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!