12th Grade — After Graduation, By Design: Build the Presentation

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Of everything you've learned about layout and typography this year, what's the one rule you most want this piece to follow?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we turn a real plan into something genuinely persuasive to look at?

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

Build a complete, polished presentation of their post-graduation plan (a deck, a poster, or a portfolio page).
Apply layout, typography, and color principles from earlier in the program on purpose, not by default.
Include at least one piece of real, researched evidence supporting the plan's feasibility.

🧰 What You'll Need

Concept sketch from previous lesson
Adobe CC apps or a presentation tool
Research notes

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Build the Structure

Independent work (40 min): build the full structure/outline of the presentation using your chosen concept.

Day 2: Design It

Independent work (40 min): apply real layout, typography, and color decisions to every section.

Day 3: Finish & Polish

Independent work (30 min): finish and proofread.
Peer check (10 min): trade with one classmate for a quick clarity check.

🖥️ 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

Feasibility: Whether a plan is actually realistic given real facts -- cost, timeline, requirements -- not just whether it sounds good.
Visual Persuasion: Using design choices on purpose to make information more convincing, not just more decorated.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Presentation assessed for genuine design intention (not default choices), a complete plan, and at least one piece of real evidence.

Exit Ticket: What's the one design decision in this piece you're most proud of, and why?

📊 Before You Leave

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

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress yearbook (or, later, studio) work to your portfolio with a 1-2 sentence caption -- and once you're in the Design Studio phase, a photo of the piece in its real, installed location if possible. This is the same evidence trail you'll use for Archive & Portfolio and any PBAT/portfolio review.

✍️ 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 “After Graduation, By Design: Build the Presentation.” This project asked: “How do we turn a real plan into something genuinely persuasive to look at?” I used Feasibility by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

No extra links for this lesson.

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same persuasive design-and-writing overlap an English/Business crossover unit covers.

Career Connection: This piece itself becomes a portfolio piece proving presentation-design skill for any career.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Design two versions (one formal/print, one social-media-shareable) of the same plan. Start here: write the formal version's core paragraph first, then cut it down for the social version rather than starting both from a blank page.
Add a real data visualization (a simple chart or timeline) to strengthen the pitch. Start here: list the three numbers or dates that most prove your plan is real before picking a chart type to display them.