Toolkit – Visual identity and heritage

Explore the toolkit and activities here

Step by step through the toolkit

Step 1 – Choose your topic

This is already done!

If you want to explore a different topic, you can go back to the overview and choose a different one.

Step 2 – Find your activity

Now, we invite you to explore the activities. Each activity features a step-by-step description and more information on duration, number of participants, and more…

Step 3 – Explore the materials

You can choose whichever activity fits your needs and your learners best. Some activities also provide further information in the form of a tutorial video, printable handouts, as well as additional resources.

Circular City Tour

The aim of this activity is to discover and analyse the signs of circularity surrounding us in our everyday environment. Searching for the signs of circularity in the city will also permit the participants to observe and discover new urban and visual elements, new details in their neighbourhood.

Blended setting

This activity is by definition a blended one as it happens outside from the meeting room, It can be done in the frame of a training (for instance, during an afternoon), or remotely, before the raining, permitting the participants to collect pictures from the neighbourhood in advance.

General Description
Skills addressed
  • Visual skills
  • Social skills
  • Digital skills
Expected learning achievements
  • Participants will understand the types of circularity and how these can be captured in the city
  • They will learn about digital storytelling elements
  • They will think about how circularity is part of their own urban life
Duration

90 minutes

Group size

There is no limit of the number of participants

Materials

Map of the city or neighbourhood, at least one smartphone/ group

Step 1

1 hour session:

5 minutes long presentation of the session (5 minutes),

20 minutes long mini-training about the creation of a short video (by CRN and COTA)

30 minutes long group discussion in the room about:

a) the different types of circularity (circular economy, circular lifestyle etc) they will be searching for;

b)what are the “signs” of circularity (visual and other ways circularity can appear in the city)

c)How to make appear these elements during their walk in the city (how circularity can be shown on a photo, on a video, on a voice recording, in visual or other means, symbolic meanings, visual elements etc.)

The discussion will be held in groups that will work together during the entire session. Each group will discuss the above topics and at the end they will share their thoughts in a short plenary section.

Step 2

After the debriefing participants will go and explore the city. Ideally it should last a bit longer than one hour – we might put this activity on an afternoon so that participants can link the exploration activity with a small walk and free-time in Palermo. If this is not possible, at least 2 hours would be needed for the walk and exploration.

Step 3

During the exploration, participants will make photos and/or video and voice recordings about the signs of circularity in the city of Palermo. They can capture images, voices, movements, but they can also collect objects, or can make short interviews with people – it is up to them how they can capture and express the topic. The exploration can be held in group or individually, as the group members decide.

Step 4

After the walk, group members will share their photos and other captures and will prepare a 5 to 10 minutes long video about their vision of circularity in Palermo.

Step 5 (alternative)

Alternatively, if the video creation is too complicated or time consuming, participants can also be asked to create a poster, or just show photos and small video recordings in a PPP presentation. They can also use the map for this presentation.

Business Logo Designing on Up-cycled Tote Bags

The activity globally addresses the 3 main needs identified through the empathy map phase: communication skills, professional skills and self-knowledge skills. In fact, this activity is a way to encourage young people to initiate a smooth dialogue with the local society by observing their neighbourhood and its professional life (discovery phase by collecting real logos in town). Then, young people initiate an analysis of communication elements and their efficiency in terms of the market, while the creative part invites them to position themselves in this space by reflecting on their own identity and professional objectives. More specifically, this activity enables young people to practise their existing observation skills, manual basic abilities and linguistic knowledge of the hosting country. But it also aims at developing the analytical skills of young people in visual identity and intercultural skills on one hand and at raising awareness of environmentally-friendly creative practices through an introduction to upcycling and circular lifestyle on the other hand. Finally, the blended setting of this activity enables young people to work on their digital skills by capturing images of the city in the field of professional life, manipulating images in a photo gallery or using collaborative apps (cf. Miro Board) to work remotely with other participants.

Blended setting

The collection of logos can be organised as a blended activity. Participants can take photos in their own neighbourhood or anywhere else they wish to individually or in group. The introductory conversation and reflection phase can be also organised online within a blended session, using miro board and screen share to show each other’s photos.

General Description
Skills addressed
  • Visual skills
  • Social skills
  • Intercultural skills
  • Environmental skills
Expected learning achievements
  • Gaining knowledge of one’s own city and one’s professional environment
  • Consolidate language skills in hosting country
  • Reflect on what a visual identity is
  • Build a meaningful image
  • Understand the cultural background of an image
  • Gaining an upcycling practice
Duration

120 to 180 minutes

Group size

4 – 10 participants

Materials

Personal smartphones to take photos + a photo collection of different types of logos (on Pinterest for instance), white paper, upcyclable tote bags, pencils, erasers, rulers, compass, textile or Posca markers, tapes

Step 1

EXPLORATION

Create a collection of logos linked to different professions by taking photos during a walk in your neighbourhood. Tell you participants to collect at least 5 logos: one that they like, one that you don’t like, one that according to you reflects well the profession that it represents, one that reflects a specific cultural identity, one that evokes confidence and professionalism, and one that represents the profession they are interested in.

