Designs exist to serve a purpose, or perform a function. This series of posts will improve your Design Project Management skills. With these pages from WAVE THE FLAG: Project Management with Mr. Lohmeyer’s Design Flags (2017), designers can find common ground here, in the brainstorming process.
Do you have a large project you’ve been hoping to tackle, but you're just not sure how to start?
Let’s use flag designs to walk through an entire project: your own! Follow along each Friday, by either downloading the blank flag image or creating the layout yourself. After 16 weeks, your project will be completed. In these blog posts, we will also see some examples of student use, from 8th graders who created a contest to find Whitby’s 60th Anniversary logo. Thanks again, and best of luck with your project! Here’s the first step….
A1 NEED: Raise Awareness.
I’ve always appreciated flag designs, but only recently did I realize that flag designs reveal the most effective ways to organize information. For this exercise we will use the flag design known as a Bend Division, and we’re talking about NEED. You need to make sure that everyone on the team known WHY you are creating this design. So, to identify the need, you will first explain it, then you will justify it. This sheet can be used to tackle the first stage of inquiring and analyzing.
You might think the reasons you're designing something are very obvious, but clearly explaining your reasons, with justification and the help of this flag, will come in handy during the design process, especially when looking for motivation! Using the Bend Division flag design — with the diagonal line going from the top left to the bottom right — can give you a new way to organize your thoughts on why you are designing something.
Use a Chisel Tip Sharpie to outline the flag, then a Fine Point Sharpie to write the headlines: Explain the Need, Justify the Need. With an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie, add facts, details, and reasons to the "Explain the Need" side. Then add evidence, examples, and proof on the "Justify the Need" side. Try to write one sentence to summarize your need to design this, starting with “I’m making this design because,” and remember to include justification.
After filling out the A1 NEED Design Flag, 8th Grader, Catelyn wrote:“Whitby’s Marketing Department needed a design for Whitby’s 60th Anniversary for all of the merchandise. They wanted to use a logo that is made by a student because this shows student engagement. It also shows others that Whitby is a good environment to be in, because students are helping the school. We need logo entries to come in from students, and people to vote on a Facebook poll. Then we will see who is going to win!”
Thanks again for checking out A1 NEED: Raise Awareness. Next up, A2 RESEARCH: Find your adventure, using a flag design with vertical stripes, called Pales. See you then!
