- Year 10
Portraits and figures in Graphic Communication
I can explore and analyse how designers use portraits and figures, and begin creating my own design that communicates personal meaning through stylisation.
- Year 10
Portraits and figures in Graphic Communication
I can explore and analyse how designers use portraits and figures, and begin creating my own design that communicates personal meaning through stylisation.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Portraits and figures can be powerful tools in graphic design to express messages, emotion, or identity.
- Graphic designers often stylise figures to enhance meaning and create a signature visual style.
- Deconstructing design helps us understand how the elements of art contribute to visual impact.
- Personal identity can inform meaningful visual design choices.
Keywords
Portraiture - artwork that represents a person’s likeness, often focusing on the face and expression
Identity - the qualities, beliefs, personality, or expressions that make a person or group unique, often reflected in art
Stylisation - the deliberate simplification or exaggeration of visual elements in an artwork to create a distinctive or expressive effect
Visual language - the combination of design elements (line, shape, colour, etc.) used to communicate ideas visually
Deconstruction - the process of breaking down an artwork into its basic components for analysis
Common misconception
Portraits in graphic design must look realistic to be effective.
Graphic design often relies on abstraction and stylisation to communicate more clearly and powerfully than realism - effective portraits use design choices to enhance meaning, not replicate reality.
To help you plan your year 10 art and design lesson on: Portraits and figures in Graphic Communication, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 art and design lesson on: Portraits and figures 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.
Equipment
Tracing paper, mirrors or cameras. Pencils, fine liners, coloured pencils, marker pens). Access to digital tools and design software if available.
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
