Identity Standard Document

We have completed our logo and created some business stationery while paying attention to common identities.  The last part of our identity design unit involves creating an identity standard document for our company.  First, I want you to look at an example of one from Chadron State College (http://www.csc.edu/collegerelations/identity.csc).  

For an example of what your identity standard will look like, check this link http://graphdesportfolio.blogspot.com/2012/10/identity-standard.html Open up Microsoft Word.  You will create an Identity Standard for your business.  Your Business Stationary needs each of the following:

Title Page

Introduction (who you are, why it’s important to have a consistent identity)

Typography (what types of fonts, font colors will your organization be using in various forms)

Colors (what colors are you using for your logo?  Unofficial names, RGB and CMYK values)

Logos (Show logos, include examples and description of inappropriate and appropriate logo usage)

Promotional Material (include business stationery, banners, flyers, etc…)

Web Content (list a web page where your business would be found, list page colors, fonts, content, web banner, etc…

Conclusion (Tell how you find it important to ensure quality with your brand, give a contact where someone can find help when wanting to use your brand and identity standard)

Once the identity standard document is completed, we will print it off, staple it, and turn it in.  The project is worth 20 points.

Congratulations NPHS Graphic Design Student of the Week #1 (term 4)

This week we created our logos and have started our business stationery.  Our graphic design student of the week really did a great job with all of his sketches, following all directions, and used the design method very effectively.  He also got his homework turned in and is a positive participating member of class every single day.  I really can't say enough good things.  Here is his logo, which turned out great, and I am excited to see what he creates the rest of this term!

Digging into Identity Design

Now that we have a strong foundation of digital tools we can use for class, we are ready to move back into identity design.  Last week we created sketches for our logo project.  Here are some of my favorite sketches from the class so far...

Next, students will be creating their logo on the computer.  We will make our logo on a 3" x 3" canvas, and will talk about use of colors, transparencies, and how that can be affected by the type of file we save it as.

Once we publish our project, we will create an online portfolio at https://crevado.com/ so we can post our work and reflections online for others to see.

Essential Photoshop Skills

This week we will be taking a pause from designing our business logos, and will learn the fundamentals of adobe photoshop.  We will use this week to learn the basics, and to explore by using student-choice tutorials.  This week will give students a basic foundation to build on for using photoshop.  Whenever there is down time or during M/A, I expect students to productively work at learning more about photoshop.  To help with this, students have an assignment that will be due the second to last week of school.  They will demonstrate ten skills from my essential photoshop skills list.  Here are the skills:

create, manipulate canvas

place, cut, copy, & paste

create, manipulate layers

rasterize

move objects

transform

selection tools

use brush, pencil, eraser

utilize filters

change layer properties

image adjustments

save as jpg vs psd vs png

other

When students demonstrate a skill, they receive 2 points (you may only demonstrate 1 skill per day, so plan accordingly), and will be recognized for their achievements along the way with NPHS Graphic Design Photoshop Ninja Badges.  The badges are as follows...

Hong-Kong Phooey 2 points

Michaelangelo 6 points

Steven Seagal 10 points

Bruce Lee 12 points

Chuck Norris 16 points

Yoda 20 points.

Showing me 10 skills gets you the full 20/20 score for your photoshop competence grade.

Identity Design

As we near the end of our introductory activities, we will start moving on to our first design.  We have learned about the steps to the design process (purpose, research, plan, sketch, feedback/critique, publish), and will now jump into identity design.  This will involve look at various branding and logos, then starting to make our own.

One more time!

Graphic Design is starting it's 4th term session this week.  We will be learning classroom rules, expectations, and procedures.  We will spend the rest of the time learning about the history and disciplines of graphic design.

Graphic Design Students of the Week

A few photomanipulations that were turned in at the beginning of this week really stood out to me with their creativity, and especially in quality of the work.  I'm really proud of these two students as they not only did great work with their photomanipulaitons, but have also been great students to have in class all term.  Great job, and thanks for being positive members of our classroom culture!

Final Reflections

Graphic design students will be finishing up their course reflections today.  They read the First Things First Graphic Design Manifesto, then wrote a series of paragraphs explaining what the manifesto, and graphic design means to them.  Students also reflected about their growth and effort during the course.  The reflections that have been turned in early have been well-thought-out.  I'm excited to get them all read.

The End is Near

Friday will be the last day of third term graphic design class.  I have really enjoyed this group, and will be sad to see them move on.  So instead of counting down the days, I will look at as 5 more opportunities I get to spend with this class before they continue their journeys.

We will be finishing up our photomanipulations on Tuesday.  On Wednesday and Thursday we will be working on our final reflections.  The final reflection is a series of essays and one small design that will demonstrate their learning and thoughts of the subject as they conclude the class.  This reflection will be due by the end of the class on Thursday.  On Friday, students will empty their student folders, and move all of their projects, and other files to a thumb drive or their google drive.  Students will be able to leave with an abundance of learning, a variety of resources, and a digital portfolio of their work that they can use later down the road or look back on to see their growth.