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!

Great Poster Examples and Happy Thanksgiving!

We have finished up our project where students created a minimal movie poster, and had some very creative ideas.  Here are the 2 best projects that I had turned in to me.  Great job with these projects, and keep up the great work!

Also, I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving.  Safe travels to all, and we will see you next week!

Saul Bass Poster Project

We are nearly finished with our infographics which means it's time to introduce our next project.  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 36 in by 24 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.

Infographics

This week we will start our next project which is our infographic.  Students will spend some time researching different kinds, then will gather information for their project.  Next, students will sketch ideas out, then assemble their infographic on Photoshop.  Students will need to include sources of where they got their information.

Below are a few examples of some student work from our typography projects that I thought turned out great.  Keep up the good work!

Good Work and Typography

Students finished up with their business stationery and identity standard/branding guide as we are finished with our identity design unit.  Here are a few good examples from the class.

Our next section is about typography.  Today we watched a TED talk about David Carson, who makes creative designs with typography.  Students then are finding an idiom and creating a design that integrates the words/phrase used to an illustration.  Student work from the past has been very creative with this, and I know that this term will be no different.