SCRIPTA Cover!

 Hey all,

 SCRIPTA reached out and would like us to design their cover this year! Designs are due April 17. More info coming soon!

 

Looking Ahead: Minimalist Movie Posters

MOVIE POSTERS

MOVIE POSTERS

Consider...

MOVIES
- Old and New
- Scene/Moment/Fixture

DESIGN
- Graphic
- Flat
- Color/Tone
- Minimal
- Limited Info
- Simple

Holland Farmers Market: 2026 Poster Design Contest

 

2026 Holland Farmers Market Poster Contest: 

https://downtownholland.wufoo.com/forms/2026-holland-farmers-market-poster-design-contest

 

2026 Holland Farmers Market Poster Design Contest

The Holland Farmers Market is excited to announce the return of our annual Poster Design Contest! We're excited to select another incredible poster this year...designed by YOU! Whether you're young or old, an amateur artist or a professional, you're invited to submit a poster design!

The winning artwork will be chosen by the Holland Farmers Market staff and our sponsor, Fris Supply Shop, and will be printed on posters, tote bags, stickers, mugs, and magnets. The merchandise will be available for purchase at the Holland Farmers Market later this summer. Proceeds from merchandise purchases will benefit programming at the Holland Farmers Market.

Design Requirements:
• Must be your original artwork.
• Must include the Holland Farmers Market logo. The logo can be downloaded here.
• Must include the Fris Supply Shop logo. The logo can be downloaded here.
• Artwork must 12" wide x 18" high at 300 dpi.
• File requirements: A vector file is preferred. We will also accept a JPG, PDF, PNG, or PSD file.
• May include artist's name or signature.
• Must include the following information:

Holland Farmers Market
150 West 8th Street | Downtown Holland
www.hollandfarmersmarket.com
Wednesdays and Saturdays 8am - 2pm

Artwork should reflect the mission of the Holland Farmers Market, which is to connect the surrounding community with high-quality local food while supporting the livelihoods of our farmers and vendors. The Market also aims to educate the community on the local food system, while making healthy food accessible for all in a welcoming atmosphere. If you are including produce or goods in your artwork, remember to only include Michigan grown and made goods that you would find at the Market!

Artwork submissions will be accepted through Friday, April 3. A $10 entry fee is required and must be paid online via credit card after you submit this form. Entry fees are non-refundable. Artists may submit up to three (3) designs for the $10 entry fee. Students currently enrolled in a graphic arts program at the high school or college level may submit one (1) entry for free.

The winner of the Poster Design Contest will receive a $500 cash prize, a gift card to Fris Supply Shop, and complimentary merchandise featuring their winning design. A second place "People's Choice" design will be chosen through votes on the Holland Farmers Market Facebook page. The second place winner will receive $100 in Market Bucks (gift certificates to the Holland Farmers Market) and a gift card to Fris Supply Shop.

The winning design and artwork files will remain the property of the Holland Farmers Market and may be used for other promotional purposes by the Market. Designers must be 16 years or older and be a current resident of the State of Michigan. Anyone under the age of 18 must have parental consent to participate in the contest as indicated below.

If you have questions regarding the Poster Design Contest or would like to submit your design file via email or file transfer, please contact Alayna Cook at a.cook@cityofholland.com or at 616.796.1210. A big thank you to our Poster Design Contest sponsor Fris Supply Shop!

 

How'd they do that? (Tuesday 3/10)

Hey all,

Have you ever seen a cool design and thought, how'd they do that? 

I am convinced that with our knowledge of Photoshop, we can start to identify the tools used to create pretty detailed designs. Take for example the above poster from the University of Missouri:

Football players are cutout (lasso tool), black and white with a transparency that allows the yellow background to show through (image>adjustments>desaturate, layer>multiply). There are shadows (drop shadow) and other effects we can describe...

Our next assignment will be to find some digital imagery that you really respond to (aka that you really like!) and try to recreate it in your own way - by identifying tools used and recreating your own version...

 So today in class, find a design you like (poster, social media post, etc) and make your own version using it as inspiration. (Your own version should not be the same subject matter. For example, you could use the above Missouri football poster and create one similar but using HC football players - do not make another Missouri football poster, make sense?) 

Tuesday (3/3)

Hey all! 
Here are your instructions for today's class... 

 1. Finish your "Team/Event Informational Poster". Be sure to make the necessary adjustments incorperating the Design Principles we learned last week: 

- Proximity

-  Alignment

- Repetition

- Contrast

 2. Create another poster of your choice with Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast on full display. The Design Principles should be obvious in your work. Here are some ideas for posters if you are having trouble coming up with an idea on your own:

Boys Swimming (Lakeshore Conference Champs)

 Boys Basketball (District Champs)

Spring Sports

Check out the announcements for poster ideas! 

Special Olympics Michigan Polar Plunge!! Be BOLD and Get COLD for the Special Olympics Michigan and our HCHS Unified Sports Program on Wednesday, March 11. Join the HCHS Student Team at Student Registration or the HCS Staff Team at Staff Registration. Email Mrs. Pawloski at apawloski@hollandchristian.org if you have any questions. Go Maroons!

Trap Shooting Club - It's not too late to sign up for the trap shooting club! League registration is open until March 23rd at a cost of $40 for the spring season. The club is open to everyone (girls and guys) in the 9th to 12th grades. We shoot on Tuesday evenings starting at 5:00 beginning in the middle of March through the end of May. No shooting experience required, however you must have access to a 12- or 20-gauge shotgun. A hunter's safety certificate is required. If you are interested contact Scott Spykerman, sspykerman@live.com, (616) 610-9022. 

