Graphics

Subject Leader: Lucie Neal - l.neal@lavington.wilts.sch.uk

Year 7

What are we studying?

Students will complete a 19-week course in Graphics comprising of 3 lessons a fortnight. The topics we cover our product design for a chocolate bar sold at a Zoo and exploring mechanism prototypes for a pop-up card which will link to a celebration theme of their choice.

They will develop an understanding of colour rendering, gridding out lettering, exploring typography styles, researching and creating a range of pop-up mechanisms, adapting imagery and colour schemes towards a specific target market and gaining an understanding of composition.

Both projects enhance and develop the student’s ability to understand the underlying principles of design. We research existing products analysing their successes with reference to how established they are, who they would appeal to and how we determine success.

The design and make tasks are centred on the development of the student’s ability to create promotional materials to encourage sales of their designs, whilst looking at the principles of marketing and advertising in order to assist them with decision making.

How are we assessed?

Classwork (practical and theory work) and homework is assessed throughout the Graphics course. Students will be given success criteria and will be marked using the criteria of Working towards, Expected standard or Higher.

Students need to provide evidence of Research tasks, Planning, Design, Make, Evaluation and an understanding of Subject Knowledge.

How are we grouped?

Students are in mixed ability groups in Art, Design and Technology, and are timetabled for two double lessons a week in this subject area. The maximum class size is 23.

What homework are we expected to do?

There will usually be one homework task set per fortnight, of which the majority are set in order to consolidate learning from that day’s lesson or for preparation for the following lesson.
The home work tasks should take around 30 minutes to complete. This will include research activities, worksheets, design and development work or completion of class tasks. Students will be given a D&T folder to store and transport their classwork and homework to and from school. Students are encouraged read around the subject area to support their understanding and development of subject specific vocabulary.

What can parents do to help?

Ask your child to explain the meaning of the subject vocabulary that is new to each module.
Encourage your child to discuss what they have learnt each week as they are looking through their D&T folder.
Look out for articles in newspapers or television and discuss them with your child.

Useful resources and equipment:

Ruler, colouring pencils, HB pencil, rubber, sharpener and compass.
Computer is useful for research tasks and presentation, but not essential.

Year 8

What are we studying?

Students will complete a 19-week course in Graphics comprising of 3 lessons a fortnight.

The topics which we will cover:

Charity leaflet design: thinking carefully about effective folding mechanisms, understanding our charity through research gathered and promoting it through the use of hard-hitting imagery.

Music festival poster design: thinking about adapting our imagery/ colour scheme and typography style to a particular genre of music.

Students explore colour theory, typography exploration, research tasks, CAD software understanding how to create Net’s, product analysis and imagery which links to a particular theme.

We research current logo’s, analysing their successes with reference to how established they are, who their products would appeal to and how we determine success. The design and make tasks are centred on the development of the leaflet and a promotional poster. There is a focus on photography and illustration for this unit of work and computer aided design is at the forefront.

How are we assessed?

Students need to provide evidence of Research tasks, Planning, Design, Make, Evaluation and an understanding of Subject Knowledge.

How are we grouped?

Students are in mixed ability groups in Art, Design and Technology, and are timetabled for two double lessons a week in this subject area. The maximum class size is 23.

What homework are we expected to do?

There will usually be one homework task set per fortnight, of which the majority are set in order to consolidate learning from that day’s lesson or for preparation for the following lesson. The home work tasks should take around 30 minutes to complete. This will include research activities, work sheets, design and development work or completion of class tasks. Students will be given a D&T folder to store and transport their classwork and homework to and from school. Students are encouraged read around the subject area to support their understanding and development of subject specific vocabulary.

What can parents do to help?

Ask your child to explain the meaning of the subject vocabulary that is new to each module.
Encourage your child to discuss what they have learnt each week as they are looking through their D&T folder.
Look out for articles in newspapers or television and discuss them with your child.

Useful resources and equipment:

Ruler, colouring pencils, HB pencil, rubber, sharpener and compass.
Computer is useful for research tasks and presentation, but not essential

Year 9

What are we studying?

Students will complete a 19-week course in Graphics comprising of 3 lessons a fortnight.

The topics which we cover our Logo design and Menu design tailoring outcomes to a specific target market and Culture/Cuisine.

Students will gain an understanding into the types of logos that there are and when we might use a particular style. They will work by hand/ using a range of different sites online and using software to create a range of outcomes.

For the menu project students will explore a culture/ cuisine of their choice. They will think carefully about menu designs/shapes and create a range of prototypes. They will research an artist and show influences of their work within their final outcome.

Students use their understanding of the underlying principles of colour to drive design when they are assembling their ideas. We study potential target markets, market trends and we briefly touch on group dynamics. We research current logos, analysing their successes with reference to how established they are, who their products would appeal to and how we determine success. The second project looks at the creation of a cultural restaurant menu with the focus being on layout, composition, typography, colour theory and successful design principles. The second project can focus more on the development of graphics over construction of a 3D outcome but such skills have been incorporated into both outcomes.

How are we assessed?

