Design Process

This was a busy first week of the new term!  Classes are full of great kids who seem excited about what we will be doing this quarter!  We started off learning about what graphic design really is (visual communication), and looking at some examples of the various disciplines that are included in the world of graphic design.  We then learned graphic design as a process, and applied it to how we will be solving problems/projects throughout this course.

Design Process:

Purpose

Research

Plan

Sketch

Draft/Critiques

Production

By going through these steps with each of our assignments, we can assure that we will turn out quality work, and have skills that will help us problem solve in other areas as well.

We started with our first project, which is with identity design.  The class is creating logos for their "graphic design company" which will be used as an identity for all of their work from here on out.  The sketches have looked promising so far, and I'm excited to see how they turn out!

Second Quarter

New term for graphic design is here!  This quarter I have 2 periods of graphic design students and am really excited to get this thing rolling.  We will get started on the introduction to graphic design, students will be able to define graphic design as a field, and identify various disciplines of the field.  We will also be introduced to the design process which has these major steps....
1. Purpose
2. Research
3. Plan
4. Sketch
5. Draft/Critique
6. Production/Reflection
We will probably end the week with an introduction to identity design and start putting together ideas for our logo project.

Be sure to follow @np_techbiz for class assignments and announcements, as well as updates with various school activities at NPHS.  I'll see you all on Tuesday!

End of Term Reflection

I have all of our projects graded and updated, and now am at the end of the term for this Graphic Design class.  I had a wonderful class full of great students.  They turned out a lot of great work that got uploaded to the digital displays in the room.  They will be great examples for future classes to see and hopefully will inspire them to great projects of their own for years to come.  I enjoyed teaching this second period each day, and really enjoyed our conversations and getting to know you more this term.  Best of luck with your classes the rest of this term, and be sure to stop by and say hello from time to time!

Next term I will have 2 graphic design classes, and am excited to see what projects they create!

Graphic Design Student of the Week (Week 8)

This week's graphic design student of the week did some unique lettering for their reflection on the First Things First Graphic Design Manifesto.  Great job on the picture as well as your final reflection!  Way to end the term on a great note!

Final Week

Last week of the term!  It goes by fast!  This week we are finishing up our photomanipulation projects, then will do our final project which will be over the First Things First graphic design manifesto.  This has been a great term for me, and I will miss this class as they were all fun to be around, and turned out some really creative and quality work.

Graphic Design Student of the Week (Week 7)

I really liked this week's designer of the week's practice run on the photomanipulation.  Combining an illustration from the movie Cars, and a photograph of an actual truck and making it into one image.  I thought the idea was very creative, and pulled off quite nicely!  Great job, and keep up the great work!!

Photomanipulation

Our class finished up our environmental design, and have now been introduced to photomanipulation, which is combining multiple photographs to make something new.  We watched a few speed-art videos on youtube of Alexander Koshelkov's work to show students some dynamic photomanipulations created using the same software we use.  We then had a practice run with free-use pictures off the internet.  Today we watched a short TED talk featuring Erik Johansson and his work, and students began planning and sketching what their final photomanipulation project will look like.  After planning, students will take photographs of the elements they want to use for their final image, then will use Adobe Photoshop to combine them into photomanipulations with content created entirely themselves.