Beginning Design Day 1

To introduce your beginning classes to design, assign them to bring in a magazine that appeals to them OR if you have a stockpile of magazines, have them select one from your library.  Have them look through the pages and choose three pages that "look" good.  Do this at the beginning of the instruction.

Then, begin with a basic introduction to the elements of design.  Show them examples of how each element is used to create a page design.  Apply each element to the samples they selected from their magazine.  After the basic instruction on design elements, have them critique the pages they selected.

This is a simple activity to get the creative design juices flowing, but more importantly, it gets the students looking at magazines in a whole other way.  Content becomes an afterthought...now they are choosing designs based on their knowledge of design elements.