Oftentimes, students and teachers alike get caught up in the visual arts; painting, drawing, and sketching often are the focal points of many aspiring creatives. However, the media arts are an integral part of the KO Arts community as well.
Media arts teacher Greg Scranton leads a fascinating semester class focused on graphic design. With a focus on media intake and visual communication design using a hands-on approach, this class is a must-take for those who lean toward digital creation. But, what exactly is the graphic design class and, furthermore, what is graphic design? According to the KO course of study, in graphic design, students learn how to craft graphics, design for clients, and edit images with high quality editing software, along with additional themes of color theory, typography, and more. Essentially, it’s a class that covers useful media skills that students will use beyond their time at KO in a fun and engaging environment. This high-tech vocabulary and the many different branches of graphic design boil down to simply the craft of creating visual content.
Mr. Scranton describes the class in a way that engages students and explains graphic design. “Anything that is graphical, anything that has been designed, you take those two words, [that is graphic design]” Mr. Scranton said.
Although often going unnoticed, graphic design is all around us. “Today, in the 21st century, we use computers, but a lot of time graphic design is done by hand: drafters, painters, drawers, and collage artists,” Mr. Scranton said. Simple designs around us are all components of this broad concept of graphic design. “It’s the intentional design of anything that’s visual,” he said. “The special thing about graphic design is the sense of story behind it.”
Take for example, the Apple logo. A well-known brand and a symbol that you’d recognize is an outcome of graphic design with a story behind it. “There’s a lot of history behind the idea of what the Apple logo is,” Mr. Scranton said. “The designer will say, ‘Let’s think about this… what are computers made of,’ and they are made of bytes. So, he drew the design with a bite out of the apple.” Furthermore, graphic design is not only a fascinating art form but a storytelling mechanism as well.
Students in this class can expect to learn how to use different kinds of applications, like Photoshop, Canva, and other programs to design pictures, logos, or patterns for different purposes. Sophomore Frank Pu, who is taking graphic design this semester, describes his favorite parts about the class. “Mr. Scranton allows us to use our own imagination, to create what we want to create, but also give us indication of what we should work on,” Frank said.
For students who want to hone their creativity and work collaboratively with others, taking the graphic design class is essential. “I recommend all the students in KO take this class because there is no threshold for it,” Frank said. “It’s fun, and it’s just a really light atmosphere!”
