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This course is part of Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation Specialization
Instructor: David Underwood
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(3,302 reviews)
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Apply inspired design ideas to your own work.
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This week introduces you to the importance of recognizing good design as the starting place for creating professional, attractive work of your own. We will look to the ubiquitous world of graphic design to establish a vocabulary of successful design and to find inspiration for our own projects. We will also discuss course prerequisites and review a basic digital design glossary that will help you navigate your chosen application.
12 videos6 readings1 assignment1 peer review
This week will look at the blank canvas – the untouched rectangle that will become our design project. We’ll discuss the importance of working with a grid, understanding negative space, and using appropriate margins. This week will also explore the palette of elements which, when chosen and used wisely, ensure that the finished design project is successful. We’ll cover type, color, images, and graphic elements such as borders, bars, and backgrounds.
15 videos5 readings2 assignments3 discussion prompts
It's time to start designing! In this week, we'll discuss the process of composition. We'll use the palette items covered in week 2, and deploy common visual design “tricks” such as contrast, repetition, sublimation, tension, and more. To help see both the effect and the universality of these design approaches, we'll look at design examples from art history, film, and current media. We’ll also cover the strategy of composition. We'll see that providing an obvious target, maintaining a natural visual flow, and prioritizing information are all critical to clear visual communication.
12 videos4 readings1 peer review6 discussion prompts
As we've said before, designers don't work in a vacuum. Our work will be judged by others, and, as good designers, we will learn to take that judgement constructively and in stride. In this week we’ll talk about what it means to be confident, yet open to criticism. We’ll explore the importance of revision as an ongoing component of design, as well as the need to enlist feedback and maintain distance in assessing our own work.
4 videos2 assignments1 peer review1 discussion prompt
California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
Adobe
University of Colorado Boulder
3,302 reviews
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Reviewed on Jun 6, 2019
Very easy to follow and understand whilst also following a more difficult and challenging theme.Highly recommend this course but it may be worthwhile to do this one quickly or as a beginning course.
Reviewed on Oct 22, 2016
i will definitely recommend this course not only to those interested in graphic design but also to those who have to make simple power point presentations. you will find the tips very useful!
Reviewed on May 13, 2020
I think that the discussions would be more useful if students had detailed instructions on how to create the images in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint and then take a screenshot to make a jpeg image.
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Learners need some familiarity and access to presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote. Although it is not required, design students may also use programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign.
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
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The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
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