Graphic design students have finished their first projects, which was to make a logo using their initials. This was to meet our standard CIS.HS.1.11: Identify project's message and mission. The students did a very nice job, especially for it being their first project, and being new to the design process. Here are a few samples of some logos they put together that I really liked.
The next step we are going to work towards is creating an identity for this logo. We will be paying attention to styles, colors, type-face, etc. Students will be using the identity they create to design a set of business stationery. They will make an 8.5 x 11 in. letterhead, a 9.5 x 4.125 in. envelope, and a business card (sizes on this one may vary, but a popular size is 2 x 3.5 in). Students have researched ideas that they like, then will start sketching ideas and will get into groups to collaborate and critique ideas that they have come up with. I can't wait to see how they turn out!
We've made it through our first week of graphic design! Students have turned in their papers where they researched careers and fields of graphic design. We are now working on our design process which includes the following steps:
1. Purpose
2. Research
3. Planning(outlines, sketches, draft, feedback)
4. Production
Your students should be able to explain what each of these steps mean, and what we do at each stage. We have been going through this process for the first time with our first design, which is an identity design. We are creating logos using our initials. Students played some logo identification games for their research, then we discussed what rules we feel we need to follow to create effective logos. We then sketched ideas on paper. We did a gallery walk to give everybody feedback, then went into small groups to have conversations about our work and what direction we want to go with our projects. The next step is to create our designs on the computer. We are learning to use our digital tools at the same time as this, so we have a lot of new things going on at once here. Below is a brief tutorial of a logo design we will do together as a class.
Once we are finished with our digital design, we will create portfolios on crevado.com, then will upload our design with a reflection to be graded. Students have been doing a great job so far, and I'm excited to see how these first designs turn out!
