This is a brief and easygoing activity created to help design students understand that words and concepts have an inherent visual language: what colors are “happy”? // how do you place things on a page so that it is “scary”? // what does “thankful” look like?
I wrote an adjective on the back of individual pieces of 8.5’’ x 11” paper, and each student picked one, not knowing their adjective ahead of time. Using old magazines, glue sticks, and cutting utensils, they completed a collage that represented their adjective. Next, students pinned their collages to the board, critiqued them, and decided as a class which collage represented the given adjective the best. Student-made examples are featured below:
I wrote an adjective on the back of individual pieces of 8.5’’ x 11” paper, and each student picked one, not knowing their adjective ahead of time. Using old magazines, glue sticks, and cutting utensils, they completed a collage that represented their adjective. Next, students pinned their collages to the board, critiqued them, and decided as a class which collage represented the given adjective the best. Student-made examples are featured below:
active
kind
silly
After the first round of the collage exercise is completed and critiqued, the students then cut their collage in half and pair it with another classmate’s collage. While doing this, they were asked: Which pieces work together visually? What relationships, contexts, or contrasts can be observed through two adjectives coming together?
aggressive
colossal
