Embedded Files
Y9 Digital Media – Option A
Teacher note
Teacher note
Programme: Unit Digital Media 3A, 10–12 lessons, taught instead of 3B Audio Advert.
Possible outcomes are an editable master plus one small digital icon, sticker or print-ready mock-up.
Software: Affinity, Inkscape or another vector editor, depending on device checks.
Vector Graphics
Vector Graphics
How do you turn a simple shape into a character with a story to tell?
Start with a circle, a square or a rectangle. Add a personality, an expression and one distinctive feature. Will yours be an adventurous owl, a clumsy robot or something nobody has imagined yet?
You'll sketch ideas, write a short story and bring your character to life using vector graphics. Then you'll take it further: turn it into a sticker, an app icon, a pixel-art version, a comic strip or a GIF.
Your challenge
Your challenge
Design an original character for a chosen audience and purpose. Begin with a circle, square or rectangle, then use expression, colour and a distinctive feature to communicate its personality.
You will create
Initial ideas and one final design
A short character story (about 100 words)
An editable vector character (your master file)
One adaptation of your character, supported by testing and refinement
Why vector?
A vector graphic is made from shapes and maths, not pixels. That means you can make it as big as a billboard or as small as an app icon and it stays sharp. It also stays editable, so you can change a colour or an eyebrow in seconds.
Getting started
Getting started
Make a folder called Character Project in your Drive (or on your device).
Make a copy of the Character Project Slides template and save it in that folder or access it via your LMS (e.g. g.classroom, schoology)
Keep everything in that folder: sketches, screenshots, feedback, your vector file and your exports.
Back up your work at the end of every lesson.
Work through the stages in order. Start with Our Process, then click 1. Get to Know Your Tools. You can always go back to an earlier stage if testing or feedback shows you need to change something. Good designers do this all the time.
How each stage works
How each stage works
[insert i do we do you do ]
Work through the stages in order. Start with Our Process, then click 1. Get to Know Your Tools. You can always go back to an earlier stage if testing or feedback shows you need to change something. Good designers do this all the time.
Tē tōia, tē haumatia
Nothing can be achieved without a plan, a workforce and a way of doing things.
DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESS
DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESS
Your Character Project Slides is where you show your thinking. Each stage of this project has a matching slide. Add photos of sketches, screenshots of your vector, the feedback you got and what you changed because of it.
THE PROCESS USING THE DESIGN FRAMEWORK
THE PROCESS USING THE DESIGN FRAMEWORK
Getting started
Our Process
See a worked example from first idea to final application. You'll see what happens at each stage and how feedback influences decisions.
1. Get to Know Your Tools
Complete a small guided build using the essential vector tools before designing an original character.
Purpose
Understand the challenge
2. Define, Explore & Plan
Establish audience and purpose, explore examples, and identify what a successful outcome needs to do.
Ideation
Explore and develop possibilities
3. Generate Ideas
Use subject + personality + distinctive feature to sketch different possibilities.
4. Finalise Your Character Design
Produce a rendered, annotated final design that someone else could use to make your character. Identify construction shapes, explain key choices and include its short story.”
Refine
Build, test and improve
5. Create Your Vector
Build an organised, editable character using appropriate tools and techniques.
6. Test & Refine
Check the character against its purpose and requirements; make and explain improvements.
7. Adapt Your Character
Create and test one application of your character. Make deliberate decisions about size, format and presentation.
Realise
Prepare and share your outcome
8. Present & Reflect
Prepare your final files for sharing, acknowledge sources and explain how well your outcome meets its audience’s needs and purpose.
Revisit earlier stages whenever testing, feedback or new learning suggests a change.
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