Living Hope Showcase 2026: Vintage Vibes: Groovy Songs of the '70's on March 13 and 14 @ 7 pm in the HCHS Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now! Join us in celebrating the iconic songs of the '70's. From Disco to Rock, Folk to Funk, Showcase will be a groovy time! Tickets are available at  https://hcs.ludus.com/200517255. $1 of every ticket will benefit the Community Action House.  

The first Bass Club Meeting will be this Tuesday, March 3 from 6:30-8:00pm in the Middle School Media Center.
Meeting Dates for the season are as follows:
Tuesday, March 3
Thursday, March 19
Tuesday, March 31
Thursday, April 16 and 30
Contact Brent Leegwater: Brent.infocus@rocketmail.com or Alec Boeve: Alec.boeve1219@icloud.com with questions.

Spring Show: Wait Until Dark Auditions - Our 2026 Spring Show is Wait Until Dark, a suspenseful thriller about a recently blinded woman living in an apartment who becomes the target of men pretending to be harmless visitors. As their strange behavior escalates, she realizes she’s in danger and must rely on her intelligence and awareness to protect herself.
Spring Show auditions are this Tuesday, March 3, with Callbacks on Wednesday, March 4.
To sign up for General Auditions, please follow this link. To apply to be on a Crew for the Spring Show, please apply using this link. For more information and resources, please visit the Wait Until Dark Google Classroom.   

Team/Event Informational Poster

Collect

- Pictures
- Dates
- Roster or Cast

Resources

- hollandchristian.org
- hollandchristian.org/athletics
- http://hollandchristian.smugmug.com/browse 

Comic Sans

Comic Sans and Impact

SNL "Papyrus!"

Type Posters

Find an event happening at school...

Some ideas:

Spring Play 

District Basketball Tournament

Swimming and Diving Event

MIFA

Student Council (Blood Drive, Spirit Week, House Olympics)

Club (Student Diversity Council, Robotics)

Include info...

Date, Time, Location, Tag Line

Using ONLY type, make an interesting and engaging promotional poster!

Here is one I made for the counselors...

 

Sculptural Typeface Example

Hey all!

Chances are you will need a few more days on your digital and handwritten typefaces, but I wanted to introduce the sculptural typeface. You will have to collect objects to arrange as your letters. It might be a good idea to set this up at home, photograph it, and then upload it to the computers at school. Come prepared to keep working and make good use of your time in class!

Above is a GREAT example of a sculptural typeface created by a student from last year! Using only books and balance, they came up with this amazing number 8!

With concerns to presentation of your sculpture typeface, you might want to consider clipping or cutting. To do this, you would use the lasso tool. Here is a quick tutorial you can watch with headphones on:

Depending on how your photographs turned out, it might give your typeface a cleaner, more professional look.

Digital Typefaces

 

1. https://fontstruct.com/

This is a website that allows you to create your own fonts and typefaces!

2. https://www.1001freefonts.com/

Spend some time exploring this site - search different fonts and find some that you like!

3. Rasterizing Type in Photoshop:

Type a letter in Photoshop. On the type Layer, double click and scroll down to "Rasterize Type".

Rasterizing the type will turn the letter into an object you can edit:

Try the eraser tool, lasso tool, and others to change the letter and make your own version!

ABC123 Handwritten Example

Here's the final product! Below are the images I started with...

After taking these pictures on my phone, I e-mailed/air dropped them to myself and opened them in photoshop. From there, my first step was to desaturate the image. That means it was made completely black and white. To do that, go to:

Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

From here, it is time to make the background white and darken our drawn lines. To do this, go to

Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast

and play around with both the brightness and contrast.

Now it's time to color the image! Use brushes and paintbucket to finish the job!

If you worked on your letters or numbers separately, be sure to copy and paste them all together, in the appropriate order and layout.

And here is my final...

ABC123 Project

Hey all!

For our next project we will be designing our own typefaces! You will be designing a...

- Digital Typeface (think FontStruct or rasterizing type in Photoshop) 

 

- Handwritten Typeface (You will be drawing on paper!)

- Sculptural Typeface (Build it in 3D!)

To start - pick a set of three consecutive letters and three consecutive numbers. Example:

Aa Bb Cc

123

These will be the numbers and letters you design for all three of your approaches. You must do both uppercase and lowercase for your 3 letters. Also, your layout must be letters centered over numbers:

 

 Throughout the project, I will show you different examples and ways to go about designing. This is a big project to take on! Can't wait to see what we come up with!

- Slenk

Compositions

Compositions:

- Using only one letter or one number create an entire composition
- Use any typeface (take some time to explore multiple typefaces and consider if you would like to work with type that is more geometric or more organic)
- Compositions are to be only black and white
- Consider the elements and principles of design.

Emphasis (Where is the focal point?)
Line (Visual line. What path does your eye travel?)
Proportion and Scale (Size relationships)
Rhythm and Repetition
Shape (Positive & Negative, Figure/Ground)
Space (Foreground, Middle ground, Background)
Unity and Variety

- 2 compositions will be turned in...

Compositions- Past Student Examples

Helvetica #Letter

Things to consider when working on your #Letter

- Experiment with uppercase/lowercase
- Use a variety of regular/light/bold type
- Consider your use of Negative Space or Figure/Ground relationship

- Focus on combinations/transitions. Are they seamless?
- Pay attention to cropping/framing

Helvetica #Letter

Class project. Using only Helvetica type create 10 different combinations of one letter + one number...

Graphic Design

1st Graphic Design blog entry

As we start this year together, what are some of your expectations for a class named Graphic Design? Another way to think about this question might be to simply ask

What is Graphic Design?

What are some of the different aspects or elements of Graphic Design? Where do you see it in the world? And what designs influence you? (style, brands, art, etc... Provide pictures for this part please. Below are some of my influences)

Please take some time to give some thoughtful feedback to the questions above in your 1st blog entry