Studio Art: Illustrated haiku poems

We learned about the basics of typography and design in class and now it's time to bring a creative approach to what we learned and pair them together as we learn a bit about Japanese culture.  The image above of the Holstee Manifesto is a great example of great type design and the image below is an example of what we are doing, creating an original illustrated haiku poem.

Haiku poems are 3 lines consisting of 5 syllables on the 1st line, 7 syllables on the 2nd line, and 5 syllables on the 3rd and final line.  We will write 5 haiku poems then choose our favorite to illustrate.  We'll also be learning a little more about Japanese culture and schools with examples from my travels and discuss our student exchange program with the Japan Society.  Below is an example of the traditional Japanese haiku illustrated.

In the TED talk below Billy, who was a two-term U.S. Poet Laureate, explains the project and how his poems were animated for the Sundance Channel.