This year, Pleasure Ridge Park Graphic Design students have teamed up with JCPS Nutrition Services to create the 2014-15 Fruit & Veggie of the Month Posters. Part of a yearlong project, the posters were designed to promote nutritional facts and are targeted towards a student audience. Andrea Wright of JCPS Nutrition Services collaborated with students on the project, and was invited to come into the class and introduce the project in the form of a design brief during a weekly production meeting. Ms. Wright brought in samples of past posters, discussed project parameters, and identified the challenges of promoting healthy nutrition to young people.

Students worked together to identify their audience, research nutritional facts for each month’s featured item, to rank their ideas, collaborate to find the best solutions, and present their final designs to receive feedback/refine their project. Students decided to use a unified design approach for the Fruit and Veggie of the Month campaign, allowing students to take turns designing the posters without compromising the brand identity. This project helped students express ideas, collaborate with clients and peers, learn digital media they can use long after graduation, and to think outside the box. The posters will be displayed to all JCPS elementary, middle and high school cafeterias throughout the 2014-15 school year.