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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Typography by California Institute of the Arts

4.8
stars
5,564 ratings

About the Course

Typography is the art of manipulating the visual form of language to enrich and control its meaning. It’s an essential area of skill and knowledge for graphic designers. Typography predates modern graphic design by around 500 years; it is rich in rules, conventions, and esoteric terminology—but it remains an exciting space for invention and expression. In this rigorous introductory course, we will study, name, and measure the characteristics of letterforms. We’ll consider the pragmatic concerns involved in selecting and combining type. We’ll peek into the 
rich historical, cultural, and aesthetic histories of familiar typefaces. We’ll discuss time-tested conventions and best practices in setting type, as governed by principles of hierarchy and spatial organization. And we’ll explore the expressive, meaning-making potential of type. Informative lectures will be complemented by a series of three peer-assessed assignments, culminating 
in an opportunity to design a full-scale typographic poster. Please note that this is not a software course; a basic working knowledge of Adobe InDesign or other 
page layout software will be assumed. You will need access to a computer and page layout software, such as InDesign, to complete the assignments....

Top reviews

MB

Jul 25, 2020

The course is very interesting and well presented, the assignments are really helpful for the learning process. I would recommend to anyone interested in design, art, web design or just for curiosity.

BG

Aug 3, 2020

I thought the assignments worked really cohesively with one another. It helped to keep terms and skills in mind from one assignment to the next. The lecture videos were great, short, and to the point.

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51 - 75 of 1,203 Reviews for Introduction to Typography

By Max A M

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Jan 3, 2021

A really nice course, now I know how to format my text properly. I learned the basics of legibility, how to left-justify my text correctly, secrets to make even a small text legible, how to set correct tracking and leading, line breaks. In addition to that, the course provides reference books for those who want to learn the subject more deeply. As a side note, I would also recommend the instructor to reference some documentary movies about typography like Linotype and Helvetica so students would love the subject even more.

By SUVASISH M

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Nov 24, 2021

LOOK ! LEARNING SOFTWARE ONLY IS NOT LEARNING GRAPHIC DESIGN. GRAPHIC DESIGN IS CONVEYING SOME MESSAGE TO THE VIEWER WITH HELP OF PROPER USE OF SHAPES, COLOURS, TYPOGRAPHY, CONTRAST AND IMAGES. THIS COURSE TEACHES YOU THE DETAILS OF TYPOGRAPHY AS WELL AS THE FUNDAMENTALS. A GREAT COURSE !!! I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU TO GO FOR THE FULL GRAPHIC DESIGN SPECIALISATION OF CAL ARTS. IT WILL BE A TRULY GREAT STARTING POINT FOR YOU IF YOU ARE SERIOUS TO BE A PROFESSIONAL GRAPHIC DESIGNER.

By Lyndsaye R R

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Feb 22, 2021

I really enjoyed how there was so much history incorporated into our understanding of the processes of typography and the typefaces themselves. I felt like I was hanging on everything the instructor said - the information and how it was presented was so valuable. Even if typesetting isn't a facet of design you're interested in, it definitely helps you better understand type and how to incorporate it into design.

By Mathilde O

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Nov 24, 2022

Great course to start with typography. I had no previous experience with Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Indesign prior to this course and the various assignements enabled me to practice and gain basic knowledge of the softwares.

Careful however, no software training is given in this course, you need to learn on your own. A list of platforms and learning material is provided to you at the begining of the course.

By Greg M

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Aug 18, 2023

I enjoyed the introduction to typography, though it covered things that had been previously covered in the "fundamentals of graphic design" course, I understand this is so it can work as a standalone course.

Learning the history of typography and applying it practically into design was very interesting and also great practice. I felt more confident combining visual design elements and type by the end of it.

By Amanda W

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Apr 16, 2016

Great introductory course, that really helped me to understand typography a LOT better. I now get what my friends are on about when they get all excited about typefaces! I really like the way that the course develops your knowledge, and gets you to practice and upgrade your skills as you go. Although it was only 4 weeks, I feel SO much more confident in my knowledge and understanding.

By Anand P

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Apr 19, 2018

A really useful course in learning about the basics of typefaces and typography. I was able to learn that Typography is what conveys the meaning in various designs compared to the other forms like colors and shapes. Also learning about the history of various typefaces and designers enabled a curiosity in me to learn more about the history of some of typefaces that i use often.

By Chana M H

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Jun 15, 2018

I am finishing my final project and am amazed at how much I have learned in this abbreviated and accelerated course. As with all learning, you have to do a little unassigned research to expand on the info given, but the basics are nicely presented and easily understood.Thanks Coursera and CalArrs for this wonderful learning opportunity at such an affordable price.

