Why Graphic Design Matters in the Classroom
Have you ever found yourself on a website and either not understood what they’re offering or unable to navigate the page? Chances are: yes.
How long do you stay on the page and try to figure it out? Chances are: not long.
Now, imagine yourself as a student staring down a difficult to navigate hyperdoc or worksheet. How likely are you to persevere to figure it out, unsure where to look first or where to type? Chances are: not likely.
Ed tech is certainly a key to success in the 21st century classroom. Most classrooms K-12 are likely to have 1:1 technology within the next 5 years, if not already. However, this sudden shift has created new challenges. Visual techniques once required for printed materials don’t always translate when we switch to learning via screen. Nearly every industry has tackled this design dilemma… except education.
Outside of the classroom, students interact with various virtual experiences that are designed for the user. A designer’s purpose is to focus solely on how users experience their client’s product. Meanwhile, teachers are without those design skills. Just like a designer, teachers are spending hours of prep time creating digital materials. The difference? The teacher’s “client” has their education at stake. The designer knows how to guide the eye, captivate, enhance comprehension and craft a positive experience. Poor material design prevents access, and doesn’t allow learning for all.
The word design covers a multitude of industries - architecture, fashion and industrial design all require wildly different skill sets and all solve specific human-focused problems. Today, I’m talking about graphic design - the creation of visual content to communicate messages.
Before we go on, it’s important to establish what graphic design is and isn't.
Good design makes something easy to use or interact with. Design aids in understanding. For students, design removes obstacles in the way of accessing content. It does not remove rigor.
When student facing materials look nice, it does build credibility for us as the educator. However, that shouldn’t be the main goal. It’s certainly not about just using fun colors, or slapping a hilarious meme on something. :)
As I’ve mentioned before, my path to teaching is not a traditional one. I’m a teacher by way of graphic design. Most of my career as a designer was spent in advertising as an art director, with a small blip as a designer for a soccer team.
When I started teaching, there was MUCH to learn. I needed to figure out how to build up my own presence so that I could command a classroom, nurture personal relationships with students and bring joy to the process of learning (and failing). These qualities took years to craft in a way that is authentic to who I am as an educator, and shouldn’t go without mention as being crucial factors to a positive classroom environment. However, even on the days where I learned the most from my mistakes, I remained so appreciative for my past career as a designer. I used previous knowledge from design school and advertising daily in student learning materials as well as my own delivery of information. It was probably my one saving grace as I was building other teaching skills.
Here are a few things I learned:
Where art direction and teaching overlap
Burger King billboards were my first projects I got to work on out of college. I can’t begin to explain how excited I was that people would be driving past my work - MY WORK!
One of the design challenges for a billboard is: How do I make this both noticeable and understandable while people drive by at 65 MPH?
Classroom Comparison: Need I explain the similarities between a car at 65 MPH and the average middle schooler energy level? Kids are all over the place (mentally and physically), and guiding attention to important actions/directions can be tough... but achievable!
And sometimes people vandalize your* work.
Classroom comparison:
The phallic drawings I find literally everywhere in my classroom.
Ok fine, this one has nothing to do with design :)
One of my favorite assignments for BK was some sort of instructional poster for employees to put packaging together the correct way. I so wish I still had this file, because the overall project is basically a half-memory, but I do remember that I just loved this particular design challenge.
It was a breath of fresh air from typical projects, and I also remember part of it required me to design an icon for toilet paper. This project was so interesting because it had so many constraints. The packaging instructions needed to communicate specific steps while not relying on employees speaking English. Printing budget was limited, so we also weren’t going to create something that said the same step over and over in each language. Instead you use visuals to communicate.
Classroom comparison: I know all of our schools look different, but in my classroom it is not a given that each of my students have a grasp on English. While, yes, our students should be working on developing their language skills, we can be thoughtful about how instructions are being communicated so that they can access the information needed to truly develop as an English speaker, rather than getting hung up on what to do next.
I eventually got to work on other clients like Xbox, DiGiorno and Olay. The design challenges mentioned above applied to all of these projects as well, but the solutions looked different depending on the target audience. As an art director I learned so much about how human beings interact with static material - what catches the eye, what can influence decisions, what people ignore. Experiencing similar challenges as a teacher has given me such confidence in the way I approach daily access for all students in my classroom but especially students with an IEP or our multi language learners.
In addition to Graphic Designers, many companies hire User Interface (UI) Designers because the relationship between user and product is SO important. As teachers, our “products” are just as important as the latest and greatest smartphone app. It’s what students use to learn and to demonstrate knowledge. Our learning materials can determine the class experience. Readability, color choices and typography can be a huge factor in whether or not a student can intellectually access the material from class. Heck, the shape of a button can determine whether or not someone knows how to complete a certain task.
This obviously depends on age, access to tech, rules at home etc. It’s safe to say, though, that all humans have built habits while using technology that can dictate experience when something is not working the way they expect. As a teacher, I can use the rule of familiarity to make work seem more approachable, or make my class site easier to navigate. I can use color to help students manage progress, and help myself notice anyone falling behind. I can use typographic choices that are smart for any reader, but especially those (like me!) who get stuck reading the same line over and over. The content does not change, nor does rigor. However, barriers to access are removed.
So, what, I'm supposed to be a designer too?!
Teachers already wear several hats in our profession. We’re mentors, counselors, experts in our content field, performers, the occasional nurse, etc. Do I think that all of the sudden, POOF, teachers should be designers, too? No. However, I do know that we’re already making specific decisions about what our materials look like. Why can’t those decisions be guided in design principles that will improve results in your class?
Might as well start with me...
Over this past summer, I started to evaluate my own use of design in my classroom. Up until that point, I had been making off-the-cuff color and typography decisions, stuff that had become a natural habit just based on my previous years in design. But I had never really thought about it in a way that truly encompased the student and teacher experience inside the classroom. Next week I want to tell you all about how I “branded” my class, and how it’s going for me so far!
