• CTE (Career Technical Education) at EHS:2 Graphic Design

Is your child creative? Do they love to draw, sketch or even doodle? They don't have to want to pursue a career in graphic design to be part of this course, but... if they do... BINGO, they've struck gold.

This is no light weight elective 
Industry standard Adobe CC software is taught. Primarily Illustrator, but InDesign, PhotoShop and LightRoom are also part of the course. 

All skill and interest levels are taught in the various levels of Graphic Design.

I spoke with instructor Mr. Reed Steiner a bit about the differences between PhotoShop (something I use everyday) and Adobe Illustrator (something I've never been able to get comfortable with).  

"Usually when I teach [graphic design] I start with Illustrator, because if I do it the other way around, people hate it. So I teach Illustrator first and that tends to keep people more interested in it."

- Reed Steiner

I needed to be in Mr. Steiner's class about 10 years ago... ☺

Graphic Design tackles many different projects

Beginning classes focus on learning the principles and elements like might be taught in a drawing and painting class, and getting their feet wet with the software.

They do about twenty projects throughout the year. Things like photo collages in PhotoShop, posters for concerts, animated GIFs, with the final project for Graphic Design 1 being a video. 

Looks legit to me.

The second level class focuses more on industry type projects

Examples include: beverage labeling, advertisements, book covers and the like. The students will also bring in objects to photograph in EHS's studio to create original artwork so that everything in their project is theirs, not just clipart online.

A few samples of past work.

In third and fourth level classes they do production with their large format printer. They make banners, decals, stickers. It's like a small business where they produce for the school and the community.

If you're a team parent of a youth sports team, this is a good option for your banner.

Real world skills are learned in this class.

Mr. Steiner is working on getting all his Graphic Design classes articulated (which means eligible for college credits too). He was telling me that, "RCC is willing to work with all my classes, so all of my classes [the student] could potentially get college credit for, and a weighted grade."

Some of the artwork that adorns the classroom walls.

Design for print publication, aka Year Book
Another of Mr. Steiner's subjects is Design for Print Publication, which oversees the school's yearbook design and production. 

The yearbook is created "all from scratch" in InDesign... which means they don't use a template someone else came up with. This teaches "how to publish a book in the industry".

My name is Reed Steiner. I am proud and honored to say that I have been teaching at Elsinore High School since the 2014-15 school year.  I love sharing my passion for art and design with my students, and preparing them for college, career, and life out in the real world. 

Reed.Steiner@leusd.k12.ca.us 

I grew up on the north end of Lake Elsinore, and received my K-12 education from LEUSD. I received my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration from CSULB. I earned my teaching credential in Art and Masters in Digital Teaching from APU. I also have a CTE Arts, Media, and Entertainment teaching Credential from OCOE. 

A big thank you to Stacy Styrcula, EHS's College and Career Center Technician. Without her help I couldn't have done this series. 

Link to blog 1: Video and Photography

Link to blog 3: Sports Medicine
Link to blog 4: Screen Printing
Link to blog 5: ROTC

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I draw like other people bite their nails.
– Pablo Picasso

Wildomar Rap has seen much of Picasso's work, and has to agree with his self assessment. Too bad he didn't draw like Segovia played guitar.

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