1) Design Goal: To be hired as an elementary school teacher

2) Audience: Employers in the field of elementary education

3) Message: I am a natural when it comes to teaching fifth graders.

Assignment 9-4: Sharing your Poster/Sign Designs

by Christy Knutsonby Christy Knutson

First Design• With my first design I chose an image of apples because apples are

synonymous with teachers. Wanting to visually create the feeling of “unique”, I focused my message within the golden yellow apple, the unique one.

Next Design• I changed my image for this design. It all came about when I thought

about the feeling I wanted my targeted audience to have upon viewing my image. I wanted the audience to get a sense of my passion for teaching. I figured a good way to show that was to have students about a teach figure. I also envisioned the teacher pointing to a mountain, signifying that any one student could climb to the top; could achieve. This picture that I found in Flickr’s Creative Commons was closest to the image I saw in my mind.

Next Design• I changed text placement and worked with color scheme for this re-

design.

Next Design• This is a contrasting direction that I experimented with while mostly

focusing on changing type. However, you’ll notice that I changed everything else: image, placement and color. It certainly shifts the feel of this poster.

Next Design• The second in a series of three, this is another re-design I came up with

while experimenting with different type. I wanted the image to complement the different font that I used to experiment. I used this image of bamboo to accentuate the idea of “Natural”.

Next Design• Being the third in my series of redesigning font style, you’ll notice I

changed the image, both font types and the complete feel of my design. I chose the flower image because it gives the feeling of “Natural”, tying into my message. Although I had fun re-designing these three slides, I felt that the new images didn’t embody my message or meaning as well as a previous image. Where are the students? Where is the learning? So, I decided to go back to the image of the teacher and students on the mountain side.

Final Design• And, here is my final design. I mashed together elements from multiple

slides as it was a work in progress. I used the color scheme that I’d applied to a slide during our Color application week. I chose a shade of blue and yellow; yellow because it’s warm, happy and inviting and blue because it’s a triadic color of yellow (it’s also professional looking). I kept the diagonal placement of my message, “I am a Natural”, as it seems to become more of the image and less of simple text.

• Hopefully you’ll see my conscious attempts go alignment, proximity, contrast, repetition, unity, and style. Thanks for viewing! ~Christy