Thanks to Logic+ Emotion for the heads-up on a free online course being offered by BusinessWeek.

The lessons for Graphic Design for Non-Designers will be available until August 16th. The course description says:

Everyone at one time or another has had to create a document of some sort. Whether it was a poster for your son's 7th grade presidential election campaign or your boss's directive to create a flyer for distribution by fax. The question is, do you have to be a trained graphic designer to create these documents? No, you don't. You only need to have a set of guidelines to follow, one of which is to open your mind and let your creativity out to play. It's probably been a while since the two of you got together. There is a world out there to explore with your two hands and one brain, so roll up your sleeves and put on your thinking cap.

Knowing the general principles of graphic design will serve you well in your social marketing programs, whether or not you are actually the one creating the layout. If you understand things like how to depict ideas graphically, use color effectively, choose a font that adds to your message and compose an eye-catching design, you will be much more successful in your efforts.

Concurrently, BusinessWeek is also offering a free online course on Practical Desktop Publishing, which is useful for those who want to go to the next level and understand the technical side of working with images and knowing how to work with print shops and service bureaus once the document is ready to be printed.

These are topics that are helpful to know something about, whatever your actual job description.