Classwork (practical and theory work) and homework is assessed throughout the Graphics course. Students will be given success criteria and national curriculum level descriptors linked to the work. For each practical and/or theory task students will be given a national curriculum level, which enables their progress to be monitored. The assessments may be carried out in lessons or set as homework. In addition, students complete one complete Design and Make Assessment in the Graphics course, which focuses on elements of the design process. Analysis, research (gathering and using information), product design, development, manufacture and evaluation are areas of the design process that are explored through this assessment towards the end of the course

How are we grouped?

Students are in mixed ability groups in Art, Design and Technology, and are timetabled for two double lessons a week in this subject area. The maximum class size is 23.

What homework are we expected to do?

There will usually be one homework task set per fortnight, of which the majority are set in order to consolidate learning from that day’s lesson or for preparation for the following lesson. The home work tasks should take around 30 minutes to complete. This will include research activities, work sheets, design and development work or completion of class tasks. Students will be given a D&T folder to store and transport their classwork and homework to and from school. Students are encouraged read around the subject area to support their understanding and development of subject specific vocabulary.

What can parents do to help?

Ask your child to explain the meaning of the subject vocabulary that is new to each module
Encourage your child to discuss what they have learnt each week as they are looking through their D&T folder
Look out for articles in newspapers or television and discuss them with your child

Useful resources and equipment:

Ruler, colouring pencils, HB pencil, rubber, sharpener and compass
Computer is useful for research tasks and presentation, but not essential

Years 10 and 11

AQA Art and Design, Graphics

Students will begin by broadening their skills base, by developing and experimenting with their use of media and its application.

Students will begin their course by having an introduction into their project and exploring the objectives which they are assessed against. Their first project is the ‘Magazine project’ where they will be recreating a magazine cover, showing influences of their chosen artists.

The Year 10 coursework is based on developing, practising and evidencing skills by enhancing the students drawing, photography and design skills. During this year students specifically learn to address the exam criteria in detail, they will explore the use of photography to enhance their designs and gain an awareness of a broad range of media.

The second module of work is the ‘Sea themed project’ where students will be designing and creating, a piece of packaging and a logo for a shop by the coast. They will carry out research tasks, product analysis, take their own photography to use as their recording, show a broad range of development for logo designs and produce a final 3d product.

The third unit is their ‘Exam project’ which is given to year 11 students in January. This exam paper will contain a range of headings and students will need to select one which they will base their unit of work on. Students will have approximately 14 weeks to create an independently driven exam portfolio. The final assessment is conducted over two days under controlled conditions and is where the students add the finishing touches to their folder or create their final outcome which has been realised through their exam portfolio.

96 marks available
24 marks for each objective, three of which are partially completed before the final 10 hours.

Over the course of the two years students will develop a whole range of creative designing and making skills, technical knowledge and understanding relating to graphic products and invaluable transferable skills such as problem solving and time management.

Activities:

By studying the work of other artists, designers and photographers, students use a variety of materials and processes including drawing, painting, collage, printing, ICT, NET design and photography.

How are we assessed?

Classwork and home learning is assessed throughout the graphics course and will form the coursework portfolio. Students will be given success criteria and GCSE grade descriptors linked to the work. For each segment of work students will be given a GCSE grade, which enables their progress to be monitored. The assessments may be carried out in lessons or set as home learning.

AQA examination board

60% coursework projects

2 major projects completed during Year 10 and Year 11

40% Exam

The course is marked out of 96, 24 marks for each objective.

Exam preparation starts in January of Year 11, the exam is completed over 10 hours on two days in April/May

Controlled assessment (GCSE)

Coursework: Worth 60% of overall qualification:

Students have approximately 40 hours to complete the coursework under controlled conditions. This will equate to about two full terms of curriculum time, but planned within single and double lessons on a flexible basis.

Students must complete the following:

Coursework projects must be submitted in A3 format.
The coursework will start with a design brief that fits with the AQA guidelines.
The coursework portfolio will include all preparation work and final outcomes for their chosen topic.

Students will complete 4 objectives in full which will provide the examiner with the evidence as to how they realised their final outcomes. Each objective is worth 25%.

Objective 1 - Contextual studies - Looking at the work of others to include a contemporary graphics designers/ artists and Photographers.

Objective 2 - Design development and exploration of media.

Objective 3 - Recording using a variety of media to include drawing, painting and photography.

Objective 4 - Final making can include:

banner designs, poster design

web page designs, wall art

illustrations for books, packaging,

promotional material, textiles and fashion design

Magazine design.

Examination (GCSE)

Worth 40% of overall qualification

How are we grouped?

Students are in mixed ability groups in Graphics. The maximum class size is 24.

What home learning are we expected to do?

There will be at least one home learning task set per week, which should take around 45 minutes to complete. This will include research activities, work sheets, design and development work, evaluation of practical work and project-based activities.

What can parents do to help?

Ask your child to explain the meaning of the scientific vocabulary that is new to each topic.
Encourage your child to discuss what they have learnt each week as they are looking through their D&T folder.
Look out for articles in newspapers or television and discuss them with your child.

Useful resources and equipment:

Paints, including acrylic and water colours.
Some quality pencil crayons and pencils.
A camera.
A3 flip folders and A2 storage folder.
Access to a computer is desirable, but it is possible to use the ICT suite or graphics room at school during lunchtime.