Delivery
Sarah discussed technological practice with her students and distributed an assessment sheet (PDF download, 5kb) showing the requirements for brief development, planning for practice and, technological outcomes. Students revised some of the practice they'd used before, and were introduced to newer concepts such as key attributes.
Their client's brief gave the students clear specification criteria – the logo had to be in landscape format so that it would fit on a T-shirt, in black/white and one other colour (for printing/cost purposes), and include the production title.
The class looked at the elements of a good logo, then researched other production logos and analysed how successful they were in terms of font, colour, spacing, and overall impact. Sarah talked to her students about how to develop an idea, pointing out that it isn't just changing font or colour, but involves modelling – in this case sketching different ideas or taking photographs. She taught them the drawing techniques they would need to use in the project: perspective, 2D and 3D drawing.
The class had an opportunity to question their client and each student developed some ideas, adding his own key attributes to those in the given brief. After sketching their ideas, the students annotated them – explaining, analysing and evaluating each design. Each student chose his best design, which was hung on the classroom wall, and then voted for the six he preferred.
The students were split into groups of four and each was given one of the top six logos to improve and develop. When the groups had drawn their final logo they had to do a mini-presentation to the class, explaining why they had included particular aspects. After a final (anonymous) class vote, the class logo was decided upon.
At this stage the students were divided into six new groups to develop their products. The original designer of the logo and the person who'd had the most input into its development were put in charge of the final drawing. Other groups worked on developing the logo for the: T-shirt, DVD case, front of programme, ticket (on back of programme), and final presentation (which involved advertising and promotion, and writing a speech).
The classes had three to five lessons to develop their products, and Sarah notes that there was quite a rush on as students scanned and printed material, ironed transfers on to T-shirts, etc. Throughout the project, students had to assess the process and keep a diary of manufacture – while some group members were assembling things, others were writing the diary in which they noted what each team member was doing, what needed to be done next, any problems, and whether the product still linked to the original key attributes or had been changed.
The students all worked well and Sarah notes if anybody was seen to be wasting time they would be chivvied along by the others, since each group wanted to win. The boys worked between the Technology room, the library (computers), and a third room (scanner). There was no stipulation regarding computer programs, and the boys used a range, such as Photoshop , Comic Life and Kid Pix, depending on their skills. This resulted in some peer-group teaching, as those who had the skills taught others in their team how to use the software.
On the last day of term, each class presented its logo to the client, their presentation teams explaining each aspect of the design. Sarah says that this went really well, and that the boys appreciated the client's prompt selection of the official production logo and his explanation of why it was chosen.
While the unit finished at the end of term, students were still talking about it in term 2 when the logo was used extensively to advertise the production. After the show finished, Sarah revisited the unit with the three classes. They looked at the T-shirt, programme and DVD, and discussed how the final idea had changed slightly when it was mass-produced, giving Sarah the opportunity to point out the changes that can occur when an abstract design is transferred on to different materials using varying methods of manufacturing.
