Adv Graphic Design (term 2) wrapping up our work

Students are still working on their term-long projects and are meeting with me for their conferences to see how the projects are going.  Next week will be the last week that is entirely dedicated for project assembling.  We will then be spending time in class creating our physical products (if they want to work for an A).  The following weeks will then be putting together our portfolios, writing our reflections, and doing our final critiques of our work.

graphic design (term 2) layout and environmental designs

Graphic design students have been busy working on their layout designs.  We learned some elements of layouts and applied it to a minimalist movie poster, a magazine cover, and a sports playing surface.  Students put in some good practice and have some nice designs.

Next week we will be learning about environmental design.  We will look at some examples of where we see layout design, then students will find examples displayed in our building.  We will then create a design that we will apply to an area that can use environmental designs.

We are getting down to the final few weeks of class, so it is important to stay on top of our work and be as productive in class as possible.  Be sure to end the term on a positive note!

graphic design 2: project work (week 4)

Graphic design 2 students are continuing to work on the components of their term projects.  As we work through these, students are coming up and having their weekly conferences and we are evaluating their progress, and seeing if any changes to their plans need to be made.

graphic design 1: typography (week 4)

Graphic design students are learning about typography and are learning ways to utilize text in a manner that enhances the visual storytelling of their design.  Students have been doing a good job with this and their projects are coming along nicely.

Below are some examples of some of the stationery that students created last week that turned out nicely.

Adv Graphic Design week 4: Project work time!

Today, students turned in their project boards and we had our weekly conferences.  For the next several weeks, students will be working on their term projects that they have outlined in their time lines.  Each week, we will be having weekly conferences to see the progress of our projects, and will then make changes to them as needed.

Graphic Design Week 4: Branding Guide, then Typography

Graphic Design class did a great job this week working through their identity designs and creating their business stationery.  Below are some examples of some early logos that I really liked.

Next week, we will work on our branding guides through the first part of the week, then will work on some typography work.

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.

Graphic Design: Identity Designs: (term 2, week 3)

This week we took a pause from using our design process and working on our sketches for our first logo and started learning how to use the digital tools we have access to this term.  Next week, we will be able to make our concept sketches from our logos into digital work.  Students will then start using their work to create some business stationery and a branding guide for an imaginary company.  Students have been showing a lot of creativity in their work, and also showing some good computer skills!

Adv Graphic Design: Project Boards (term 2, week 3)

Advanced Graphic Design students have been finishing up their time lines and getting their weekly conferences done.  A lot of planning and work goes into brainstorming an idea for a term-long project.  Students are just about finished with this first planning stage, and will be ready to move on after Friday.  Next week, students will be gathering resources to use for their project boards.  The project board will include samples of similar work, text types, colors, and other ideas of inspiration that students can refer back to as they start working on their projects.  I really like the ideas the students have come up with, and am excited to see the start of how these will look by watching the progress of their project boards!

Adv Graphic Design (term 2, week 2)

Students from advanced graphic design are either finished, or just about finished with their project proposals.  I really like the ideas students are coming up with this term!  Next week we will break down our projects into smaller components and will set up a schedule to figure out what should be done each week to be sure that their project is finished completely by the end of the term.  Next week we will also be starting our individual conferences where I will meet with each student in-depth about the progress and direction of their project and to be sure everything is going well.

Graphic Design Design Process (term 2 week 2)

Students did a great job this week putting together their research paper for graphic design class.  Next week we will start of learning about the design process, which in our class will involve 4 steps...
1. Purpose
2. Research
3. Plan
4. Production
We will go in-depth of these steps, and will use them for all of our projects this term, starting with our identity design.  The first step of our identity design will to create a logo made of our initials that will serve as our individual identities and brand for our work we turn in this term.

Graphic Design 2 (term 2, week 1)

This is the first class of advanced graphic design (graphic design 2) students for the year!  I'm excited for this group!  In order to take graphic design 2, students need to successfully have completed graphic design 1.  Students will be working on a term-long project of their choice.  Students are expected to be responsible and productive in this class.  Students are required to bring their school planner, a sketch-book or notebook, a pencil, and their packet every day to class.  Monday we will go through the plan for the entire term, and their required work.  We will then start researching ideas for their term-long project.

