Hand-lettered Digital Wallpaper
Classroom Context
Grade level: Visual Arts II Number of students: 30
Content Area: Digital Art I
Lesson planned for: 5-7, 1.5-hour sessions
In this lesson students will be taking a quote or phrase that is meaningful to them, and creating a hand-lettered design within Adobe Photoshop. When finished, they can apply it as a background to their cell phone or tablet (devices students love to customize). While this is a digital project, the objective is for it to retain a handmade feel, to a degree where a viewer would not immediately be able to tell if it were crafted with digital or analog tools.
Through this process, students will learn about typography and the various terms, rules and methods that relate to text design. They will work with kerning, balance, space, height and width, explore various forms of ornamentation, and undergo an iterative process of refining their work. Emphasis will be placed on composition, in particular, visual hierarchy, use of color, consideration of positive and negative space, and the arrangement of elements. These are universal concepts that apply to all forms of artmaking.
There will be a lesson on popular culture exploring the ways that words function beyond their meaning, but also as visual objects.
They will learn techniques within Photoshop, including the use of layers, custom brushes and stamps, that will expand their ability to effectively leverage it as an artistic tool.
Performance-based Objective(s)
Students will learn about balance and space as it relates to layout and composition, then apply these concepts to a hand-lettered, digital wallpaper.
National content standards and VA Standards of Learning (SOL)/Career- and College- Ready Standards
VA Standards of Learning
AII.1 The student will apply creative thinking to original artistic works.
a) Select materials, media, and processes of personal interest to communicate ideas
in artworks.
b) Communicate a personal style and point of view in artwork
AII.12 The student will employ elements of art and principles of design to effectively communicate intended meaning in works of art and design.
AII.17 The student will interpret a subject in an original style or point of view.
Differentiation and Accommodations
-Students can draw their designs with analog tools and scan them into the computer as opposed to using a tablet.
-All readings will be accompanied by a narrated audio version students may choose to listen to.
-Lesson content presented through Schoology, so that students may access it at any time and work through it at their own pace.
Materials/Technology
Sketchbooks
Pencils/Pens
Desktop Computers
Pressure Sensitive Pen Tablets
Adobe Photoshop
Lesson Procedures:
This lesson is broken down into 5 subsections to be completed in order: Discover, Explore, Create, Record, and Reflect.
Discover
Students copy the below notes page into their sketchbooks:
Students view the video “Hand Lettering vs Calligraphy-What is the Difference? (2021)” and fill out their note sheet as they watch.
Students leave a comment below the Discover post that includes a photo of their completed notes page and an answer to the prompt “What surprised you about hand lettering, calligraphy, and/or typography.” Their completed comment is worth 50pts.
Explore
Students complete the provided Explore Lettering digital workbooks (parts 1&2) in Photoshop by following the embedded instructions. These files will be uploaded to the “Hand Lettering” folder alongside this lesson plan for reference. Photoshop brushes for students to download and use for the exercises are included in the Explore folder.
Each workbook contains 27 pages (54 in total), some of which are purely informational, such as:
Whereas others contain exercises for students to complete, for example:
The second workbook contains instructions on the major project for this unit, to digitally create a hand lettered quote, and walks students step-by-step through the process:
The pages containing exercises are completed on the “practice” layer in the Photoshop document using a pressure sensitive pen tablet. When finished, the files are saved and uploaded to the course submissions page on Schoology.
Each workbook is worth 25 points based on completion, with a total of 50 points attributed to the Explore section of the lesson.
Create
Students will choose a phrase, saying, or quote that is personally meaningful to them, and use it to create a hand lettered design within Photoshop.
[NOTE: This part of the lesson will be presented live, in person, as opposed to online as is the standard. The presentation is available on Schoology for those who may have missed it or want to return to it for reference.]
-Lecture begins with teacher asking “Does anyone know what the term ‘pop culture’ means?” and soliciting the class for their ideas. A short (2-3 minute) discussion ensues.
-The teacher gives a brief overview on popular culture, to clarify what it means and what is included under that term. Examples are shown from movies, television, music, video games, literature, fashion etc. The teacher explains that words can also be considered part of popular culture, in the form of song lyrics, memes, quotes, and colloquial slang. Example: “When you hear the word “google” do you think of “a number equal to 10 to the 100th power” or a search engine/tech company?”
-The point is made that in addition to the words themselves having cultural cache, their physical appearance can enter into popular culture. Our world is full of fonts that have become so embedded in our psyches, that we recognize their source even when the words they typically represent have been altered. Slides are presented of words written in well known fonts (Coca-Cola, Star Wars, Disney etc.) and students are tasked with identifying them. The teacher explains that what students are recognizing is typography, “the style or appearance of text” or “the differences between different styles of text that create distinct appearances.”
-The class is shown Isaac Moores’ “Pop Culture Typography” a 3 minute, 30 second video featuring 30 years of iconic typography. They are told to see how much they can identify (silently, to themselves) and informed that the description field has a link identifying sources.
-To conclude, the teacher tasks students with thinking about the iconography and artistry of text while designing their lettering projects. They are challenged to put as much thought, effort and design into their letters as they typically associate with other artistic endeavors, such as drawing, painting or sculpting.
Total Presentation Time: About 15 minutes.
Students return to computers to complete the remainder of the Create portion digitally.
A brush set for Photoshop that allows students to stamp lettering grids on their canvas is provided in the Create folder on Schoology.
Step 1- Download the attached grid builder brushes and double click on them to install them into Photoshop (they can be found in the brushes list at the top of the screen).
Step 2- Review the guide below on how to use the brush stamps once installed:
Step 3- Open the attached Photoshop file “Create Wallpaper.”
Step 4- Use the grid builder brushes to help create containers for your words.
Step 5- Use the plan you created in Explore as a reference to sketch out your design. You may not use the Fill Bucket tool, all solid areas of color must be achieved with the pencil brushes provided in the Explore folder. The idea is for every element of your lettering to be textured, as if this were made by hand on paper.
Step 6- Be aware of negative space. Use strategies from the Explore workbooks to minimize awkward emptiness within your design.
Step 7- Turn off your sketch layer and export your piece as a .PNG file. Upload this to Schoology.
The final project is worth 100 points.
Record
This section of Schoology gives students step-by-step instructions on how to add their final pieces to their ongoing, Digital Art 1 portfolio. It’s worth 50 points.
Reflect
In the comment field under their submission, students are to add one “Glow” and one “Grow.” A Glow is something that went well or that they are particularly proud of. A Grow is an area for improvement, something they’d like to learn more about or continue to practice.
This is worth 50 points.
Assessment Strategy:
Each folder on Schoology has its own point total, as follows:
Discover-50
Explore-50
Create-100
Record-50
Reflect-50
Total Possible Points-300
The Discover folder is an informal assessment based on completion. It’s simply meant to ensure students have consumed the material and at least thought about it to some degree. Possible scores are the full 50 points, for doing it, or 0, for failure to submit.
The Explore folder is a formative assessment. As it consists of 54 pages students must complete sequentially, it gives instructors a clear picture of their learning at every step of the process, and makes it easy to identify the areas where they may be struggling. Points may be deducted if it appears a student put very little effort into their work, producing sloppy, haphazard results, but as most of the outcomes are objective (you either did what it asked of you or you didn’t) most students should earn full 50 point scores on this.
The Create folder is the main summative assessment of the unit. It is here that students must demonstrate the knowledge gained in the prior sections and put it to effective use. Pieces will be marked on a 100 point scale according to the following rubric:
Gallery of Student Work
(Click images to enlarge)
