Design a poster analysing how historical protests have influenced today’s world

Sociology, humanities, history

Use Adobe Express to research, consider, and create a detailed poster about a historical protest and the impact it had on the world, then and now. This lesson plan is appropriate for Year 9 to Year 13 students.

Example image of a poster on a historical protest

Learning objectives

This lesson plan gives students the skills to:

  • Identify and research different impactful protests throughout history
  • Communicate effectively for a poster format
  • Use digital tools to display content effectively and construct knowledge
  • Identify and create an informative, interesting, accessible poster showing the importance of protests and how past protests have affected the present

Student brief

Give the following brief to your students to follow.

You will research and select key information about a historical protest of your choosing. You will provide key information to highlight the order of events that led to the protest, what the protest was fighting against, and whether they were successful or not. You must also describe the role that the protest has played in changing past and present society. This will be presented as a poster created in Adobe Express.

Steps

Do some research into different historical protests and choose one that you are interested in. Gather some facts and observations about the protest, looking for the reasons the protest started, who the key leaders of the protest were, and what the result of the protest was.

You must then do some research into the impact the protest had, both at the time and now in the current world. For example, the suffragette’s movement resulted in success, but it took many years to get there. The movement is what lead to women being able to vote.

You must then find out best practises for creating posters, so research top tips and find tutorials for creating a detailed, presentable posters. Take notes on common features seen and how best to display information.

Once you have found relevant information about the protest you have chosen and understand how posters are built, written, and presented, collect all of your notes and write up a description of the protest and the impact it had on society, both then and now. You must include a wide range of information in the poster, depending on the protest you’ve selected:

  • The injustices that lead to the protest movement
  • The leaders of the movement and what led them to taking on that role
  • The most notable actions the movement took and what results came of those actions
  • How the protest impacted people immediately and how it impacts society today
  • How the protest was perceived at the time and how it is perceived now

Your poster should be written concisely, but don’t shy away from detailed paragraphs to explain your thoughts and findings. This poster should serve to educate and inform other people about the podcast in an easily digestible format, so make sure you communicate its importance with confidence.

Determine the layout of information and what graphic elements to include on the page. Consider the feel of the document, and ensure that use of colours, fonts, and graphics reflect the protest you have chosen. Important things to consider:

  • Fonts, colours, and graphical elements should reflect the protest. Stick to two cohesive colours and two contrasting fonts, like a serif and sans-serif, and use white space to keep the design consistent, clean, and easy to digest
  • Think about hierarchical elements like headers, bullet points, and call-out boxes. Consider alignment, proximity, and proportion for the user experience
  • Include relevant elements such as headshots and quotes

Why not create your own font or graphics with Adobe Firefly?

You can create custom fonts and generate character images with Adobe Firefly. Watch the video to find out more.

Open Adobe Express and begin your design. As you work, consider how design will impact the way people digest the information on page. If you need inspiration, here is a student example.

To find out more about how to use Adobe Express, watch our video guide here.

Once you have completed your research, content creation, and design, and you have read through and are happy with the design, submit to your teacher to mark or to a peer to review. Find information on you will be evaluated in the rubric.

Image of two students sat in a classroom working on a laptop
Image of a student working on a laptop in a classroom
Image of a graphic design student
Image of a teacher talking to a student in a classroom

Rubric

Explanation

Student states clearly all essential information of a CV, and the information is delivered in a way that shows full, critical understanding of the character 

Execution

The student demonstrated full, detailed attention to the successful execution of CV creation including organisation, visual and text content, formatting, and stylistic choices.  

Design

The student used a breadth of graphic design principals to communicate messaging effectively.  

Adobe Express

The student used Adobe Express efficiently, resulting in a comprehensive final document.  

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