By vikash a

Apr 15, 2018

A+

By wu s

Feb 11, 2017

启发

By elmeri s

Mar 1, 2025

*

By Tamer b

Oct 18, 2024

.

By Yusuf U

Jun 8, 2024

.

By Ki

May 24, 2024

.

By alyamama s

Nov 10, 2023

9

By Emma B

Jun 18, 2022

By satya p

Nov 4, 2020

.

By Katarzyna L

Jul 23, 2020

u

By S. S

Jul 18, 2020

.

By Mariya N P

Dec 4, 2018

K

By ruben

Jun 19, 2018

.

By les c

Jan 5, 2016

T

By Dan

Dec 18, 2022

The course itself—the content and the way it is taught—is excellent and thought-provoking. I think it's a thorough and well structured introduction to the subject even for people like me who have had prior exposure to many of these elements in an unorganized way. I feel I've learned a lot and made tangible progress by getting to know these fundamentals.

The one big problem here is that the course relies entirely on peer-reviewed assignments (with the occasional automated quiz). You are graded by others like you and have to grade others to pass. I took my part seriously and gave thoughtful comments on other people's work, only to get, in return, nothing more than one-liners, non sequiturs, and on one memorable occasion, a single period (".") inserted by the reviewer in every text box to satisfy the requirement to input text.

Quite obviously, students aren't that keen on reading the guidelines and following them. This could also be due to the fact that it's an elementary course and few have the kind of critical vocabulary that is necessary for giving thoughtful comments on other people's creative work. After several rounds of such reviews I honestly started to lose interest in doing my own assignments as well, since I realized nobody was going to give me valuable feedback on them. On the reviewing side, I even had several cases where other students submitted the wrong kind of file for their own assignments, some of which couldn't be opened and viewed at all.

This course begs for the hands-on presence of actual human staff who would grade the assignments and provide professional feedback that enables the students to make real progress. At the very least, staff should review everything sent in by students to make sure assignments and review actually follow the guidelines and contribute to learning.