[YDA 1- 2019] San Francisco — Week 2 — Communication Design

This past Saturday, the morning began with a quick exercise introducing the students to an example of communication design. As we waited for folks to enter the class, students created their own logos that represented themselves.

Once everyone settled in, we played a fun icebreaker to learn everyone’s names, called Animal Names. Each student chose an animal that started with the first letter of their name and combine it with their first name (ex: Ana the Ant). A person would start off holding a stuffed animal, say their animal name, then toss it to the next person. They would then have to repeat that name that was just shared, and follow up with their own name. This continued until everyone in the circle introduced themselves.

After learning names, Isabel and Chris did a quick recap of what happened last week. They reviewed the class values, the definition of design, the difference between art and design, and brought up examples of the four disciplines of design that will be explored throughout the program. The students then voted on the Community Challenge they wanted to work on, and the winning topic was “How might we improve the commute to school so that students can start their day off right?”

Students were asked what they thought communication design was, and responded with great guesses of “problem solving” and “expressing something visually”. Students then gained a deeper understanding through the history of communication design and four principles: type, image, color, and aesthetics. After the seminar, the students had the chance to apply what they just learned with an activity. They designed either a movie poster or book cover about another classmate, which was an exercise on interviewing skills, brainstorming, and designing within a time constraint.

After their lunch break, students came back to the main classroom to engage in an interactive Pictionary game, another way of interacting with communication design. Following three rounds of Pictionary, students then dived back into their Community Challenge — a real world problem that will be solved by students throughout the course applying what is learned in each different area of design. As a class, they voted on the challenge: “How might we improve the commute to school so that students can start their day off right?” This week they were able to design solutions through the lens of communication design. Some examples of solutions included a bus campaign to promote positive behavior as well as establishing a bus patrol system.

In the next class, students will learn about digital design and further dive into solving their Community Challenge through a new lens.