Poster project introduces Year 6s to design concepts |
11/28/2022
Posters about wellbeing will be making their appearance across the Prep in December, the culmination of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) launch of design principles.
Students dive into MYP design in Year 6 and deepen their learning through Year 10. During each school year in Years 6–8, there are three units: digital design, innovative product design, and coding. The design curriculum kicks off with the poster design project, taught by Sarah Barclay and Anthony Chandler.
“Design is all about solving problems and we help students understand the design cycle, a process that allows them to work through any problem,” says Barclay. “This is their first foray into that process.”
Barclay asked the Year 6 classes to consider UCC’s wellbeing value and offer advice to their fellow students about how to enhance wellbeing via a poster that they designed themselves. They started by doing research and embarking on discussions in their health and life skills class.
Meanwhile, Barclay helped them to acquire the requisite technical skills: learning to take a good photo and to edit it; studying the basics of colour theory and typography to see how they could help deliver the message; and discussing language and how it might differ depending on the communications medium.
Next, the students brainstormed ideas for their posters and chose one to pursue. Once they made their decisions, they each created a planning diagram that justified their design choices. Finally, it was time to create their posters using Canva, graphic design software used to combine text, images and colour into eye-catching products.
“They learned that design isn’t a linear process,” Barclay says. “Circumstances may change and they needed to be open-minded, having a growth mindset. I also introduced the idea of continuous improvement through reflection; once they submitted their poster designs, it was time to evaluate them. They were asked to explain what they could do to improve their work and to consider the impact it would have on its audience.”
Each student had the opportunity to use an online tool to record their reflections on the design process and what they would have done differently if they had more time.
“I enjoyed the design project a lot,” says Christopher Kwong. His poster encourages people to read, “because whenever I have time, I go and read. You can get a lot of information from reading.”
He found it challenging to turn his message into a poster.
“You could just say, ‘Go to the library,’ but you needed to do it in a different way. We brainstormed what size text to use, what font and what colours — all that stuff. I chose a blue background because blue symbolizes intelligence and I want people to realize that you get smart by reading. And since most books are printed with a serif font, I wanted to use one, too.”
All of the Year 6 posters were sent to the UCC Press print shop for production. They will decorate the walls until spring when the students will be allowed to take them home to keep.