Graphic Design 1 (term 2, week 1)

Term 2 graphic design class is ready for new students!  This week we will be learning the history of graphic design and it's role in today's world.  Students will be learning expectations and procedures for class, then will be starting right away with a research project.  Materials that students are expected to bring every day are their student planners, a notebook or sketchbook, and a pencil.

I'm looking forward to seeing everybody on Monday.

Final Week (week 9)

Students in graphic design will make sure all of their photo manipulations are completed on Monday and all turned in.  We will then look at our final project.  The final project involves reading the First Things First Graphic Design Manifesto.  We will do some reflection activities with this as well as create a typography from the actual document itself.  The final project is Due by the end of class Wednesday.  Thursday we will make sure our folders are all cleaned out, we have our files saved to our google drive, and look at our final grades.  We will then do an enrichment activity where we will create an animated cinemagraph using Photoshop CC.

Photo Manipulations (week 8)

Graphic design students have finished up with their environmental design projects and have them posted to their online portfolios.  Next week we will be unleashing the full potential of our imaginations and Photoshop as we learn how to do photo manipulations.  We will look at some work and speed art from Erik Johansson and Alexander Koshelkov.  Students will then be collecting images for some photo manipulations of their own.

Below is some student work that turned out pretty well recently.  The typography prints were remixes made from free images from unsplash.com.  The Haiku poems were actually written by a computer program that my Programming 1 students made that randomly generates Haikus.  At the bottom, we have some examples of some minimalist style movie posters I thought were creative as well.  Keep up the good work!

Environmental Design (week 7)

We finished up our layout design with magazine covers and a movie poster.  Next week we will be looking at examples of environmental graphic design.  The major project will be identifying an area that could use design, making a design for it, then using Photoshop to make it look like it's actually there!

layout design (week 6)

Students were to turn in their infographics before they left on Friday.  If they are not finished, they need to make arrangements to come in after school to get those turned in as we are moving on to the next project.

Next week we will be working on layout design.  The homework assignment is for students to bring in a magazine cover by Tuesday.  Students will learn key terms in layout design such as: layout, collateral design, print design, margins, gutters, horizon lines, grid, and columns.  Students will need to be able to define these terms, then they will measure the key elements on their magazine cover and will turn in a labeled diagram.

We will then look at some posters created by Saul Bass.  Students will create a movie poster with a Saul Bass or a minimal-style influence to it.  Students will need to pay attention to the layout, spacing, use of colors, fonts, designs, etc.  It is always fun to see what movies the students pick and to see how their projects turn out.

Speaking of great projects...  Below are some of the great examples of typography kids turned in for their various projects.  I was really pleased with these examples.

Great work on these projects, and keep up the great work!

infographics (week 5)

We will be finishing up our section about typography on Tuesday of this week, and uploading our work to our portfolio.  Some of the projects look great, and others are fine-tuning their work to the point where it meets the student's expectations.  Once we have these projects turned in, we are going to move on to the world of infographics or information graphics.  We will look at some examples of how they are used today, we will do some practice activities together, then we will work on our infographic.  Students will need to research a topic, record their sources of information, sketch out a layout to organize their data, then will create their infographic on the computer.  They need to include the sources appropriately on their project.  This project is an important topic in graphic design, but also covers the standard that deals with ethics and free use in the work place.  By giving credit to where they found their information, they are telling a story with their design, but are giving credit to the researchers who found the information.

typography (Week 4)

We have finished up our learning about branding and identity designs.  Students have been working on improving their use of the design process.  Friday we turned in our branding guides and Tuesday we will be starting our next section.  The next learning topics will cover practises in typography.  We will discuss form and content, look at some work by famous graphic designers like David Carson, and will create a series of work that uses typography in various ways.  Below are some examples of the stationery that students turned in last week that turned out good.

