Project Brief

To help educators introduce design in the K–8 curriculum, Scholastic partnered with AIGA and Target to launch the Art/Design Masterpiece Poster Project. The project invited designers to “respond” to an art piece by creating a poster that celebrated its themes or formal elements.

Approach

Alfalfa Studio was assigned Picasso’s painted terracotta piece Vase-Bird and, inspired by its dual nature, created a poster featuring the word “design” printed in letterforms that are composed like Picasso’s piece: half animal, half object.

Outcome

The poster was published in Scholastic’s Instructor: The most read, most trusted teacher magazine in the US. Published 6 times a year with more than 525,000 readers, Instructor is the leading teacher magazine in the country. Instructor is directed at cutting-edge “Teacher-Leaders” who play an essential role in shaping their classrooms, their schools, and their districts.

As the center of this issue, the Design poster’s Fantastic Animals was used for classroom activities. As the center of this issue, instructors asked students to imagine a world where characteristics from living creatures are combined with useful tools. Children imagined and designed a new invention: part tool and part animal.