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.

ending on a strong note

We are down to the last week of class!  Graphic Design students will be turning in their photo manipulations and any other projects they wish to be graded before the grading window closes.  Students will also be reading the First Things First Graphic Design Manifesto, then doing a series of reflections with a final design for their final.  This will be the students' last chance to demonstrate their knowledge and learning from class this term.

Photo Manipulations

We are all finished up with our environmental designs, and students had some creative ways for our school to look.  Below is my favorite design and placement from the class.  Good job creating the design, and using Photoshop to make it look like the design is actually there.

Today we looked at some photo manipulation work from Alex Koshelkov and Erik Johansson.  Students are now starting to gather ideas and resources to create some photo manipulations of their own.  This is the project that really allows students to express as much creativity as possible and to unleash everything that Photoshop has to offer.

Environmental Designs

This week we are starting our next section over environmental design.  We looked at some examples in class, then students took the school halls with digital cameras for a scavenger hunt of environmental design examples from our hallways.  When students returned, they put together collages of the examples and explained in their own words what environmental design is, and how their pictures are good representations of their definition.

Students will next take a picture of  a blank area of the school, then will create a design for that area.  To finish up the project, students will Photoshop their design into the picture of the blank area.  We will then upload our projects and reflections to our online portfolios.  I'm very excited to see how these turn out!