Worksheet Grade 9 Art & Music
Four Laurelton Water-Saving Posters: A Grade 9 Critique Worksheet
Grade 9 art worksheet where students critique four described conservation posters using design principles and build an evidence-based argument for the most effective one.
Objectives
- Students will analyze posters using emphasis, contrast, balance, hierarchy, and unity.
- Students will judge whether a poster states a clear message and call to action.
- Students will argue which poster is most effective and support the claim with reasons.
Vocabulary
Key words: emphasis, contrast, balance, visual hierarchy, unity, call to action
Teacher overview
Laurelton High School, a fictional school, is running a water-conservation poster campaign in its hallways. Four student posters are described below, and the class has been asked to judge them the way a design review board would. This worksheet has students name the design principles at work in each poster, decide whether the message and the call to action are clear, and then build a short argument for which poster should lead the campaign. The goal is to move from taste ("I like it") to reasoned critique that a designer could act on.
Student Worksheet
Read these four posters, then answer the items below.
- Poster A: A single giant faucet with one falling drop fills most of the page. The bold headline reads "Stop the drip." One small line at the bottom says a dripping faucet wastes about 3,000 gallons a year.
- Poster B: Twelve small icons of different water uses are arranged in a grid, all the same size. The title sits in tiny type in a corner. Six colors are used across the icons.
- Poster C: A calm blue gradient fills the page with the single word "conserve" in thin, elegant script, centered. There is no other text.
- Poster D: A bold headline sits above a simple bar chart of household water use, with the line "Fix a leak this week" in large type at the bottom. The layout is even and readable from a distance.
- Which poster has the strongest single focal point, and which design principle creates it?
- Poster B uses twelve equal-size icons. Explain how that choice weakens the visual hierarchy.
- Poster C is attractive but may fail as a campaign poster. State the problem in terms of message and call to action.
- Which poster would stay readable from across a hallway, and what contrast choice makes that possible?
- Describe the kind of balance Poster D uses and how it helps a viewer read the poster.
- Poster B uses six colors and several icon styles. Explain how limiting the palette would improve unity.
- Poster A says a dripping faucet wastes about 3,000 gallons a year. EPA WaterSense says a faucet dripping once per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons a year, and the total depends on drip size. Is the poster's wording fair for every dripping faucet? Explain.
- Two posters lack a clear action step. Name them and write a one-line call to action each could add.
- Rank the four posters from most to least effective for a hallway campaign, and defend your top choice with at least two design reasons.
- A classmate argues Poster C is best because it is the most beautiful. Give one reason beauty alone does not make it the most effective campaign poster.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Poster A, through emphasis. The oversized faucet and bold headline dominate the page, so the eye lands there first.
- Answer: Equal-size icons give every element the same weight, so no focal point stands out and the eye has no clear place to begin.
- Answer: The poster looks good but never tells the viewer what to do; it has no clear message beyond a mood and no call to action.
- Answer: Poster A or Poster D. Large, bold type that contrasts strongly in size and weight with the rest of the page keeps them legible at a distance.
- Answer: Poster D uses an organized, roughly symmetrical balance, with the headline on top, the chart in the middle, and the action at the bottom, guiding the eye from top to bottom.
- Answer: A smaller palette and a single icon style would tie the twelve pieces together so they read as one unified message instead of a scattered set.
- Answer: The figure fits EPA's estimate for a faucet dripping once per second, but a slower or smaller drip wastes less, so the poster should name the drip rate, say the faucet "can waste more than" 3,000 gallons, and credit EPA.
- Answer: Posters B and C. Sample actions: "Fix a leak this week" for B and "Turn off the tap while brushing" for C.
- Answer: Answers vary; a strong response ranks Poster A or D first and defends the choice with at least two reasons such as a clear focal point, high contrast, readability at a distance, and a direct call to action.
- Answer: A campaign poster must change behavior, and without a clear message or action a beautiful poster does not tell viewers what to do, so beauty alone does not make it effective.
Differentiation
Support
Provide a short checklist of the five principles (emphasis, contrast, balance, hierarchy, unity) with a one-line definition of each, so students can match a principle to a poster before writing. Let them answer items 1 through 8 in phrases before attempting the argument in item 9.
Extension
Ask students to sketch a revised version of Poster B that fixes its hierarchy and unity problems, then write a short paragraph explaining each change using the design vocabulary from the worksheet.
ELL supports
Provide a picture glossary of the five design principles with simple icons, plus a home-language gloss where possible. Offer an argument frame for item 9: "The most effective poster is ___ because ___ and because ___." Allow labeled sketches to support written answers.
Extensions
Students can photograph real posters in the school or community, choose one water or public-health message, and critique it with the same principles, then propose one concrete design change and explain what it would improve.