Advertising and Graphic Design Lessons

I am teaching a Grade 10 Media Arts class this term and we're in the middle of a fun unit focusing on advertising and graphic design.

I started out teaching them the four fundamental principles of graphic design (see previous post with handout). 

Next, the students were introduced to the program Adobe Illustrator. 

After exploring the design principles with some Illustrator exercises, the students were ready to try designing a logo for a future business or product. 

To give them some background in the history of advertising and design, we watched the film Art & Copy.  

The kids enjoyed it- it gave them a look into the industry and an understanding of the different jobs involved.

After using the creative process to design their own logos, it will be time for the culminating project of the unit: use the four principles of design to re-create a favourite film poster, featuring a new logo for the film or the production company. More unit and lesson ideas to come as we work through the course...

- Patrick

Graphic Design Unit: Movie Poster Project

Happy New Year!

To start the year off, here's a fun and easy art project. This would work for a unit on graphic design.

Step 1: introduce the 4 fundamentals of graphic design. (see handout below)
Step 2: allow students to build an understanding of the 4 fundamentals by working through a few exercises
Step 3: review what worked and what didn't work in the exercises
Step 4: introduce the poster design project


Poster Design Project:

Part 1: use this article from the Globe and Mail to see some of the most successful movie posters from 2014

Part 2: write a summary of how your favourite poster uses the 4 fundamentals

Part 3: create a poster for your favourite movie using all 4 fundamentals

-Patrick

The Third Teacher

I have to link to the site for a fantastic book that I just got: The Third Teacher.
This book is the result of a collaboration of three design firms, one in engineering (OWP/P | Cannon Design), one in educational furnishings (VS America) and one in culture (Bruce Mau Design).


The focus of the book is the role that the design of the physical environment plays in supporting or inhibiting learning. This is a question that every teacher should consider: how does your classroom help or hinder your efforts as an educator?


Class Activity: ask the students, what elements of the design of the classroom and of the school help your learning, and why; and what elements are obstacles, why? How can we address these issues?

Stefan Sagmeister: Don't Take Creativity For Granted

This presentation addresses the great challenge of the creative process: how to keep it new.
They come up with some pretty fascinating results including an interactive digital spiderweb with type  and animals eating their way to produce type...

Stefan Sagmeister,
@sagmeisterinc 

Class Activity: This would be good to show to get students thinking about where they find inspiration. A survey could be completed by the class before watching this about typical sources of inspiration. We could suggest some different approaches to try after watching the video and having a class discussion.

Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change

"Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change."

"Design is education. 'In order to do something good you first have to do something'"
An inspiring story for design and for public education.

Class Activity: In groups find some issues or problems in your community and suggest some ideas of how art or design could be used to better them.

Paul Rand: Design

"A work of art is realized when form and content are indistinguishable"
Paul Rand.

Milton Glaser, Art is Work

Milton Glaser quoting Horace: "Art at its best informs and delights."