Typography in Motion

Overview

During an EOTC visit to Whanganui Regional Museum, students investigate how printed language can communicate ideas, feelings and social messages. Through close looking, historic printmaking and contemporary installation activities, they connect typography with principles of design, protest and poetry, then create and reflect on a collaborative typographic response.

The lesson is suitable for Years 4–13: younger students can focus on visual impact and short phrases, while older students can explore audience, context, symbolism and the relationship between text and space.

Learning intentions

• Students will explore how artists and designers use typography to communicate meaning.
• Students will identify and apply principles of design, including contrast, emphasis, repetition, scale, movement and placement.
• Students will experience a historic type press safely and explain how printmaking differs from digital text.
• Students will develop a collaborative typographic installation responding to a protest or poetry prompt.
• Students will discuss how artworks communicate with different audiences.

Success criteria

• I can describe how the size, shape, spacing, colour or position of words affects meaning.
• I can use at least two principles of design in a typographic artwork.
• I can contribute an idea, make a considered visual choice and work safely with others.
• I can explain how my group’s installation communicates an idea or feeling.

Curriculum links

• The Arts: Visual Arts — developing practical knowledge through printmaking, typography and installation.
• The Arts: Visual Arts — developing ideas by experimenting with language, materials, scale and spatial arrangement.
• The Arts: Visual Arts — communicating and interpreting by discussing how artworks convey meaning to audiences.
• Key Competencies: thinking; participating and contributing; managing self; relating to others; using language, symbols and texts.

Lesson structure (90 minutes)

1. 0–10 min · Welcome and visual hook. Teacher gathers students in groups of five or six, introduces the museum visit and opens the hook and introduction slides, showing a striking typographic installation and asking, “Can words move us before we read them?” Students silently notice one word, shape or spatial choice, then share an interpretation with a partner.

2. 10–22 min · Look, discuss and connect. Teacher leads a short gallery investigation using the typography and design slides and selected museum examples, prompting: “What is the first thing your eye notices?”, “How does the arrangement change the message?”, and “Who might this artwork be speaking to?” Students record or sketch two observations on the typography investigation sheet. Years 4–6 may use labelled drawing and sentence starters; Years 7–13 should comment on context, audience and intention.

3. 22–37 min · Historic printmaking demonstration. The museum educator or teacher demonstrates the type press, explaining that individual letters can be arranged, inked and pressed onto paper. Teacher models safe behaviour: follow museum instructions, keep fingers clear of moving parts, wait for an adult, and handle printed material carefully. Students observe the process, predict how pressure and alignment affect the result, and ask questions. Each group has an opportunity to take part if museum procedures and time allow; otherwise students rotate through observation and sketching.

4. 37–47 min · Movement and meaning prompt. Teacher displays the protest and poetry prompt slides and introduces the constraint: each group must communicate one idea using no more than five words, with movement created through repetition, direction, scale, spacing or placement. Groups choose a prompt such as “A place worth protecting”, “Something needs to change”, “Listen to the quiet voices” or a short original poem. Students brainstorm words and make three quick thumbnail arrangements on the design planning section. Older students should consider whether their wording is respectful, specific and appropriate for a public audience.

5. 47–70 min · Collaborative installation challenge. Teacher provides paper, card, found or prepared letterforms, tape and drawing materials, then revisits the installation instructions and design principles. Students create a temporary typographic installation in their allocated area, testing how viewers will move around, approach or read it. The teacher conferences with groups using questions such as, “Where does the eye travel?”, “What could be enlarged or repeated?”, and “Does the visual form support the words?” Students assign roles so all 35 learners contribute: designer, word-maker, arranger, recorder and presenter.

6. 70–82 min · Gallery walk and critique. Teacher establishes a respectful gallery protocol and opens the critique prompts. Groups view the installations silently, then leave one verbal or written response: “I notice…”, “I wonder…”, and “The design makes me feel/think…” Students explain one deliberate design decision and compare the effect of printed type with digital text. Younger students may point, sketch or use a sentence frame; older students should refer to audience and interpretation.

7. 82–90 min · Reflection and exit check. Teacher gathers students and returns to the opening question through the plenary slides. Students complete the final section of the reflection and exit questions: name two design principles, explain one choice their group made, and state how typography can communicate beyond literal words. Collect sheets and photograph installations, following museum and school permissions.

Resources

• the Typography in Motion teaching deck
• the typography investigation, planning and reflection sheet
• Museum gallery examples and interpretation labels
• Historic type press and museum educator guidance
• Paper, card, lettering materials and pencils
• Water-based ink and printing equipment, if supplied by the museum
• Masking tape or removable adhesive
• Clipboards and group role cards
• Camera or tablet for documentation, subject to permission
• Hand sanitiser and wipes

Assessment

• During discussion, listen for students identifying how typography, scale, spacing, repetition and placement influence meaning.
• During group work, use conferencing to assess experimentation, collaboration, safe participation and purposeful use of design principles.
• Review the worksheet and installation explanation for evidence that students can connect visual choices with communication and audience.

Differentiation

• Provide visual examples, word banks, sentence starters and pre-cut or large-format lettering for students who need support.
• Allow students to communicate through drawing, arranging letters, oral explanation or recorded responses; provide an accessible working area and adult assistance where required.
• Pair EAL learners with supportive peers and explicitly model terms such as contrast, emphasis, repetition, scale, movement and audience.
• Challenge older or confident students to create ambiguity, use irony or explore how protest language changes when displayed in a museum or public space.
• Allocate clear group roles, use mixed-ability teams and give time warnings to support organisation and managing self.