Great job, and keep up the great work Graphic Design students!

branding (Week 3)

Students are all finished up with their logos from their graphic design, and everybody passed their first assessment involving the use of technology to analyze elements and principles of a design and communicate ideas.  We have created our digital portfolios and posted our first projects along with reflections.  Next week we will look further into identity design as we look at branding practices, and will create a brand for ourselves as we make a set of promotional materials.  We will wrap things up by creating a branding guide or identity standard for our imaginary companies.

Here are some of the early sketches from some of the identity designs.

Above are some of the digital versions that I thought turned out well.  These students also did a great job following the design process in class!

It's been a great start to the term and I'm excited to see what else everybody can come up with!

identity design (week 2)

Students worked hard at finishing their research assignment this first week of class.  Now we are ready for our first design.  We will be discussing graphic design as visual communication, then will be learning about identity design.  We will use technology to analyze elements and principles of identity designs to communicate and express ideas.  Students will go through the design process to create a logo that they will use to brand their work for this term.  Much of the work will start off with paper and pencil sketches.  We will make small changes on our work based on feedback from our class.  We will then learn to utilize software to create our product digitally, then will upload it to a class portfolio.

Students will turn in their sketches, digital portfolio, and reflection fora a 20 point assessment.

2016/2017 School Year is Here!

Welcome to graphic design class!  This is a great class that allows you to combine art, design, and technology to change the way people look at the world around us!  Tuesday we will have incoming freshmen and will hand out our student handbooks, get familiar with the high school, get set up with our computers and will do a project where we can get to know each other.  Wednesday the upperclassmen will be back and then we will go over the syllabus and get to know our whole class.  I'm looking forward to seeing what creative ideas you come up with this term and learning new ways to create great works of art!

term 4 environmental design

Environmental design is one of my favorite topics in this class!  Students will be looking at several examples of environmental design, then will go on a photograph scavenger hunt for examples around our building.  We will put them together in a collage and will post a reflection about our definition of environmental design, and why our pictures are good examples of that definition.

Students will then find a blank area in the building, and will take a photograph.  Students will create a design for that area, then will Photoshop it into the picture they took.  We will then post the picture along with a reflection.

term 4 layout design info

We are to the point where we are ready to save our information graphics to our portfolios, and can move on to our next project, which is layout design.  As we learn about layouts and how to effectively fit design elements into a given space, we will be putting together a movie poster.  Saul Bass was a graphic designer who was also the father of animated/moving credits in films.  He also made iconic famous movie posters with his unique minimal style.  Students will be looking at some of the work of Saul Bass, then will choose a favorite movie of theirs to remake the movie poster for, but in the style of the great Saul Bass.  Projects will be 18 in by 12 in.  This will be a great project to allow kids great creativity to use appropriate space of a layout, appropriate color and type-face, as well as have exposure to a graphic design pioneer.  Some of the important terms we will discuss are layout, columns, horizon lines, gutters, margins, and grid.

Infographic

The next project for NPHS graphic design students is to create an information graphic.  Students will decide what topic they want to research, then collect their information and record their sources.  Once all of their information is assembled, they will sketch some layouts on how they wish to display the information.  Once their layout is approved, we will create them on the computer and post them to our portfolios.

Typography

Graphic Design students have been learning about typography.  Do the type-faces we use help or hurt the message we are sending with our design?  We looked at several examples, then students were to find a free-use image and put a saying or quote with it, using a minimum of 3 type-faces/fonts that are appropriate for the design.

Stationery

Now that we have finished up our logos in graphic design, we are ready to move on and apply our logos to different designs.  We will be using our logo to create an identity and apply it to the following: a business card, an envelope, and a letterhead.  The dimensions for the components are listed below.

Business card: 2 x 3.5 in.
Envelope: 9.5 x 4.125 in.
Letterhead: 8.5 x 11 in.

