Thanks to the: Dewey Education Foundation

DEF SUMMARY 2014-2015

Thanks to the DEWEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION, students dove into the world of marketing and began learning all about branding and logo design. Students were challenged to take their new knowledge of branding and logo creation and apply it to themselves. We discussed how each of us is a brand. Every day we have conversations, behave, and make choices that either work for or against the brand we want to establish. We learned that as the designer of our brand, we can have the power to persuade others through the marketing of our brand.  In class one, students had to "dig deep" and decide who they were and what their brand should project. They explored fonts and how their names looked in each font. They used the emotion tied to fonts to decide if it was best portraying “who” their brand represented. Students learned that their signature "speaks" for them on formal documents and that they can affect whether it “speaks” in the same language of their brand they are creating.

Students learned about color psychology and how brands use colors to influence consumers. Students studied 10 major colors and made notes about if it fit their brand or not. Students studied popular company logos to decide why they picked the colors they did and what they were trying to push as their brand. Students explored their goals by making a list of jobs, purposes, and visions for their brand. Some classroom brands focused on short term goals (being a good student) while others felt they already knew their purpose (work in education, etc.)

Students studied the use of symbols in branding a company. We explored symbols of current logos and brainstormed symbols that they might want to consider that supported the goals they previously outlined.

To help us get started, we then logged into http://www.designmantic.com/ where students can type their name, set filters, and manipulate objects and colors. Students sketched ideas down and used the site for inspiration.

Students then worked to design the logo of their brand using their name. They reviewed their research on designmantic and worked to merge their ideas into a cohesive logo and their brand.

Once students understood the concepts of graphic design, they were introduced to Wyla at Dewey’s local Backyard Shirts and Designs. They were given a challenge to create a t-shirt that would be profitable for her business. Students collaborated in teams, discussed target audiences, fonts, symbols, and color psychology to create their best attempt of what they hoped would become a popular t-shirt design. Wyla served as the project manager as she provided constructive criticism and feedback to groups as they worked allowing them to make changes and submit their final designs.  It was an amazing process and there were so many creative ideas; however, Wyla chose 1 elementary and 1 middle school shirt design to sell in her business. The elementary’s design was created by 4^th graders who turned the Superman Logo into a Dewey Theme. 7^th graders won the middle school contest and designed a sports tee-shirt that played off the OKC thunder logo, but also changed it to a Dewey shirt. A percentage of future sales of these shirts will benefit the GATE program!  The generous DEF grant allowed the winning teams to receive their very own tee-shirt that they worked so hard to create!

 

 To complete the unit, all GATE students learned about graphic design at a local higher-ed, Tricounty Tech. Students sat in on a 2 hour class and worked with high school and college aged students to learn about graphic communications technology and what careers are available in the field. Students were able to create and print spiral notepads and notebooks as well as work with several printing presses.

We genuinely thank the Dewey Education Foundation for being such a big part of our year and solidifying this unit to make it meaningful as well as help tie our curriculum to real world connections for 1^st through 8^th grade GATE students.

Sincerest thanks,

Alyssa Henley