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

4.8
stars
18,383 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

EJ

Sep 5, 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!

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

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4501 - 4525 of 4,686 Reviews for Fundamentals of Graphic Design

By April R E

Mar 17, 2021

Thanks

By Vengatesh A

Dec 2, 2020

Good..

By Anike k g

Jul 30, 2020

nice..

By Loga S G 1

Jun 6, 2020

Useful

By Richel F

Dec 12, 2018

Great!

By GUNAWAN, A B (

Jun 29, 2020

good!

By Vidhi K

Nov 27, 2025

good

By Muhammad M

Aug 7, 2025

good

By Fernando A O

May 19, 2025

bien

By Karen S G M

Nov 8, 2024

none

By Abrile F

Oct 23, 2024

Good

By GOPIKA K (

Oct 14, 2024

good

By Ariadna A

Oct 11, 2024

good

By Abdul- M O

Nov 17, 2023

Cool

By henid y

Feb 15, 2023

good

By Ayan M

Mar 4, 2021

good

By Manisha

Sep 11, 2020

good

By DINESH K K

Jun 14, 2020

good

By preksha m

May 20, 2020

good

By Invader

Jan 22, 2022

UwU

By Baher A

Oct 14, 2022

ر

By Amir B

Feb 14, 2019

N

By Rebecca W

Feb 9, 2022

This was a great overview of the fundamentals, useful, interesting assignments and a lot of opportunity to practice. It was highly enjoyable and I like how the professor chose to explain things. Knocking off two stars for two reasons:

- The peer review system is broken. I rarely received useful feedback. In general, I think a paid course should have a professional give professional-grade feedback, but in the absence of that possibility, the least they could do is place a minimal word limit on the review sections so that people have to type more than one word to qualify as a review. In addition, people who don't pay attention to the rubric mark down your assignments and can screw with your grade as a result

- The quality of this course was not matched by the next in the specialization, which is Intro to Typography. So people who signed up for this course and then pursued a specialization based on the quality of this course will likely be let down by the very next course in the track. Intro to Typography is totally self-guided, is not at all dense with content (could be done in two weeks EASILY), and is almost completely grade reliant on peer reviewers, which as I pointed out, are of questionable quality. There is really no quality control for the work you complete in this course and it should be free as it currently exists.

By 翠花

Oct 5, 2016

The last assignment caused me CONFUSION. I mean, due to the unclear assignment requirements, we cannot review composition for composition's sake. For example, I did use two squares as the assignment asked, but I changed the transparency of them, so they form a new square when overlapping. And people think I used three squares and thus not following the instructions. And many people used a small circle and a large circle putting at the center vertically to form a scale composition, and you have to give them 3 points because they followed the instructions, but they actually did not do much in terms of composition. Though I got 3.5 scores by two people ( not very bad), I'm still frustrated, and I hope the assignment requirements could be clearer.

By Andreas S

Apr 5, 2023

Die Kursinhalte sind zum großen Teil lehrreich. Trotz Vorkenntnisse konnte ich einige Inhalte sinnvoll aufnehmen. Jedoch empfinde ich das Bewertungssystem komisch. Mir fehlt hier eine gewisse Ernsthaftigkeit. Ich würde vorziehen von Profis, wie Dozenten in relevanten Tests bewertet zu werden, da ich nur so abschätzen kann, wie ernst ich das Feedback nehmen soll. Die Vergabe der Punkte ist für mich schwer nachvollziehbar: 50 % allein für das Einreichen einer PDF mit der korrekten Anzahl an Seiten! Zudem ist man der Gefahr ausgesetzt, andere Teilnehmer nicht korrekt zu bewerten oder selbst unfair und haltlos oder zu positiv bewertet zu werden. Welchen Mehrwert hat dann ein solches Zertifikat?