Typography Integration

Overview

This is Lesson 10 of 10 in “Designing Matariki Calendars”. Students continue Task 6 in InDesign: applying text formatting, paragraph styles, and Swiss typography principles to create a clear, consistent text hierarchy while integrating culturally appropriate Matariki content.

Learning intentions

• Students will apply text size, paragraph styles, and typographic hierarchy in InDesign.
• Students will use consistent styles to maintain design quality across calendar pages.
• Students will integrate text (month/day labels and cultural information) with legible layouts and accurate meaning.
• Students will use checkpoints to refine technical skills and improve the final resolved page(s).

Success criteria

• I can use paragraph styles so the same text type has the same look across the layout.
• I can set a clear hierarchy (titles, headings, body text) using size, spacing, and alignment.
• I can apply Swiss design typography principles (grid-based layout, consistent alignment, clean spacing).
• I can produce legible, well-finished text that supports the Matariki calendar idea and narrative.

Curriculum links

• Visual Arts: AS91913 Produce a significant resolved artwork appropriate to established art making conventions.
• Visual Arts: AS91914 Explore Visual Arts processes and conventions to inform own art making.
• NZ Curriculum Refresh (Visual Arts focus): develop and apply design and visual arts thinking through making, iterating, and reflecting with increasing independence.
• Key competency: Thinking (making decisions about hierarchy and readability) and Managing self (meeting checkpoints and deadlines in studio practice).

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–6 min · Retrieval + goal check-in. Teacher displays the Task 6 success checklist and asks students to name one style they used last lesson and one improvement goal for today; students jot answers on a sticky note for quick reference.
2. 6–18 min · Mini-teach: paragraph styles + hierarchy. Teacher demonstrates (on screen) how to update a paragraph style and how that change flows through the document, then models setting a Swiss-style grid alignment for title/body text; students watch and add two notes: “what to update” and “where to check readability”.
3. 18–42 min · Studio build: Task 6 Continued (main work). Teacher circulates with a “two-touch” approach (one prompt for technique, one for design decision); students format their calendar text in InDesign using paragraph styles for headings/body, adjust text size/leading/spacing, and confirm alignment to the grid on each page.
4. 42–50 min · UDL checkpoint: self-audit and style consistency. Teacher provides a one-page audit template (readable line length, hierarchy present, paragraph styles used, no manual formatting where styles should be applied); students complete the audit for their current pages and mark one “next fix” item.
5. 50–58 min · Teacher conference (fast). Teacher runs brief 2-minute conferences using a rubric snippet: “convention used”, “hierarchy/legibility”, “cultural content check”; students bring their audit notes and show where they applied corrections.
6. 58–60 min · Exit ticket: readiness rating. Students answer two prompts: (1) Which paragraph style controls each text level? (2) What is your final check for legibility/cultural accuracy before submission?

Resources

• InDesign files for Task 6 (saved to devices with consistent naming)
• Task 6 audit template (printable or LMS/drive document)
• Student style guide sheet (their own paragraph styles: Title, Heading, Body, Caption)
• Grid overlay cheat sheet (alignment and spacing reminders)
• Timer and conference slips (teacher)
• Scissors-and-tape alternative (paper printouts) for quick readability checks (optional, teacher prep)
• Headphones optional for quiet focus (where school allows)

Assessment

• Formative: teacher observation of paragraph style usage (noting whether manual formatting replaces styles).
• Formative: self-audit template completed at 42–50 minutes (hierarchy, consistency, legibility).
• Teacher conference notes using a short rubric language bank aligned to conventions, control, and fluency.
• Exit ticket to confirm students understand which styles control hierarchy and what final checks remain.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters in the audit (“My title should be larger because…”, “I used paragraph style ___ for…”) and a “style-to-text” reference list (Title/Heading/Body).
• Support: offer a “starter style set” for students who need it (pre-made paragraph styles and basic hierarchy settings to edit).
• Extension: challenge students to refine spacing/typographic nuance (leading/letter spacing where appropriate) while keeping strict style consistency and grid alignment.
• EAL/SEN considerations: allow students to work with a printed text hierarchy outline; encourage using visual cues (boxes showing alignment guides) rather than relying only on written instructions.