11th Grade — Design Trend Spotlight: Researching Today's Design World

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Name one design trend you've noticed recently (in apps, ads, or social media). What does it look like?

🎯 Today's Big Question

What design trends are shaping the field right now, and where might they lead next?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Research 2-3 current design trends in depth, collecting real visual examples.
Connect a current trend to a historical movement studied earlier in Unit B.
Present findings with visual examples to a small group.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer/internet access for research
Notes from Unit B (design history)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Researching Trends

Do Now (5 min, above).
Mini-lesson (10 min): quick recap of the "Counterculture to Today" trends lesson from Unit B.
Independent research (25 min): research 2-3 current trends in depth, collecting visual examples.
Organize (5 min): sort your examples by trend.

Day 2: Connecting & Presenting

Do Now (5 min): pick your strongest trend example.
Prepare (15 min): prepare a short visual presentation connecting a current trend to a historical movement from Unit B.
Present (20 min): share to small groups.
Discussion (5 min).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

Day 1

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

📚 Key Words

Design Trend: A widely-adopted style or technique currently popular in the field, always evolving.
Trend Forecasting: Predicting where a design trend is likely to go next, based on its origins and trajectory.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Presentation scored with a rubric: 2-3 real trend examples, a genuine and specific historical connection.

Exit Ticket: Name one current design trend and the historical movement you connected it to.

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week (e.g. every Friday, or your class's last meeting of the week), add your best finished or in-progress work to a running portfolio folder with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what skill or standard it shows. This becomes your formal Google Sites portfolio in Unit F -- keep it current all year so you're not scrambling right before your PBAT and portfolio review.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Design Trend Spotlight: Researching Today's Design World.” This project asked: “What design trends are shaping the field right now, and where might they lead next?” I used Design Trend by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry

🔗 Want to Learn More?

AIGA — Design History Archive

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same current-events research method a Social Studies or Journalism class uses for a news analysis assignment.

Career Connection: Trend research is exactly how a working Fashion Design or Advertising & Marketing professional stays employable.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Write a short trend-report article (real magazine-style writing) predicting where one design trend goes next. Start here: find three real, dated sources about the trend before you write a single sentence of your prediction.
Design a mood board translating one current trend into your own original style, not just copying it. Start here: pick one specific element of the trend — a color, a shape, a texture — and translate just that one thing before building the full board.