What’s it about?
Over the past five years I have tried to improve the inspiration behind pupils’ design ideas, writes Andrew Millicheap. As a designer, the space I work in has to be inspiring, so I surround myself with images and objects that I find interesting and unusual. Most design studios will have areas for designers to pin up pictures that help fire their imaginations.
Inspire your pupils
It can be difficult to find a dedicated space for such a resource in workshops, as walls are normally filled with safety notices, school rules and pupils’ work. My solution has been “the door of inspiration”.
Taking it further
First, I had to choose a door that was not a main thoroughfare. My storeroom door was ideal. I covered it with a pinboard and stapled brown paper to it. I told pupils the door was a growing and fluid resource to which they could add their own pictures. One pupil took a photograph on the way to school of frost on a leaf, printed it out in my lesson and added it to the door. When another pupil was short of ideas, we ended up drawing on the brown paper as an idea started to form. This has continued and it helps to get the pupils out of the seats, away from the blank sheet of white paper. It also gives an insight into how many designers work in the real world.
Be inspired
Are you looking for inspiration for exciting graphics project ideas? You will find tried and tested ones on the TES forums. We also have a similar discussion where teachers share their favourite textile project ideas. For more information, visit www.tes.co.ukforums.
