Inside and outside in Graphic Communication
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can review the range of ways designers have been inspired by inside and outside.
Key learning points
- Designers can represent physical and psychological boundaries through interior and exterior spaces.
- Designers might use framing, perspective and scale to connect or separate inside and outside spaces.
- Designs can explore the relationship between personal, private spaces and wider, public or natural settings.
- Some graphic designers explore the boundary between external appearance and internal experience.
Keywords
Space - the area around, between and within objects. It can be physical, like a room, or it can be visual
Threshold - a point of change, a space between two different areas
Barrier - things that block, separate, or divide spaces, people, or ideas
Framing - how an artist chooses to surround or crop a subject in an artwork
Common misconception
"Inside" and "outside" in design always refers to physical spaces, like buildings or rooms.
In design, "inside" and "outside" can mean more than places — they can show how someone feels on the inside, how people hide emotions, or the contrast between personal and public life.
Teacher tip
Greater contextual information on the designer's work can be found in the additional materials. You may wish to alter the imagery to better fit your project themes.
Equipment
Access to the internet or a library of art books. Sketchbook or paper for recording ideas, pencils, pens.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.True or False: Photographers and designers often respond to a theme by researching and collecting visual references first.
Q2.Which of the following is not a theme a photographer might explore?
Q3.Match the approach to the description:
recording real-life events or situations
Focusing on shapes, textures, or patterns
Suggesting deeper meaning through objects or composition
Q4.True or False: A theme in photography always has only one correct way of being interpreted.
Q5.Why is it important for a photographer to understand the audience when responding to a theme?
Q6.Match the element of photography to what it can help express:
Mood and atmosphere
Emotional tone and symbolism
Balance, focus and meaning
To help you plan your 10 art and design lesson on: Inside and outside in Graphic Communication, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 art and design lesson on: Inside and outside in Graphic Communication, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 art and design lessons from the Themes within Graphic Communication unit, dive into the full secondary art and design curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.