These three items should have similar theme and look like they match or belong together.  We also need to pay attention to function and design with these.

identity design

We have finished up our research papers and the design process and are now on to our first project.  Students are working on an identity design.  We researched what makes effective logos, then sketched logos of our initials.  Students will then create their design digitally, and we will incorporate it into a brand.  The sketches have turned out good, and I'm excited to see how these first projects turn out.

Term 4 Graphic Design 2016

We are at the last quarter of the school year, but just getting started on term 4 Graphic Design.  Students will start off with a research project learning the history, disciplines, and career paths of graphic design.  We will learn the design process steps which we will use for each of our projects this term.  Students will need a notebook/sketchbook and pencil every day in class.  Be ready to get to work Monday!

Last week for this term

Graphic Design will be finishing up projects next week, then will be introduced to their final project.  We will look at the First things First Graphic Design Manifesto.  Students will write a reflection paper about what the document means to them as young graphic designers.  Students will also create a typography project using the document, and will then write a reflection about their growth of learning in this class.  The paper will be due Thursday, then we will be off to new classes for the term.  This has been a great class, and the work these students have put in to learning to use Photoshop has really impressed me.

Photo Manipulation

This week, we will be learning to unleash the full potential of Photoshop CC with photo manipulations.  We will look at some work of Erik Johansson and Alexander Koshelkov to get us started off.  Students will then come up with an idea for an image, and sketch out a plan.  We will then use Photoshop to make creative art.  If we have time, we will get two projects finished up this week.

Layout Designs

After we get all of our infographics turned in, we will turn our attention to layout design.  We will start off looking at the work of Saul Bass, particularly his movie posters.  Students will then create a movie poster of a movie of their choice using the style of Saul Bass, or by creating a minimal movie poster of a different style.  Once we are finished, we will put them up on our portfolios and write our reflections.

typography experiments

Here are some of the projects from NPHS graphic design students for our typography experiment.  I thought these turned out very unique and students did a nice job on them!

information graphics project

This week NPHS graphic design students will learning about information graphics.  Infographics allow people to tell a story or explain data creatively with images.  Students will research a topic of their choice, then will create an infographic over the topic and will include their sources of information and necessary images.

typography

We will be talking about typography today in graphic design class.  We will look at type-faces and discuss form and content and how they can affect the overall message of a project that is being delivered.  We will also look at some work of David Carson and will then start getting into our next project.  Students will be creating a typography design of their choice.

Term 3 Branding Guide Identity Standard

Now that we have posted our stationery to our portfolios, we are ready for our Branding Guide/Identity Standard Project..  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.

Business Stationery and Promotional Materials

Students have all finished creating their logos and putting them on their online portfolios.  We are now going to create a business for those logos and apply what we have learned about identity design to business stationery and promotional materials.  Students will create a business card (2 x 3.5), a letterhead (8.5 x 11), and an envelope (9.5 x 4.125).  After we have these components finished, we will put them together to make a realistic spread that illustrates what all of their products would look like arranged on a work space.

Photoshop Skills for Class

After our planning step for our identity design, students will be taking a short break as they learn to use Adobe Photoshop CC as our primary software for class.  Students will be expected to demonstrate skills to me with this program throughout the term.  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

We have learned that graphic design is visual communication, and that we can use the design process to effectively create and improve our work.  The 4 steps to the design process are 1. Research, 2. Research, 3. Plan (sketches, plans, feedback, critiques), and 4. Production.

As we were introduced to the design process, we started our first project which is identity design.  Students are imagining that they are a self-employed graphic designer, and are creating a logo using their initials.  Below are some early sketches that students have turned in.  I'm excited to see how these ideas evolve into great creative final products!

Term 3 Graphic Design

I hope everybody had a great Holiday Break!  Graphic Design for third term will get started right away as students will become familiar with rules/procedures for class, and will start off with a research project about fields and areas of study in graphic design.  Students are required to have a notebook or sketchbook for this class, which needs to be brought with them every day.  We will be very busy this term creating a wide variety of designs from identity designs to info graphics to typography to photo manipulations.  I'm very excited to see what creative ideas these students can come up with.