TES online resource reviews.

The TES online resource service is a fantastic place to pick up some new and exciting ideas but also somewhere that you can find entire schemes of work, free of charge at the click of a button. We are not talking about your average topics of study here, we have superbly put together projects which are challenging, engaging, presented to an extremely high standard and are both current and relevant. With this in mind I have decided to include, on a regular basis, a review of those resources I have found the most interesting. After reading the review why not log onto www.tes.co.uk and go to the resource section on the site and head for Design Technology.

Spencer Herbert

TES Design Technology Advisor

Introduction to Branding

A quick and easy way to get pupils thinking about brands and branding, aimed primarily at KS3 but could quite  easily be extended for application in KS4 lessons.

• What is it? – It is a resource that contains a PowerPoint with an accompanying worksheet. It has had some 10,000 views with over 9000 downloads, so it is fair to say it has been trialled by a number of you. The resource kicks off with some brief lesson objectives, very useful for your planning and moves swiftly onto a timed activity. The pupils are given five minutes to simply identify the logos and brands they see on the screen. Really good starter I feel, because it sets the context and tone without as much as a word from the teacher. Furthermore promotes a level of familiarity within the students and no doubt illustrates that they know more about the topic than they may have first thought. The lesson then looks at colours in branding and its associated uses, followed by a really clever piece where students are once again timed but now have to identify brands by just using the colour bars provided. We move on to how colours may be used to promote luxury and how they can typify economy or budget items. Colour is also linked to “natural” and “fun”.  The lesson moves onto to a brief explanation with examples of ambient and stunt media/ guerrilla marketing with focussed and timed tasks. 
• How could it be used? – Judging by the number of downloads, it seems most of you would be better placed to make the call on how it could be used. However after using this resource a couple of times myself, I must say how very easy and quick it is to implement in a real classroom. You do not need any real depth of graphics or media knowledge to deliver and to be fair the learning is student led. Preparation is minimal and the lesson runs in a logical fashion so it is hard to trip up. Most of my students found the task good fun and engagement was high throughout. The second time I ran the lesson I decided to produce my own colour bars, I found the examples on the PowerPoint really useful for my higher ability Yr8 students but my Yr7’s struggled. I simply found the purple and white nearest to Cadbury’s and the red and white of Coca Cola and printed them separately but also had a dairy milk and can of coke at hand just in case they needed a prompt, well that was my excuse anyway. I also decided to run this lesson with my Yr9 students and introduced an extension to the stunt media section, using Banksy the East London graffiti artist. This style of media was and still is relevant and is evident in various music videos and also adverts. I focussed on some of the social and moral messages portrayed in Banksy’s artwork and also introduced them to a number of more underground artists such as D Face who uses a similar media. 
• How have you used this resource? – I found this resource very useful and have used it as a base, something I can extend from. I only have my KS3 students once a week and for 50 minutes at a time and in some cases have found it difficult to run the whole unit as supplied. However, when I introduce this item again I will no doubt incorporate my own ideas and additions and run it over two or even three lessons. Do not just take my word for it, read some of the reviews given for this great resource.
• Uploaded by littlemissraw

GoodForm in association with AccessFm.com

Goodform has initially been developed for teaching staff, with the aim of creating one application form for all schools & councils.

AccessFm in association with SRD Design Consultants

Any day now and we will be ready to launch the all new “Product Design Handbook” written and put together by SRD Design consultants, sponsored by and in association with www.accessfm.com. This brand new publication is squarely aimed at the Post 16 market and would ideally suit students studying A Level Design Technology, no matter which course or exam board. It also applies to Degree level students enrolled on Design courses. The book will contain a plethora of tips, techniques and hints and also help with project layouts and presentations. Its something I think will be of great use to students and staff alike. Keep a look out and you should be able to pick yourself up a copy, right here on www.accessfm.com

Cheeky Feature on “Fixies”

Bit of a passion of mine, cycling and in particular, Fixed Gear bikes or “Fixies”. The fixie culture seems to have made its way firmly into our “cool” media culture and if you look closely, the bikes and associated imagery are omnipresent in a number of TV adverts trying to sell us bland products that are “so” cool, if only by association. Sorry for all the exclamation “marks”. However this culture can also be used in the classroom, incorporated into a graphics project or you could even think about branding when linked to a specific textiles topic. Why not have a KS3 focused task where the students design the logo’s to go on a new tri spoke or disc wheel or even a lunch box, the food type, for an uber cool inner city cycle messenger. Its influences like this that spice things up a bit as we most definitely do not always need to be lead by what the exam boards think. Publications such as the Bike Snob NYC  and Fixed are good fun, but a general search on google will throw up organisations such a MASH San Francisco and my personal favourite Dave’s Quality Meats…. A shop set up in NYC in an old butchers shop, the company is linked with ZOO York but most importantly 4 years ago designed some of the most fantastic bikes based on old school bmxs, superb!!