After reaching the Stanley Cup final in 2007 and many successful seasons, 2011-12 was a rebuilding year for the author's NHL team, the Ottawa Senators. It occurred to him that it might be possible to stage an interactive presentation at Scotia Bank Place with his students. His idea was for students to each hold a segment of a large artwork that…

The author remembers as a youngster poring over DC and Marvel comics, wondering if any of his heroes would reach TV or movie theaters. Today, with the blue-screen techniques and computer-generated imagery (CGI), it seems not a week goes by without seeing one of these characters being featured in a film. "Spiderman" has even reached Broadway! None…

One of the things that many post-secondary graphic-design schools look for in student portfolios is one or two typography projects with hand-rendered type. At Merivale High School, junior graphic-design classes work with traditional media, and every year they receive an assignment that encourages them to play with letter forms. In this article,…

High-school students are a dominant force in the gaming industry, accounting for annual sales in the millions. Retailers devote large areas of commercial space to keep pace with this lucrative part of the entertainment business. Recognizing the popularity of this phenomenon with the younger generation, it proved an ideal vehicle to explore…

Cows have been a favorite subject for many artists, including Canadian artist Joe Fafard. In this article, grade 11 graphic-design students do a series of exercises in their sketchbooks using the cow motif. Each exercise was designed to have students move from traditional pictures of the dairy cow to more eclectic visual solutions. Eight…

This article describes an art project that gives students an opportunity to contribute to a very worthy cause. Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) encourages schools to participate in their annual fundraising campaign by submitting designs to their poster contest. Each year, this is assigned to the author's junior class art students. A…

For centuries, Swiss firms manufactured and sold precision watches and were the undisputed leaders in timekeeping. All this came to an abrupt end when, in the mid-1970s, the Japanese began to make reliable digital watches at a fraction of the cost of the expensive, labor-intensive Swiss product. In 1983, Switzerland answered with the introduction…

Every graphic design course has a unit of instruction that focuses on logo design. It is an interesting exercise to have students relate why they recognize certain trademarks or symbols. In this article, the author describes an assignment that examines logos. For this assignment, students were asked to make a visual inventory of at least five…