Make Your Own POSTCARDS

Make Your Own Postcard is a hands-on graphic design lesson that introduces students to the power of visual communication. Students will learn how postcards use images, color, typography, shapes, and layout to communicate a message to another person.

Through a fun design challenge, students will create their own postcard inspired by a place, person, memory, or idea. They will explore how designers make choices about what to show, what to say, and how to organize information so their message is clear and visually engaging.

Students will practice foundational graphic design skills while strengthening creativity, communication, problem-solving, technology skills, and storytelling. The lesson encourages students to think like designers by planning their ideas, making intentional design choices, creating their postcard, and reflecting on how effectively their design communicates.

Recommended Grades: 1–5

Ages: 6–11

Lesson Type: Visual Communication + Graphic Design

Format: Hands-on Design Challenge

Students will:

• Explore the purpose and parts of a postcard

• Learn how images and words work together to communicate

• Practice basic principles of layout, color, typography, and composition

• Create an original postcard design

• Communicate a message through visual storytelling

• Explain the design choices they made
  

Cross-Curricular Connections

Reading & Literacy: Interpreting visual information and connecting images to meaning Math: Exploring shapes, patterns, symmetry, size, and proportion Technology: Understanding digital symbols and visual communication Communication: Sending and interpreting messages through visuals Problem-Solving: Making design choices that help a message become clear SEL: Identifying and communicating emotions in healthy ways

Student Outcome

By the end of the lesson, students will have created an original emoji and will be able to explain what it communicates, who it is for, and how their design choices help others understand the message.