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Ideas from the History of Graphic Design

Graphic Design,

This condensed survey course focuses on four key periods or themes from the history of design in the West. Together we’ll trace the emergence of design as a recognized practice, why things look the way they do, and how designers approached specific design problems in their work. Students will develop an understanding of where the wide variety of today’s design practice comes from. By participating in this survey of the works of innovative groups and individuals, we outline the process by which graphic design moved from a purely instrumental practice, to becoming a demanding creative and hybridized field. Each week, a short quiz will test your knowledge of concepts, and a short reflective assignment will give you the opportunity to analyze the questions designers ask themselves today. This is an essential course for emerging designers entering the field, or for students interested in learning more about visual culture and analysis. No previous experience is required. A note about this course: This course is taught from the perspective of contemporary design, to connect ideas that helped formulate design practice from the 1850s through the 1960s to the ways that designers think today. The relationship of words and pictures in graphic design is looked at through the ever-changing social and cultural contexts, technologies, aesthetics, and politics of their eras. The definition and practice of graphic design includes all public visual communications, which is a global practice. It was the evolution of mass production and communication in the West that specifically redefined graphic design as a professional practice and is this course’s particular narrative. We hope students will consider how to connect the themes and ideas offered in this course to your own culture.

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Rating 4.6 based on 243 ratings
Length 5 weeks
Effort 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
Starts Jun 26 (44 weeks ago)
Cost $79
From California Institute of the Arts via Coursera
Instructors Louise Sandhaus, Lorraine Wild
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Humanities Art & Design
Tags History Arts And Humanities Personal Development

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What people are saying

history of graphic design

thnak you it was one of the best online courses that has coursera the lectures are really enjoyable i had a great time and most important I earn a lot about the history of Graphic design i love history of graphic design!

I would not have known where to start even if I wanted to learn history of graphic design.

Solid, if minimal introduction to some points from the History of Graphic Design.

*Ideas from the History of Graphic Design* opened my mind and got me super excited about the usefulness, in fact the necessity of strong visual research.

Really well constructed course on some premises, tendencies and movements relevant for the History of Graphic Design.

The course was well structured; and provided opportunity to seek and learn more on the topics dicussed It's good to have a background on the history of Graphic Design.

Through thus course I have learnt the importance of looking at the history of graphic design and learning from other designers.

Would love to see an advanced course that explores more history of graphic design.

I learned a lot about the history of graphic design through this course and I really enjoyed the research assignments which encouraged us to delve more deeply into the history, the changes, and the ideas behind so many designs.

The course being concentrated exclusively on the design ideas of United States, it's quite literally "some ideas from the history of graphic design".

Useful intro to the history of graphic design.

I would love to learn even more about the History of Graphic Design now)) Great course!

Although this course is rich in content, it lacks a lot of perspective around The History of Graphic Design, since it only talks from the american point of view.

This is a very important course in understanding the history of graphic design.

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very interesting

Me sirvió mucho, gracias A very interesting survey with lots of useful and stimulating content.

This class was very interesting and it gives some background for a lot of the stuff that you learn in the other courses in the specialization.

Would prefer if it was truely global but still a very interesting course Loved this course!

Very interesting course.

Fun and very interesting.

It is very interesting !

It was very interesting to know this different periods and specific designer's works.

This course is very well explained and very interesting.

Very nice and illuminating course This was a very interesting and informative addition to this specialization.

Amazing class, very interesting in terms of content -you learn a lot about the History of Graphic Design- and a great reflection on graphic design today.

Very good course where you get a short summary of modern graphic design, from the industrial revolution until the late 70s Too example based course but indeed very interesting for exploring the ages of graphic design hitory Good information given.

A very interesting course!

Very interesting and insightful trip throughout the history of graphic design with thorough analysis.

The movements discussed were very interesting.

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very informative

This course is fast paced and very informative.

Very informative!

This class is very informative and well put together.

Week 4 - too much of materials, and test questions does not match the text This course is very informative and inspiring.

Very informative and helpful.

very informative I learn a lot, thank you !

Very Informative!

very informative course, it's very good to know the inspiration of contemporary art cultures.

Very informative and full of fun facts the first module root grows the tree (history) GD The course is very well-structured, and makes it a pleasure both to learn and work on assignments.

Excellent insight into history, many interesting examples, it was very informative.

That was very informative and inspiring.

A very informative course with plenty of great examples.

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recommend this course

I will always recommend this course for those who want to know more and learn design.

I definitely recommend this course!

I would really recommend this course!

Would recommend this course to anybody!

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really enjoyed

i really enjoyed the course.

I really enjoyed this class and thought it was very useful for learning about the importance of historical events that contribute to how we design graphics today.

A more theoretical Cours that I really enjoyed and made me search for different artists.

I really enjoyed and benefited from the assigned projects.

Really enjoyed it!

I really enjoyed the class!

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so much

Great Intro, thanks so much I found this course very interesting and intensive.

There is so much history to understand, interpret and re-contextualise as a designer.

There's so much more meaning and intention behind it than I knew.

Thank you so much.

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Careers

An overview of related careers and their average salaries in the US. Bars indicate income percentile.

Graphic Design & Multimedia $43k

Graphic Design Ambassador $50k

Graphic Design and Photography $51k

Graphic Design/ Technical $51k

Lecturer, Graphic Design $53k

Faculty Graphic Design $56k

Marketing, Graphic Design $61k

Web and Graphic Design $71k

Critic in Graphic Design $71k

Graphic Design Editor $73k

Motion/Graphic Design $74k

Graphic Design/3D $94k

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Rating 4.6 based on 243 ratings
Length 5 weeks
Effort 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
Starts Jun 26 (44 weeks ago)
Cost $79
From California Institute of the Arts via Coursera
Instructors Louise Sandhaus, Lorraine Wild
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Humanities Art & Design
Tags History Arts And Humanities Personal Development

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