Wednesday, August 11, 2010

the third teacher







when i got an email at the start of the summer from the amazing living classrooms about a graphic design internship opportunity at a baltimore public school, i flipped. it was perfect timing. i had just gotten bruce mau's new book, the third teacher, and had bringing design into education on the brain. the internship involves a school named commodore john rodgers, a school that was deemed "failed" under no child left behind. and, on top of that, i just learned yesterday that i ranks 867 out of the 870 schools in maryland.

needless to say, they needed help. enter living classrooms. brought in as a "turn around specialist," they have fired every single teacher, torn down walls, picked bright new paint colors, put in new floors and lighting, gotten the community excited about the school's new image, and (i'm sure) more behind the scenes stuff that i'm not even aware of. what they've been tasked to do, on a relatively small budget, is incredible.

my interning partner in crime (and coincidentally new roommate) has already been busting his butt coming up with a logo, letterhead, t-shirts, posters, etc. as part of the big re-branding. and now that i'm back in baltimore, we're moving on to the part where you get your hands dirty... coming up with bold, text heavy mural designs for stairwells and picking our paint swatches.

school starts in three weeks. we have our work cut out for us. should be fun :)

as an addendum to the above, check out an old favorite of mine (publicolor) plus a new inspiration (paula scher's work with achievement first.)

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