Step 2

CONVERSATION

Begin the conversation by giving the main characteristics of a good logo:

  • simplicity and elegance
  • reflecting cultural identity
  • easily identifiable with the profession
  • playing with letters: letters turned into image or images transformed into letters

Then ask your participants to analyse the logos they collected.

Step 3

DESIGNING

Think of a type of business you are interested in. Choose a name, think about who will be your clients (age, sex, cultural identity). Draft your logos first on white paper by combining letters and drawings.Try out different colour combinations. Think of colour complementary, think of the messages that different colours vehicle.

Step 4

CREATION

Distribute up-cyled tote bags. (If there is already a logo or an inscription on it, you can use the other side of it.)

Transfer your logos on the tote bags. Put your paper on the window to let the light go through it, place your tote bag on it and follow the lines of your drawing. You can use the same technique using your computer screen.

You can use tape rulers or compass to limit the surface on which you will draw. Some gestures may require 4 hands, so tell your participants to help each other if needed.

Additional tutorials

My Dream

The activity aims to strengthen analytical and visual skills by having participants represent complex ideas in a visual form using the technique of collage-making. Besides, it boosts social skills by facilitating interactions and providing an opportunity for public speaking and presentation.

Blended setting

You can also prepare the collages online via tools like Conceptboard or Jamboard.

General Description
Skills addressed
  • Visual skills
  • Social skills
  • Analytical skills
Expected learning achievements
  • Participants improve their communication and public speaking skills.
  • Participants are less hesitant to work in groups and communicate with others.
Duration

Min. 60 minutes

Group size

4+ participants

Materials
  • Room with enough space for individual work
  • Paper sheets and blank posters
  • Markers, glue, scissors
  • Magazines, news papers, photos, post cards, or other
  • Varied visual materials
Step 1

Give the participants the task to represent themselves and their dream for their future in a collage.

Give them a big sheet of paper and the task to make their collage on it with the provided materials:

Magazines, photo books, and other visual materials.

Step 2

Afterwards, ask each participant to present themselves and their collage in front of the group, improving their public speaking and presentation skills. The participants can also ask clarification questions after each presentation. This means the questions should not include judgement but are in case something was not heard correctly or not understood.

Step 3

As the final step, ask them to reflect on the activity, how it went, and their own collage, and discuss the following questions with them:

  • Was it easy to represent yourself or your dream in a collage?
  • Did you find enough images and representations or were there images missing?
  • How was it to present your dream in front of everyone?
  • Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Mapping the space around

In this activity participants create a map of their personal surroundings to identify resources and strengths that might have roots in their hometowns or countries, but can be used in the current one.

Blended setting

#1 To give more emphasis on individual work and the exploration of the areas where participants live (rather than the area where the group meets): the instruction takes place face-to-face, then the participants do the exploring in their own neighborhoods, and only meet again for the conversation, showing each-other their artworks. Participants print and draw by themselves. If there is no possibility to print, they can copy the photos on a map as drawings.

#2 To involve people who are in different cities or even countries: instructions are taking place online, then participants do the exploring, and they meet again online, in which case they can also create a digital map using a platform like Canva that allows them to upload photos, draw or add other elements.

General Description
Skills addressed
  • Visual skills
  • Analytical skills
  • Intercultural skills
Expected learning achievements
  • Participants will have a deeper awareness of the space they live in, make new associations to find inner resources that they can (re)use in their current situation.
Duration

120 minutes

Group size

4+ participants

Materials

1 mobile phone or camera per participant, printer

A4 paper, glue, markers, pens, brushes, paint, small stones

Step 1

After an introduction and some warm up activities tell participants that they are going to spend 30 minutes outside the training room in an urban space, observing the streets, buildings, and take photos of details that remind them of their homes. You can also ask them to bring back 3 objects they find (they shouldn’t buy anything).

Step 2

When everyone returns, ask them to select 3 photos they took and send them to you. Print these photos in small size, so that all 3 can fit on an A4 paper.

Step 3

Have everyone present their objects, and how they found them. Then tell them to choose one that can best represent them, and they explain why. For the other 2 objects they choose 2 people who they perceive as allies in the present country, and present them as well through those objects.

Step 4

Give each participant an A4 paper. Ask them to make a composition using their objects and printed photos. They can use small stones (previously collected) to indicate more people, ideas, thoughts that are present in their lives.

Step 5

To complete the image, provide participants with markers, brushes, paint, pens to fill the space between the photos and objects, creating a more detailed map of places and people. Give enough time for everyone to finish their images.

Step 6

When everyone is ready, let participants go around the room and look the others’ maps, as if they were in a museum. After some time for observation, have everyone present their own image to the others.

Step 7

Conduct a follow-up conversation with the whole group to help participants make connections between their hometowns and the current one they live in, starting from the physical similarities, then continue with questions about specific elements on their maps, what they represent, what inner resources they had back at home that they can use here, or if there was anything that they were good at there, so that they could find a similar activity here? Etc.

Additional resources
Canva