10th Grade — Pin Making Using Photoshop

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

What is one small logo or icon (from a show, game, or brand) you'd want turned into a wearable pin?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we design a small-scale wearable graphic (a pin) in Photoshop?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Use the Move tool to arrange images and the Crop tool to fit a design into a circular pin shape.
Design at least 3 pin graphics based on a personal interest (show, game, hobby, etc.).
Prepare pin designs at the correct scale/resolution for a small physical object.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with Photoshop
Personal reference images (student-sourced, checking Unit 1 copyright rules)
Circular pin template (provided)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Plan & Gather

Do Now (5 min): what logo/image would you want turned into a pin? Mini-lesson (5 min): review copyright guidelines for using images from last semester.
Independent work (30 min): choose 3 personal-interest images/logos, checking each against copyright guidelines, and gather/save them.
Share (5 min): show a partner your 3 choices.

Day 2: Build

Do Now (5 min): which Photoshop tool do you think you'll use most today? Mini-lesson/demo (8 min): demo the Move and Crop tools with the circular pin template.
Independent build (27 min): fit each of your 3 images into the circular pin template, cleaning up edges and backgrounds.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 3: Finalize & Critique

Do Now (5 min): look at your 3 pins -- which is clearest at a small size? Peer critique (10 min): get feedback on clarity at small scale.
Final adjustments (20 min): revise based on feedback.
Export (10 min): export your pins as a print-ready sheet.

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Move Tool: The Photoshop tool used to reposition a layer or selection.
Crop Tool: The Photoshop tool used to trim an image down to a specific size or shape.
Scale (in production): Designing at the correct size so a small object like a pin still reads clearly.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Pin designs scored with a rubric: correct circular crop, clear/legible at small scale, and copyright guidelines followed.

Exit Ticket: Which Photoshop tool did you rely on most for this project, and what does it actually do?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Pin Making Using Photoshop.” This project asked: “How do we design a small-scale wearable graphic (a pin) in Photoshop?” I used Move Tool by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements

🔗 Want to Learn More?

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same small-batch product-design thinking a Business/Entrepreneurship class covers in a mini-business unit.

Career Connection: Small physical merch is exactly how many Illustration and Fashion Design freelancers earn their first real income.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Design a set of three matching pins for a real school club, ready to actually be manufactured and sold as a fundraiser. Start here: sketch all three concepts small (under 2 inches, actual size) on paper before opening Illustrator — manufacturers reject fine detail or thin lines at that scale, so simplify anything that doesn't read clearly that small.
Mock up an online shop listing (image, title, description) for your pin design, as if selling it for real. Start here: photograph or render your pin design against a plain white background first, since that's the one image a real shop listing can't work without.