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Reflection: Graphic Design and Poetry

Our advanced graphic design workshop “Graphic Design is my Passion – The Sequel” was a big success on Friday, April 23, 2021. Thank you all for attending and creating some inspiring images. For those who missed it, here is a recap.

Before Julie Rossano’s short Canva refresher, it was inevitable to start the session with a quiz related to poems during Poetry Month. Participants enjoyed guessing poets and titles from our one-minute Canva designs with first lines of poems, such as the one pictured, Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem The Hill We Climb.

The second half of the workshop focused on some advanced functions available in Canva, including animations and best practices. Kudos to Julie for accomplishing so much during such a short time! The goal was to leave plenty of time for our audience of students, faculty, and staff to experiment and come up with some creative designs.

It looks like engaging can go both ways. Our script (that we religiously draft before each event to avoid mishaps due to network or power failure) couldn’t prepare us for what followed.

Participants not only picked up these skills immediately and mastered them quickly, but many of them got inspired to create their own poetry-related designs to challenge everyone, hosts included. This happy accident ended up extending the workshop with an even more interesting game: “Name That Poem”––based on designs created by our imaginative and resourceful participants with Canva on the spot! Many of the designer-artists also turned out to be multi-talented, and provided an amazing rendition of the poem in their image. It didn’t make it easier to name the poet though.


Browse the gallery of the best designs from the advanced Canva workshop. Stay tuned for other events that this workshop inspired us to host during the summer session at the Summer Tales Book Club.