By Sogathur B

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May 7, 2020

This was just a beautiful experience, what I originally thought would take me only a few minutes actually kept me thinking and diving dep into things that never thought I’d be diving into, this course just like the other courses gave me a few view on a few things and as my knowledge expands i start to notice a few tiny details that make all the difference.

By Dalía C d S

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Oct 28, 2020

It's a great course for those that look for a simple, practical, and compact course. I did like the structure, all the subjects, and the explanations. I learn a lot of interesting things. I recommend! If you don't know where you should start, do this course first. It's great to get it started. Thank you to all developers. Hope we study together again!

By Rodrigo P

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Jun 16, 2023

Great content. The instructor was very knowledgeable and explained everything in context. He focused on giving examples on how we should make our assignments instead of just speaking about them and it helped a lot. I really liked the content and the activities allowed me to try new things in typography, a subject I never thought I would be into.

By MOHAMMED T A

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Sep 8, 2020

I learnt the value typography adds to graphic designing and how any graphic design work is incomplete without a good understanding of type. Also the course is designed in such a way that it gives you first hand experience of graphic designing by motivating you to learn more practically in form of assignments.

I love the course Instructors also!!!

By Anna E T

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Nov 7, 2016

I really enjoyed this course as it made me stop, look, and think about the different elements within a typeface and how to typeset text in an interesting and professional way. Thank you for taking the time to make courses like this so easily available to those of us who do not have the time or money to travel long distances to a formal college.

By Adam W

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Jan 26, 2017

I really enjoyed auditing the course as I've been meaning to take a short course on typography for a while. Some concepts I already knew, but others were new to me, especially some of the technicality of measuring and displaying type. For designers, I definitely recommend taking this course as part of a holistic graphic design concentration.

By Chi Z

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May 16, 2021

The professor is very helpful with videos that contain tons of useful information about each stage of the course, lots of notes taking for sure but it really offered a great sight of understanding not just what is in the typography field, also knowledges of what a designer needs to pay attention throughout the layout, design processes!

By Teri L

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Jun 23, 2018

This course was really interesting, brought about more awareness to my knowledge of words and typefaces and some histories of them. The assignments built upon one another and proved how working hard really pays off :) This was an easy to understand course, and definitely is essential if people want to go further into graphics design.

By Trang P

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May 17, 2016

This course was incredibly interesting and informative, even for an introduction class. The layout made a lot of sense even for someone with only a little bit of experience in typography. Definitely do all of the assignments because they have been planned out with a lot of care and thought to further your understanding in the topic.

By Minjeong K

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May 31, 2020

We learned about typography through the lens of historical context and learned to set type in ways that was expressive and legible. I have gained foundational knowledge that is already letting me see details in type in the real world that weren’t apparent before. The workload felt a tad lighter compared to the Image Making course.

By Roberto V

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May 30, 2023

Thank you so much to the instructor Anther Kiley. It was a very good experience to know all essential topics about typography. It is only the beginning because the study of typography really is very broad. But I believe that I got the knowledge to lear more about this and I learned to see in a different way typefaces from now on.

By Roberto K

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Apr 4, 2022

Thank you for this course now I knew the history of each typeface, I knew how to choose the right typeface for my design, and how to put all elements into the design so that legible and readable but still has creativity inside. I was really happy to do all assignments in this course and I have fun when I did experiments on type.

By Fatin I

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Aug 23, 2016

I've always wanted to learn typography but learning on it's own without any practice is really boring. The assignments are really good in applying what I have learnt, making the learning really enjoyable. The course teacher is super zen and loving his style of teaching. I would want to take this full design course some day.

By Mohd. U Y

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Jun 30, 2018

This course came as a savior to me. I had to make a project report during my summer vacations, and I did not the technicalities that have to be looked upon in text. I am glad I joined the specialization and enrolled in this course as soon as the last one was complete. I had a fun time learning. Highly recommend it to all.

By ÅŠÏ…Ê€ s

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Jul 31, 2021

My third course out the 5. I really enjoyed my learning experience and the most of the assignments really help me understand better what they taught. The reviews assignment by other people had given me a different perspective. Most of the feedback I got from them are definitely one of things I would look out and improve.

By Heleina E

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May 2, 2016

I really enjoyed this course. I learned so much things and I feel like my typography skills just went up on a whole new level. Signing up to this course helped me understand all the stuff I've been reading about typography. They teach typography in a way that's so easy to understand and process. Highly recommended. :)

By Robert C S

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Dec 16, 2020

Going in, I knew very little about Typography, but learned so much through this class! Instructors were very clear, and very good about efficiently pointing out just the right things to teach. Impactful, and with some great resource references for further study. Can't recommend this class enough, it was amazing!