Graphic Design
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Graphic Design
This course is part of Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation Specialization
Instructor: David Underwood
166,434 already enrolled
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3,370 reviews
Recommended experience
3,370 reviews
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Apply inspired design ideas to your own work.
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
There are 4 modules in this course
Welcome to Graphic Design, the second course in the Effective Communications Specialization. Over 70 different companies have provided this specialization to their employees as a resource for internal professional development. Why? Because employers know that effective visual communication is the key to attracting an audience, building a relationship, and closing the sale.
This practical course gives you the tools to create professional looking PowerPoints, reports, resumes, and presentations. Using a set of best practices refined through years of experience, you’ll: • make your work look fresh and inspired. • apply simple design “tricks” to begin any project with confidence and professionalism. • receive and respond to criticism and revise your project from good to great. "This course is fantastic. It teaches a great amount of starter graphic design information but it is broken down into easily understood videos and quizzes. The quality was top notch and the interaction was as good as you would get in a brick and mortar school. I did not feel like I was missing anything by taking it online." - a recent Graphic Design student All of the course assignments can be completed with basic presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Apple Keynote. You’ll also have opportunities to explore and apply more sophisticated tools, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Data Science (MS-DS) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The MS-DS is an interdisciplinary degree that brings together faculty from CU Boulder’s departments of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Science, and others. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the MS-DS is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience in computer science, information science, mathematics, and statistics. Learn more about the MS-DS program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/master-of-science-data-science-boulder.
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.
What's included
12 videos7 readings1 assignment1 peer review
12 videos•Total 32 minutes
- (Optional) Introduction to the Specialization (For New Learners)•3 minutes
- (Optional) What's So Great About The Capstone? (For New Learners)•4 minutes
- From Writing to Design; the Handoff•2 minutes
- The Importance of Designing Well•1 minute
- Course Overview•2 minutes
- Course Prerequisites•3 minutes
- Glossary of Design Terms•5 minutes
- Professionalism in Design•2 minutes
- Designing with a Critical Eye•2 minutes
- Developing a Design Vocabulary•2 minutes
- The Importance of Inspiration•1 minute
- Unexpected Places Yield Unexpected Results•5 minutes
7 readings•Total 66 minutes
- Course Updates and Accessibility Support•1 minute
- Earn Academic Credit for your Work!•10 minutes
- Course Support•10 minutes
- About the For-Credit Version of this course •10 minutes
- A Few Important Points About This Course•10 minutes
- A Glossary of Design Terms•15 minutes
- Developing a Design Vocabulary•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Glossary•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 120 minutes
- Making a Unique and Inspired 'PowerPoint' Slide•120 minutes
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.
What's included
15 videos5 readings2 assignments3 discussion prompts
15 videos•Total 65 minutes
- The Necessity of Structure•3 minutes
- Introducing the Grid•5 minutes
- The Grid and Audience Perception•4 minutes
- The Power of Negative Space•2 minutes
- Introducing the Palette•1 minute
- Type Is the Message•6 minutes
- Type Anatomy•6 minutes
- Type Families•8 minutes
- Type Formatting•9 minutes
- Creating with Type•4 minutes
- Color and Its Meaning•4 minutes
- Color and the Natural World•3 minutes
- Image Treatment•3 minutes
- Creative Cropping•4 minutes
- Graphic Elements•3 minutes
5 readings•Total 210 minutes
- Practicing Building Grids•90 minutes
- Practicing Negative Space•90 minutes
- Why Designers Use Templates•10 minutes
- Practicing Templates•10 minutes
- Practicing Cropping•10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 50 minutes
- Typeface•20 minutes
- Seeing Design 'Tricks' in Action•30 minutes
3 discussion prompts•Total 160 minutes
- Choosing a Typeface•60 minutes
- Choosing Color•40 minutes
- Photographic Layout•60 minutes
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.
What's included
12 videos4 readings1 peer review6 discussion prompts
12 videos•Total 34 minutes
- Design "Tricks"•1 minute
- Designing with a Closed Set of Elements: The Clarity Guitars Ad•1 minute
- Contrast•4 minutes
- White Space•4 minutes
- Repetition in writing, design, and presentation•1 minute
- Rhythm or Repetition•2 minutes
- Sublimation•3 minutes
- Interlocking Elements•3 minutes
- Introduction to Tension•6 minutes
- Tension and Movement•4 minutes
- Targets and Portals•3 minutes
- Establishing Priorities•2 minutes
4 readings•Total 160 minutes
- Using the Closed Set•10 minutes
- Practicing Contrast 2•60 minutes
- Practicing Tension•45 minutes
- Practicing Logos•45 minutes
1 peer review•Total 120 minutes
- Design Critique•120 minutes
6 discussion prompts•Total 300 minutes
- Practicing Contrast•60 minutes
- Practicing White Space•45 minutes
- Practicing Repetition•0 minutes
- Practicing Sublimation•45 minutes
- Identifying Targets•30 minutes
- Designing a Cover•120 minutes
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.
What's included
4 videos2 assignments1 peer review1 discussion prompt
4 videos•Total 14 minutes
- Your Work Is Not Precious; Your Ability Is•5 minutes
- You Are Your Own Worst Critic•3 minutes
- Looking Back at Best Practices•4 minutes
- Moving Forward: Public Speaking•1 minute
2 assignments•Total 90 minutes
- Rubric Training Quiz 1•45 minutes
- Rubric Training Quiz 2•45 minutes
1 peer review•Total 240 minutes
- Poster Design•240 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 90 minutes
- Designing with Criticism•90 minutes
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Showing 3 of 3370
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 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.
Reviewed on Apr 21, 2021
Hello my name is Jemima Clarke , I took a few of these courses that you all have to offer and Graphic Design was one of the . I appreciate the knowledge I obtained. Thanks you guys
Frequently asked questions
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.
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. 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.
More questions
Financial aid available,
¹ Some assignments in this course are AI-graded. For these assignments, your data will be used in accordance with Coursera's Privacy Notice.