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Make People Look: Sharing Graphic Design with JAWS Students
Trey Hester reflects on sharing graphic design, collaboration, and AI integrity with KIPP students through the Indianapolis Recorder’s JAWS program.
Trey Hester
On September 9, I spent time with students at KIPP Legacy High School through the Indianapolis Recorder’s Journalism Academy for Writing and Storytelling, or JAWS. I brought a presentation called Make People Look and talked with them about graphic design, creative work, and what’s possible today.
It was meaningful to be able to use the skills, experience, and context I’ve developed throughout my life as a student, a creator, and an entrepreneur to help them learn about this work. All of those experiences shaped what I had to share.
The decisions behind the design
Make People Look was about the choices that help a message connect. What gets bigger? What gets removed? What gets remembered? We talked about the principles of graphic design and how an image, a headline, color, or a human moment can make someone stop and pay attention.
Before opening Adobe or Canva, I ask four questions: Who needs to see this? What is the one message that needs to land? How should it feel? What do I want someone to do or think next? Those questions give the design a direction before the tools come into play.
We also talked about how the same story changes across print, social media, email, and the web. The message may stay the same, but the way you present it needs to fit where people will encounter it.
Working with other people
There’s also a side of graphic design that happens between people: collaborating on teams, understanding stakeholders, and having individuals review your work. I wanted the students to hear about that part of the process, too.
The presentation included the rough starts behind finished work: sketches, wireframes, rejected versions, and another try. A finished piece can make the process look straightforward. Often, it takes a lot of decisions and revisions to get there.
AI integrity and keeping your own voice
We spent time talking about AI integrity: why people use it, how it can help a workflow, and when using it gets in the way of your own thinking and self-expression.
AI can generate layouts, copy, images, and ideas. You still have to decide what to keep, what to cut, and what actually fits the story. That was the point I wanted to leave with them: you remain the pilot, the director, and the creator.
I wanted to show them what’s possible today while keeping their own judgment and voice at the center of the work. The tools can help. The decisions are still yours.
Talking graphic design with the JAWS students at KIPP.
What stayed with me
The students were receptive and eager to learn. Being able to share what I’ve learned with them, and talk about the possibilities ahead of them, meant a lot to me.
Thank you to the Indianapolis Recorder and the JAWS program for the opportunity to spend that time with the students at KIPP.
The Indianapolis Recorder included the visit in its October 2 article, Spotlight on JAWS. Read their coverage to learn more about the program and the other media professionals sharing their experience with the students.