MS Design Showcase: Pushing Students' Creative Boundaries

Welcome to the 13th episode of WAB Podcast Season 5! In this episode, we are joined by three Middle School students: Veronica from Grade 8, Claude from Grade 7, and Jasmine from Grade 6, along with their design teachers, Andy Cole and Simon Furmston. Together, they discussed the Middle School Design Showcase, highlighting the unique features of their projects, the challenges they encountered throughout the process, and the skills they developed along the way. Join us as we explore their creative journeys. 

Simon introduced the purpose behind the Middle School Design Showcase, which served as a platform for students to exhibit their creations, receive feedback from peers, and share their work with parents. The design projects are intricate, involving the entire design cycle, from research and material selection to sketching designs, crafting test prototypes, making the final selection, and producing the project. From August to December, students worked on their projects, deserving recognition for their learning and perseverance. 

Andy highlighted that students are required to familiarize themselves with various software tools to successfully complete their projects. Grade 6 students, who were tasked with designing banknotes, were introduced to the Adobe suite. They usually start with Photoshop, emphasizing the importance of understanding layers. The banknote project allows students to explore the complicated details and security features in the 2D graphic that is a banknote. This project also allows students to identify and integrate key elements from their culture or existing designs into their final product. 

Grade 6 student Jasmine shared her journey of creating a digital banknote, starting with hand-drawing different layers on plastic and transferring them to Photoshop. After learning about the different security features of banknotes, she implemented these elements into her design. Jasmine also found organizing layers in Photoshop challenging, but she managed to arrange and label them effectively at the end.  

Claude, a Grade 7 student, detailed his project of designing rocket packaging for NASA. He expressed his enjoyment throughout the process, highlighting the creative freedom to choose any brand and logo for the packaging design. 

Veronica from Grade 8 crafted a hexagonal Bluetooth speaker, pushing her creative boundaries. She shared how she addressed the shape-related problem with the teacher's help and her difficulties in housing all the components within a compact design. Despite the hurdles, Veronica made a functional speaker, testing it with multiple devices and playing music on it. 

If you're interested in discovering more about WAB's exciting student activities and inspiring learning stories, be sure to tune into this episode.