Hand Lettering

I think the subheading of the top book really explains it. Our culture has developed a fondness for hand lettering again. I even see exquisite hand lettering on chalk boards in coffee shops. It's become part of hip business's identity.  It is independent, expressive and full of character, like we all secretly want to be. My students love these books. The second book has an unfortunate title for high school, but has an inspiring variety of hand lettered type faces.

I do hand lettering projects with my traditional media class, but you could also scan student hand lettering to a final document for a digital class.  This is also yet another connection to the popular nostalgia of the late 60s and early 70s when hand lettered posters were everywhere. Do I age myself if I tell you I still remember how cool doing my name in bubble lettering was?

So, last week I put up my hand lettering bulletin board and one student said, "Hand lettering. My favorite project!" So, then I realized I had to not just do it in Art 1, but in Art 2 as well.  

There are so many concepts to tie hand lettering to. I've done character education: design a poster with hand lettering with a quote about compassion; social commentary: What do you want to tell society? Say it in a hand lettered poster. Another I will do soon is hand lettering inside a shape.

Another good resource to inspire them is the dafont.com website. Some of the fonts are first hand lettered. Remember that when you click on the name of the font, you usually can see the complete alphabet.

Caution: One of my senior students used all her amazing hand lettering skills to do a poster for the Art Club. One of the administrators saw it and then insisted that she do a very large banner for an administrative retreat...which took her a whole month to finish.  So, beware, this could lead to a side business.

What do Graphic Designers Do, Anyway?

Need to be able to explain the career of a graphic designer?  The AIGA has a very thorough guide to the careers of graphic designers.  For a quicker source, just check out the list with explanations of what kind of projects designers actually work on.

Visual Literacy: A Conceptual Approach to Graphic Problem Solving

This is a fantastic book of projects for a 2D design class, by the founder of the Graphic Design Department of The School of Visual Arts, Richard Wilde. The projects are clearly described and there are many wonderful student examples. The book itself is a fantastic example of visual literacy.  (Ironic how non-visual so many visual literacy books and presentations actually are.)  Fun projects that challenge your students to turn on their creative mind, for grades 11-college.

Interviews with Graphic Designers

If you teach graphic design, you may want to share interviews with graphic designers with your classes. Lynda.com has some wonderful ones under their Creative Inspiration section, but it that site requires a monthly fee (well worth it).

Another one, which is also a great example of using object animation, is from the School of Visual Arts, of interviews with designers who were students of Richard Wilde. (Love the target assignment!)

We Love Posters

In Graphic Design classes, poster projects are the fudge brownie sundaes of projects. The history of poster design shows that in the effort to be eye-catching creativity is given free range. Lettering can be hand-drawn, composition could include mismatched cutouts. Doodles and tape and the bizarre are welcome.

But we all have students who freeze when given such a chance to show their creativity. I have recently purchased 2 fantastic poster books that I prefer to keep by my bed so I can look at them every night, but my intention is to take them to school for my students.

Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art (Not Canine-Related) is a collection from the Seattle group of cutting-edge poster radicals/comedians. Check out their website.

Masters of Poster Design includes their peers, 256 pages of eye-candy and a book jacket great enough to frame.

What are you waiting for?

If you haven't subscribed to lynda.com...what are you waiting for?

Do you need high-quality video tutorials to help you learn new software, anything from Photoshop to complex animation software? Do you need videos to share with your classes, say an interview with Milton Glaser, or interview with Pentagram that gives a taste of how designers think? Are you confused about how a digital camera works? How about 16 separate videos to show your students that give an inside look into one of the most innovative web design firms and how they work, including how they work with clients? This site is so deep and wide you will not tire of it. And the beauty of it is that even though you have to pay a subscription fee (about $25/month last I checked) you are not committed to more than one month. My family however started our subscription about 2 years ago and haven't stopped. (I'm married to an animator, my oldest son is studying graphic design in college, and my younger son is a Photoshop and photography wiz.) Everytime I start exploring it, I see that they have a wonderful new addition. I found exactly what I need as an introductory video for my graphic design class (Big Spaceship) and they just added it 2 days ago. Subscribing to lynda.com costs a lot more than subscribing to most magazines, but it is so much more useful (and there are no ads).

No, they aren't paying me to write this blog entry... but they should!

Website for Design Lesson Ideas

If you teach graphic design, spend some time with this educational resource website provided by Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The lesson plans are well-developed and easy to search. Of course, design goes beyond graphic design. I found a great project idea for a 3D class I will teach next year.

Picking Dawn's Brain

Dawn Pederson keeps a blog called "Dawn's Brain", but its her class website that is the gold mine. She has given me permission to share these with you and I did mention it in an earlier blog. But, I just want to mention it again. She has wonderful lessons for graphic design teachers, for example: "You're the Movie: Poster Project", "Layout Game" (I'm stealing this one, Dawn), "Color Theory Mandala", "Color Emotions Poster", "Text as Image". Check it out.

Graphic Design Lesson Ideas

I've discovered a wonderful website by an art teacher in California who used to teach high school Graphic Design and Web Design but now teaches at the college level. Her old website is very well organized and I asked her permission to tell you that we can "steal" her lessons. You can link to her lessons from her calendar under either class, or from the menu to the right. http://www.nhsdesigns.com/ She also has a blog called "Dawn's Brain: The adventures of a high school web and graphic design teacher." And she's started a forum for Art Teachers http://www.artteacherforum.com/  Her new college website is urlnextdoor.com Thank you, Dawn.

By the way, on her blog, the lesson "Cut Paper Illustrations" is based on a book that I love, Picture This by Molly Bang. It explains composition very well and my students have always been mesmerized by the slide show I've made from it, even though her illlustrations are very simple. You could very easily do this lesson using Adobe Illustrator if you don't have room for studio projects like me. You can order the book from Amazon using my bookstore link.

If you have children, or love children's books, you probably already know who Molly Bang is. My favorite is The Paper Crane. I still enjoy looking at it even though my boys are in high school and college.

Future Innovator?

We finished the classic graphics lesson, students dreaming up a business for themselves, making the logo, creating the ad. I thought you would get a kick out of this young lady's business idea. Perhaps I didn't remind them enough that they can't promote violence, but, other than a few very minor problems, she did a good job with the design and problem-solving. I required Visual Hierarchy: make it clear what you want the viewer to see first, second and third.