Digital Collections

Graphic design touches many areas of our lives and the lives of our students. It is something of which teachers and students have a common experience. Studying and working with graphic design trains people to be critical. Layouts that are clear, concise, and attractive do not usually happen by chance. Thought has been put into them and the designs have to be looked at carefully. These analytical skills reach across curriculum guidelines and are important as people interact with the world around them.

Working with graphic design gives people a chance to be expressive and creative. Students sometimes try to express their individuality in unhealthy ways and graphic design can truly channel a student's time and expression in a positive way.

The approach to this unit consists of three parts. "To Hear" sections throughout the unit give to the student the knowledge and background necessary to make intelligent and informed decisions about their design. Areas labelled "To See" give examples of graphic design concepts and techniques so that students can get a feel for what they are working with. "To Try" sections throughout the unit give the hands on opportunity that is necessary for the integration of concepts and techniques of graphic design into their work.

Graphic design on computers is becoming more and more popular. This exciting area of design is growing quickly and is constantly changing. This unit introduces students to computers in graphic design. The changing nature of this field makes it especially important that the teacher learn from the student as much or more than the student learns from the teacher. In fact, the approach of this unit is to give the students a basic background and then let them work away on their designs. This unit and method have been tried in the classroom already. The students truly did move closer to self-motivated learning.