Board Process

Purpose

The promotional bulletin boards purpose is to grasp the viewers attention. The board is meant to Promote our CTE Programs and show people how our programs support our SkillsUSA chapter. It is also meant to show people that no matter what path you choose to walk, our SkillsUSA chapter has a place for you.

Design Process

Making a space background in Adobe Illustrator. The planning for the board started with setting an overall theme. It needed something that related to no limits, it had to be something unique, and it had to be an eye catcher. We started with 4 concept sketches.

The ideas started with making a brick wall that had removable bricks. It would simulate that the wall would not stop us (no limits). However after some consideration we moved on from that idea, we felt it wouldn't have portrayed the message we were trying to convey. Then there was the idea of some sort of mountain, or a person climbing on a ladder. Again this idea fits with the no limits theme; someone breaking the limits. This idea felt unoriginal so we decided to keep sketching. At this point we felt a bit of an art block. We went around to teachers and students asking them what they thought of when we said 'no limits'. That's when a teacher of ours said he thought of flying squirrels. Now as creative as this sounds we did not end up designing a flying squirrel but it did give us our next idea which was someone skydiving. It was fitting with no limits because skydiving is crazy and breaking limits. Again though, this didn't feel unique enough for us to follow through with it. We kept thinking about things you can do in the sky, and no limits. Then we got the big picture and we thought, space, there are no limits to space. So we started with an astronaut.

As we keep looking at this astronaut we think, how cool would it be if it could move around the board, simulating that it doesn't have any limits and can move freely around. At this point we were really happy with this idea. It was unique, it fit no limits really well, and we felt confident we could make something really appealing to look at.

Our next step was taking it to Illustrator, as we did so the idea really started to develop and take place. The galaxy background was made first. We looked up different galaxies for inspiration and tried recreating the look of them the best we could. We used different gradients and blurs to get this effect and we loved the way it ended up looking.

Getting the background situated really helped the design process take place. The galaxy had a cartoon feel to it. We then made our solar systems 9 planets (including pluto) in Illustrator. We did this because we have 9 CTE programs and it felt almost perfect doing the 9 planets. This didn't stick however, it was decided that having it be random planets would make it seem more like no limits. Having it be planets that were outside our solar system. This also allowed us to play around with ideas a little more. We didn't want there to be confusion with the layout of the planets, or have inaccurate sizing. It just made more sense having it be our own planets.

Making planets in Adobe Illustrator. We have three major planets for the three major CTE programs that correspond with our SkillsUSA chapter. Marketing, Engineering, and Commercial and Advertising Arts. These three had their own special design implemented into the planets.

We choose the colors for the marketing planet so the planet would stand out against the dark background. The reddish pink colors also represent our school store (The Red Zone). We added rings to allow it to stand out from the other planets. We then added icons and a title to the planet so it was quickly identifiable.

The colors for the engineering planet are to represent factories and industrial cities. The darker blues and grays would allow the planet to stick out amongst the other planets displayed on the board. The gears on the planet and title are for quick identification on the planet.

When making the advertising art planet it was obvious that the colors would be CMYK (the primary colors of a printer). We also made the stripes in it a little more goofy and abstract to show more creativity within the planets. We decided the icons needed to be on each side of the title due to the name being so long on the planet.

NO LIMITS sign on the bulletin board. The board needed to be quickly identified, and needed to get the message across immediately. In this case we designed a banner that would display on the top of the board. The 'SkillsUSA, Dover Area High School' is in the font Acklin for ease reading. The 'NO LIMITS' is in the font Ethnocentric to enhance the space theme. Another way we attempted to get the point across was having a subtitle under the banner. Again we went with the font Acklin for easy readability. We wanted it to pop out a little more and to coordinate the oranges already on the board.

Lastly we designed the interchangeable planets. These planets are interchangeable due to the fact that our vocational school is newer. We have programs that come, go, and change as our school grows. We also will update the interchangeable photos that go along with those planets. We find this is necessary for us so we can showcase each program as they are in our SkillsUSA chapter. We have different sizes of these planets for multiple different reasons. We don't have students from every single pathway in our SkillsUSA chapter, so the size of the planet is related to how many participants we have in that pathway.

Materials

For the materials, the base of our board is a Red Brick hardboard with 20 GA sheet metal cement glued together. We chose these because we knew we wanted our board to be magnetic but the sheet metal needed a backing because it would have been unstable by itself. For the planets and the layers, we used Palight Foamed PVC sheets wrapped in vinyl. We used the PVC sheets because it is rigid and easy to put vinyl on. To connect the planets to the base of the board, we used magnets to make sure we could slide the planets and they would stay in place. In between the layers and base of the board, we have spacers to ensure that everything stays in place. We used epoxy to connect all stationary parts.

Construction

When we first started to come up with the idea we had to lay out everything on a proof print. We needed to see how we would even make it happen. We printed a background then cut out the shapes for the layers. We then tried several different sizes of planets to get the right size. To understand what we really wanted with the engineering process, we had to conduct a lot of trial and error. After a lot of deciding, we finally decided to go with what our board now looks like.

For the construction of this board, we started with bonding the bases together with contact cement. The base is made up of a piece of sheet metal and brick wall paneling. While the contact cement was setting we printed the background and then applied it to the board. After that we cut the shapes of the layers from a 4' X 4” sheet of PVC foam board. We then wrapped them in printed vinyl to match the galaxy background. We followed the same process for the planets by printing them on vinyl, adhering the vinyl to the PVC foam board and cutting them to the shape of our planets. as well as our space man. Before final assembly of the board we tested fitted the pieces. Since our ultimate goal is to have the parts actually move in and out with the spaceman, we had to reshape some elements so the appropriate amount of the planets would be hidden or revealed when the space man is moved. We think this will make the display more interactive and appealing to our audience.

We first made the board to make the spaceman move the planets when we would pull him in a direction. In reviewing the contest requirements, we realized that we are not allowed to touch the board during the presentation. To meet this requirement, we simply removed the rubber bands and so the planets would remain stationery. We wanted the board to look 3-D so we made layers that stuck out to give it dimension. To stay within the limits, we made sure to keep the board within the 2 inch requirement. We made each planet and the spaceman on thicker PVC foam board to only give it support but also add on to the 3-D effect. We then added smaller pieces of PVC foam under each planet to give it more dimension and so it was easier to move.

Educational Value

While making the board we also had to keep in the back of our mind, why would someone want to see this information? What importance does it have? We wanted people to gain a lot from our promotional bulletin board but we didnt want it to bore the viewer with text. We decided in order to get as much information on the board we would create a website. We set out and asked a close classmate if he would be willing to put together a website to have a majority of our information on it. It would allow the board to be interactive and still have a lot of educational value.

When making the board we knew how we wanted to use it for future uses. We made the board intentionally interactive enough to engage all grades from elementary to high school. Younger kids learn and listen longer when they have fun, hands-on activities. We implemented this idea by allowing for easy construction and deconstruction of manual moving parts. We hope that this engages kids to learn the information on the board and gives them a fun memory to keep with them. Teens learn better when they can make connections to what they are learning. We cater to older audiences more with explaining the construction on the board and through QR code. They can learn everything about the board through the website, including teachers they might have in high school.