Curriculum
Essential Questions:
The following is a general description of the course content. Projects vary based on the needs and requests of clients from the school and community, and on the interests and chosen directions of students.
Topics and Skills:
- What makes good art good? What does “Quality” look like?
- What makes effective graphic design and digital publication?
- Where can digital artmaking take me?
- How are graphic design and computer graphics important today?
- How does one think like a graphic artist?
- How can I refine my skills to become a graphic designer or digital artist?
- How can my art more effectively communicate meaning?
- How can I serve the school and community by applying my skills with design, technology and communication?
- How do I build a strong digital art portfolio?
- From where can I draw inspiration as an artist?
- What are the options available to me as an artist?
- How can I prepare myself for a creative future?
- What informs why, how, and what artists and designers make?
- How do artists and designers make works of art and design?
- Why and how do artists and designers present their work to viewers?
The following is a general description of the course content. Projects vary based on the needs and requests of clients from the school and community, and on the interests and chosen directions of students.
Topics and Skills:
- Making Meaning -- Visual Communication and Personal Expression
- Studio Habits of Mind
- Design-Thinking
- The Importance of Process - from concept to visual
- Conceptual Drawing for Graphic Design
- Visual problem-solving, planning, and process
- Reflection and Analysis
- Giving, Receiving, and Applying Feedback -- Critique
- Creative Thinking -- Visual Thinking Exercises – Improving Your Creativity
- Design / Aesthetics
- Application of the Principles of Graphic Design: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity
- Color for Designers
- Typography
- Layout – Using the Grid
- Skills with Tools and Techniques:
- Further development of technical skills with the Mac and Adobe Creative Cloud
- Using the Programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) Together
- Observational skills
- Business sense
- Marketing/Advertising
- Working with Clients
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Applied Commercial Practices (depending on client requests, may include:)
- Symbols and Logos
- Flyers, Programs and Posters
- Signage and Informational Graphics
- Corporate Design
- Editorial Layout – Books and/or Magazines
- Packaging
- Advertising
- Campaign – Communicating Ideas through a Series
- Display
- Supergraphics / Mural Painting
- Self-Promotion -- Digital Portfolio & Portfolio Presentation
- Careers -- The Masters of Graphic Design – Today’s Professional Artists
- Independent, Self-Guided Projects