This is the course I wish I had taken before I pursued a career in design! My education and work has primarily been in designing for (digital / mechanical) functionalities, and I have been wishing to become more articulate in understanding art direction and style. This course taught me how to approach looking at a piece of visual design and how to talk about it. Now that I understand the approaches, I feel more confident moving onto making work that consciously uses specific languages of visual design to convey meaning.

Short course that gives a good introduction to analyzing design elements. This will give you the framework and vocabulary to clearly convey points in your analysis,

For an entry level course that welcomes beginning designers and non-designers, I feel the examples shown and pieces for critique were difficult for even experienced designers. While I'm glad I took the course to make sure I didn't miss any valuable design information, I was a little disappointed. It says in the course description how this course will help during the design process, but I honestly don't feel that was covered. Because the one instructor at times seemed to be mumbling, the text sometimes did not make sense and it was difficult to take notes.

The videos were very clear in explaining the lexicon and frameworks we can apply to critique the design. It also helps that numerous examples were used to demonstrate the application and pop quizzes were available throughout to test our immediate understanding of these concepts. Given also this is a qualitative course, the explanation provided by the instructors in the official quizzes were also very helpful and informative. A good first course to take to expose yourself to the terms and a brief introduction to principles of design and how to use them. Users can benefit from the course especially when they apply them immediately to their surroundings i.e. Instragram pictures/advertisements as we are all surrounded by design-related experiences.

This course is easy to follow, very clear, and very elaborated. The teachers are very good and communicates the point clearly and slow enough to understand and digest. Thanks to the nature of the course which is "design", the awesome visual contents showed in the lectures kept me interested all the way and excited to be shown the next art.

This is very recommended for people pf all ages and skills that are interested in design and want to have more vocabulary to communicate to others about a work. I learned so much and hoping to learn more from CalArts.

As a graphic designer working professionally in the field for over 15years I found this course to be very insightful. I genuinely feel that I grew a little bit more into my craft after having taken it. There is no doubt that you'll be working with a wide range of personalities in the world of visual communication. Objective critique is an invaluable skill and this course will set some standards that if you employ and more importantly share in your day to day work, you'll be better for it.

Besides trying to find some form and meaning in a design of art, the course also teaches to make meaningful connections when you form and express your own thoughts.

A good course in addition to Graphic Design. There are minor problems with the sound, it is interrupted between phrases and slightly cuts off the beginning of phrases, for a non-native English speaker, this complicates the process of listening.

This course was excellent, it was a little hard if you haven't study something about Art it can be really hard but at the end the instructors explain good and you end having the idea of how to do it on your own. I recommend it

The only design course that looks at practical real world design, such a WOW course. All the dash dot comma dash design primers never got me anywhere. Thanks so much for this course!

I finished all the assignments and every quiz on time but the course says it's still in progress... I've been waiting for two weeks to have my certificate but nothing happened.

Please fix this :)

If you're working in an industry where you have to collaborate or interact with designers, this course is for you. While it was a little hard for me to grasp an understanding of things, I eventually got my grip thanks to both the instructors, especially Randy who began explaining with the most common things possible and then proceeding towards more complex examples which felt like a walk in the park. For anyone who really wants to understand art, this is THE COURSE for you!

Got a new dimension about graphic dimension from this course. Really loved this course. As from India, I could not imagine taking up the course from CalArts because I cant afford the fee. Thanks to technology and internet boom. Special thanks to Coursera. Wonderful user experience.

A deeper lok into graphic design which helps create a language for assessing other peoples work as well as your own. The examples used here show range of interesting works and assessing thier elements was both helpful and inspiring.

I was able to understand concepts utilized in the designing process of an artwork. It's a great course to learn about the process and analyzation of design.

I loved the continuous engagement with exercises and peer reviews. I think generally it’s the best way to learn.

I really loved this course :)

I am really happy for finishing this course. It has great information and I have learned a lot.

This course was a great eye opener as to how I create as an artist. I now have mroe tools. I didn't pay for the course but I worked on each of the lessons with my own prjects to practice. The instructors could have been more engaging, bring the fun that comes with creating. I would have loved to see updated samples as this was filmed a long time ago. The instructors seemed like they were just reading a script. I appreciate the course and will move forward. Thank iYou!

So theoritical and unskillfull. I think its a bad idea to show something like design like somthing like language because I think design is higher than language; its like learning language like math. I hope you get it.

The information was useful but the presentation was quite 'read' - you could literally see the instructors reading off a prompter of sorts. This made it difficult to concentrate and not that engaging.

a bit boring

Outdated and abandoned. This course is outdated and appears to be abandoned; I don't see any examples beyond 2019 so it doesn't address current issues like the rise of AI in art. Some of the links don't work or are now behind paywalls. The optional exercises didn't have contributions beyond 2022 so don't expect helpful feedback as you learn; I found myself frustrated because of the lack of feedback. I completed a CalArts course back in 2018 when I last had a Coursera subscription and enjoyed it thoroughly. They are very well formatted and contain valuable information. However, because they are outdated, I'm not sure I'd be able to trust anything from CalArts –and broadly any course in Coursera– is current. Perhaps Coursera should list the date of publication for courses so we can be sure to find courses with the most up to date content. Feel free to enroll in this course; you will learn something. But you may find dead links, outdated examples, and vacant discussion groups.

This course is truly transformative and deserves every moment of your attention. Similar to learning a new language, it requires dedication and time, but the challenges are enjoyable. As a self-taught designer, I initially found the theoretical aspects challenging, but with some extra reading, I was able to manage. The tutors are highly educated and experienced, and they really inspire you to broaden your perspective. The course itself is comprehensive, well-structured, and delivers on its promises. It seamlessly blends graphic design, art, psychology, philosophy, and history. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking to learn how to 'read' artwork or wanting to develop the skills to evaluate and articulate their thoughts on it.

A beautifully designed course for all those who wish to learn design, graphics, posters, journals etc. The pace of the course was just right. The professors delivered the content in easy understandable language while using a lot of pictures and graphics. I liked the assignments too as they pushed me to think differently and understand the various elements used in graphics designing. I relished every bit of this program. Thanks to the CALArts Team and Coursera!

Best Regards,

Pallavi Chauhan

This course has helped me understand how to speak about, critique and participate in the world of art and design. Being able to learn the language around design has made my interest in museums and art more accessible, my professional work better - especially when completing reviews with subject matter experts, and helped me enjoy my hobbies more. Thank you so much Cal Arts! I definitely recommend taking this course if you have an interest in any form of design or art.