Teacher-y posters

[jenn]

I was wondering if anyone has a chance to provide feedback on whether these graphics are clear and if the compositions work, before I go to color.

The story is: I spent all of last week geeking out at a teacher workshop at MIT. One of the topics was Broadening Participation in STEM, which involved some very deep discussions about addressing bias in education, especially in states where teachers are prohibited from discussing bias at all. I created these sort of 'posters' as reminders for myself about little things that I could do within my sphere of influence, e.g. in my classroom or while interacting with colleagues. I thought that other teachers might find them useful, so I polished them a little in Clip Studio Paint.

First are the pencil sketches for the 3 posters, then the digital versions for all three. I would be grateful for any suggestions to strengthen them to communicate the ideas more clearly.

Thanks!

--------Digital: Avoiding Tokenism-----------

--------Digital: Fast vs. Slow Thinking-----------

---------Digital: Avoiding Biased Evaluations----------

[Asyas_illos]

@jenn very good! I’m definitely the slow thinker lol, also I like the idea of anonymity…is that a word? Lol entering a project anonymously. Nice work!

[A Former User]

@jenn Those look great! The storytelling and message is overall very clear and concise, great job! I only have some nit-picky suggestions to make, see images below:



（title is a little too big in this quick edit, but you get what I mean)

This is a very cool initiative!

[jenn]

@Asyas_illos thank you, and yes it's a word lol.

[jenn]

@JQ not nitpicky at all, both of your suggestions are so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to do a draw-over.

[jenn]

Here's my re-draw of the 2nd one, plus color. I'm feeling unsure about the color because, well, I always feel unsure about color. Also, does it look too unfinished? Should the coloring be more solid-looking? Feedback is welcomed gratefully.

[ArtMelC]

Hey Jenn,
Thanks for sharing. Great stuff and so much needed!

I just have a comment regarding your "tokenism" one - I feel like the situation, while totally valid point on its own, misses the mark on what tokenism is.
"Girls must have nice handwriting" is generalization, not tokenism.

Tokenism would be asking a girl to be part of a science project team just to show that "we are a diverse team" without really taking her contributions seriously.

[jenn]

@ArtMelC thank you very much for that clarification. I will make a change to the text.

[A Former User]

@jenn I do feel that the colors at this stage look unfinished. I can see that you are trying to go for a slightly rough and watercolor-y look , but it feels like the colours are a lot more solid for some parts (eg. the faces) vs others (eg. background), so instinctively it feels slightly incongruent to me. I would either try to amp up on the textured watercolor-feel throughout or just do solid colour flats, which with your crisp linework I think would also turn out really nice.

[jenn]

@JQ Thanks for the input! I will give it a shot. So I was attempting to express a switch between the main character's real-life dialogue and inner-thought-process (kinda like a dream sequence). Maybe it's too much of a stretch though since I won't be there to explain it to the viewer. I will try and experiment a little to see if it can be improved.

[jenn]

Thanks @JQ @ArtMelC @Asyas_illos for the suggestions and encouragement! Here are the final posters! I also just remembered that insta prefers square images (ugh) so I had to make 2 versions. Nevertheless, I'm satisfied with how they came out, and excited to share them with my colleagues. If you know any educators who would be able to use a high-resolution PDF, feel free to send them my way. Anyone is welcome to use these non-commercially and unaltered, if they would be useful.

[A Former User]

@jenn Nice! Hope it'll help to influence STEM educators in a good way.