Developing a Digital Visual Language

​As our interaction with technology and digital environments increases, it is vital that our students not only have the skills to recognise and interpret a digital visual language but are able to manipulate it and discover their own “voice”. Students in Years 8 and 9 have been experimenting with a range of digital skills that don’t rely on expensive software or equipment, but are available to everyone that has access to the internet. In doing this, we have developed our fundamental, core skills that can then be applied to more sophisticated methods and complicated technology. Year 8 students created Geometric Self Portraits using vector style illustration methods. Many of the students were shocked to find the surprising range of colours found in their skin tone. The Year 9 students created digital assemblages of images and drawings that they had collected as part of an independent sketchbook challenge. The task taught students a range of digital skills such as layering, opacity manipulation and composition. This was the first time that many of the students had worked with entirely digital processes and the results are so effective that several of the artworks have been printed onto canvas to be displayed in the Senior School.