Art in Design

Students at Falcon High School are using their artistic talents to create graphic designs. 

For National Arts in Education Week, Sept. 7-13, District 49 is taking a look at how our students are participating in the arts.

Eric Canuel’s Graphic Design and Illustration classes teach students how to use programs like Photoshop and Illustrator to create, modify and produce images, graphics and illustrations.

The second year students are currently working on designs that might get used as the cover of the upcoming FHS year book. The theme? A deck of playing cards.

FHS teacher Eric Canuel and FHS Junior Elijah Diamanti

 

Canuel, who teaches both art and design classes, says there is a difference between the two.

“Art can be very much about expressing how you feel and putting something out there that truly represents yourself,” Canuel said. “Whereas with design you are often taking a very specific message and sharing that message with a large audience in the way they want the message, as opposed to the way you want it. You are representing a group of people with design. A lot of times, art just represents the artist.”

But with either medium, there is a learning curve. 

“Technique-wise they have to master their tool,” Canuel said. “Whether that is Photoshop or an actual paint brush, they have to get good at that tool.” 

He says design work can sometimes be creative problem solving. 

“When it comes to the creativity part, I try to let them know even though a customer thinks they want a certain thing, they came to you for a reason,” Canuel said. “You are the link between the idea and what they think they want. You have to put those two things together to come up with what they actually want.” 

For the yearbook project, each student is working off the same basic premise. But each student has come up with their own interpretation of what that might look like based on their imagination and skills as they create the symmetrical or geometric patterns on the playing deck. 

“It’s not design without art,” said FHS junior Phoenix Deal. He says he approached the yearbook cover in a more artistic way. 

FHS Junior Phoenix Deal

 

“If you look at old card boxes they are really complex with all the designs. That’s what I’m going for, trying to pack it out with different designs,” Deal said. “The design aspect is probably more important, because you can have a basic design that is not very artistic and it can still look good.” 

FHS junior Elijah Diamanti likes the fact he can turn on his favorite music and create on the computer. “I really enjoy it. But I like the art side more. Design is fun, but you get to be a whole lot more creative with art.” 

Third-year design student Rayne Munos is in the capstone design class. She created the graphic for the new automotive program at FHS. She is also taking two art classes, 3D and painting, this semester. 

“I feel like the art and design classes both obviously help each other, but I think my art classes help my design better. If I didn’t have them I would feel more pressure to not be as creative. I can imply my creative mind to my designs. In art classes there is less restriction or pressure to make something clear like in the design class,” she said. 

FHS Automotive class logo designed by Rayne Munos.

 

(Sorry, no spoilers or previews on their current yearbook project. We all have to wait to see what design is chosen.)

FHS’s Graphic Design and Illustration classes are part of the Career and Technical Education curriculum. As part of the class, students can also earn a professional Adobe Certification in Photoshop or Illustrator which help them get a job in brand marketing, digital media, or several other creative design industries. 

National Arts in Education Week is a nationwide celebration of the impact of arts in education, highlighting its benefits for creativity, critical thinking, and academic success.