⏰ Do Now — Start Here
Do you think today's designers are more like the Swiss Style (clean, gridded) or more like punk (rebellious, DIY)? Give an example you've actually seen.
Why history, in a design class
Every principle we use today -- grids, minimalism, bold color, expressive type -- was invented by someone responding to their own moment in history. Knowing where a technique came from helps you use it on purpose instead of by accident.
🎯 Today's Big Question
- How did designers in the 1960s-70s deliberately break the rules of the Swiss Style, and where is design headed now?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Identify visual traits of psychedelic design (distorted type, vibrant clashing color) and punk design (photocopier collage, ransom-note lettering).
- Explain design as a reaction: each movement often responds to (or rebels against) the one before it.
- Identify at least 2 current design trends (e.g. minimalism, brutalist web design, bold maximalism, AI-assisted design, motion/interactive design) and connect each to an earlier movement it echoes or reacts against.
🧰 What You'll Need
- Printed/projected examples for the movement
- Drawing/collage paper
- Pencils, scissors, glue, markers
📋 Your Plan for Today
Day 1: History & Analysis
- Do Now (5 min).
- Mini-lesson (15 min): the movement's historical context and visual traits.
- Guided analysis (10 min): as a class, annotate one real example together, identifying specific techniques.
- Independent analysis (15 min): annotate 2 more real examples on your own, identifying specific techniques.
Day 2: Applied Studio
- Do Now (5 min): name 2 visual traits of yesterday's movement.
- Studio time (30 min): create a small paper (or digital, if already introduced) composition deliberately imitating the movement's style.
- Written connection (10 min): write 2-3 sentences connecting a technique from that era to something you could use in your own client work.
📚 Key Words
- Psychedelic Design
- A 1960s style (often concert posters) using distorted, hard-to-read type and vibrating color to mirror the counterculture's rejection of mainstream norms.
- Punk / DIY Aesthetic
- A 1970s style built from cut-up letters, photocopiers, and intentional roughness, rejecting polished 'professional' design.
- Design Trend
- A widely-adopted style or technique currently popular in the field, always evolving.
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Annotated examples + studio piece scored with a rubric: accurate identification of the movement's traits, and a genuine, specific connection made to modern/personal design work.
Exit Ticket: Name one specific technique from today's movement you could actually use in a future project.
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🎓 ACP Exam Prep
This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry
🔗 Want to Learn More?
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: The counterculture movements themselves are straight 1960s-70s US History/Social Studies.
Career Connection: Trend awareness is a daily, real skill in Fashion Design and Advertising & Marketing.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Design a punk-style flyer for a real school event, deliberately breaking one Swiss Style rule from the previous lesson on purpose. Start here: reread last lesson's Swiss Style rules and write down the one rule you're breaking before you design anything.
- Research and illustrate a poster tracking one design trend's evolution from the 1960s to today. Start here: pick one specific artifact for each decade — an album cover, an ad — before you lay out the poster's timeline.