Art and Design Commons^™

Understanding Consumers' Use Experience On Electrically Heated Jacket: A Study On Online Review Using Topic Modeling, Md Nakib-Ul Hasan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The demand for heated jackets is anticipated to be fuelled by frequent temperature drops, severe winter weather, and increasing outdoor activities. Electrically heated jackets (EHJ) are primarily marketed through online distribution channels and expansion of online sales channels is expected to boost the global market. Consumers are increasingly relying on online reviews from other consumers to help them decide what to buy. Businesses also actively monitor and manage their online reviews to build trust in their brand and make it more likely that customers will buy. Traditional approaches for assessing customer behavior, such as market research surveys and focus groups, …

Take Flight Music Festival Branding, Maxwell Bo Chen, Jake Oxenham

Graphic Communication

We created a branding and design campaign for the Take Flight music festival on campus. The project covered many aspects of event creation and marketing such as name, logo, content creation, social media, printed media, vendor outreach, and administration outreach. All these pieces had to work together to create a strong and cohesive brand image for this event which would help ensure a successful turnout and event overall.

Visionaire Branding Company, Toni Joy Forsythe

Graphic Communication

It has been a goal of mine to one day launch my own branding and marketing agency, therefore this opportunity has allowed me to ideate what the agency would look like in terms of branding and business. I developed Visionaire Branding Company, a branding and marketing agency located in Central California. Creativity has always been at the forefront of my ambitions and Visionaire is a reflection of my passion for taking businesses to the next level and doing it with a vision.

Branding The Cal Poly Transfer Center, Ryann Joy Swift

Graphic Communication

The Cal Poly Transfer Center was established in 2020 in the midst of an ongoing pandemic; naturally, this led to the challenge of building recognition and engaging Transfer students with the center. As the first and only graphic designer, I saw an opportunity in creating the visual foundation for this organization, one that could be well understood and built upon by future designers. This is important as the Transfer Center is quite unique in its specific demographic of transfer students; they fall under an older age group and I want to create said foundation that reflects this; mature, professional, modern. …

E-Commerce Brand Design And Website Prototyping, Ashley J. Tuliau

Graphic Communication

MJ Swim is an e-commerce brand and website concept with a focus on customizable products and individualized sizing. Most online swimwear companies follow a fast-fashion business model which prioritizes mass production and offers affordable prices. However, aside from the many environmental consequences of this, fast fashion leaves large disparities in clothing quality, sizing accuracy, and product uniqueness. My primary goal was to create a dynamic website that would be flexible across a variety of devices and allow for optimal product customization. My secondary goal was to create a strong and inclusive brand identity that would thrive in a solely online …

"Yay Area Fest" Proposal, Taira Tyler Matsuzaki

Graphic Communication

As an avid hip-hop music lover and producer, I always envisioned the creation of my own hip-hop festival theme and lineup. I used my senior project as an opportunity to execute this vision while showcasing all of the skills I have acquired as a Graphic Communication student. My project encompasses the creation of a marketing flyer, website prototype, app prototype, and social media animation for a hypothetical hip-hop festival. These deliverables highlight my abilities in learning new tools, graphic design, UI/UX design, and project management.

Converting Horizontal Media For Vertical Platforms, Eric A. Hernandez

Graphic Communication

Today, most media is viewed on mobile phones and seen on a vertical screen. There are very few methods for converting horizontal media into vertical media for vertical platforms. This manual shows new ways to redesign horizontal content so that it looks better on vertical displays; I imagine watching things like the Super Bowl or the The Grammys on TikTok or Instagram with a new broadcast design that is more attractive.

Ramble: Travel Journal Application Concept, Christine Elizabeth Curulla

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this project is to provide an easier and more engaging way for study abroad students to document their experiences. I wanted to collect data on the effectiveness of student journaling while abroad, and identify ways to improve the process through a mobile application.

Ramble is a social app I designed that provides a new question or prompt each day to encourage more frequent, fun journaling while traveling, and connection with others at home and abroad. Ramble solves problems that accompany traditional journaling by making the journaling process more accessible and requiring less time from the user.

Branding In Motion: How Animation And Branding Intersect To Support Nonprofits In Need, Shannon M. Steed

University Honors Theses

Nonprofits often don’t receive the kind of attention needed to garner a wide audience. Especially during the pandemic when the world has largely gone online, it can be a challenge for many of these organizations to adapt to the fast-paced digital landscape. This is largely due to a lack of access to resources and modern design practices to create more community visibility. This thesis is an exploration of how thoughtful design can bring these nonprofit events a new life. I created design systems for two nonprofit events, each with a digitally-focused approach and a focus on deeply considering the audience. …

For The Kingdom, Jack Conway

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

For The Kingdom is a tabletop board game that I have developed for my thesis. In my thesis, I would like to cover three areas that have been crucial to the development of the game- the guidebook created to support and facilitate the board game, the changes made due to player feedback and testing, and the potential paths to getting the game to the market. Before Talking about those three areas, however, I will first describe the games genre and a bit about my approach to developing it.

Apparel Students' Perception Of Denim Quality In Relation To Price And Brand, Karli Haws

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate apparel students’ perception of quality in denim jeans based on the influences of price and brand. The following research objectives were developed:

1. To determine if apparel students’ perceptions of garment quality are affected by price and brand.

2. To determine how apparel students perceive quality in a garment.

3. To determine if price and brand are indicators of quality to apparel students.

Exploring Women’S Sizing Chart: A View Into Psychosizing, Patience Billingsley

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The apparel industry lacks a universal sizing system and has created tactics to group consumers under a few generic sizes. The inconsistency in sizing has led to a struggle of consumers trying to find pieces of clothing that are not only their size but fit their measurements as well. An analysis of the sizing charts of 5 different women’s clothing private labels ranging from sizes 0-16 within two major department stores was assessed. The sizing charts within each individual store were evaluated, and then compared to one another. After calculating the sizing differences, an average of both store A and …

The Architecture Of Clothing: Notions Of Public And Private Space, Savannah Orsak

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Space, as defined as a three dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction, is conversely bound through clothing, architecture, and other margins that organize humanhood for everyday purpose. Continually, clothing imposes and extends itself into everyday experiences and dictates notions of interaction between both people and objects. In this written body of work, my intention is to explore public and private spatial influences within clothing and the ways in which these influences can be curated to reflect and evoke notions of interaction and identity. Following three related studies on space, form, and curation, a survey …

Small Town To The World Wide Web: Designing A Website For A Local Business, Madison Cozzens

Honors Projects

The Raspberry and The Rose is a small business in Medina, OH, and had a multitude of visual communication issues that needed to be solved. But what's an online presence without a website? "Small Town to the World Wide Web: Designing a Website for a Local Business" focuses on fulfilling a local business's need for a strong online presence. It dives into how a user's experience on the website can impact brand loyalty, foot traffic, and overall perception of a business. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide insight into how a non-e-commerce website can impact a business.

Tech-Sheet Infographics Designed For Tolosa Winery, Jennifer A. Craddock

Graphic Communication

Wineries produce thousands of wines that are individually altered by each growing season and conditions that Mother Nature presents, which vary year-by-year. From increased rainfall and fog conditions, to soil composition and vineyard proximity to the ocean, there are countless factors that go into each bottle’s unique taste and aroma. In order for consumers to understand the details of their wine they must know what aromas, growing conditions, and notes go into each bottle, hence the importance of having readily accessible “tech-sheets.”

For my senior project, I chose to revamp the informational tech sheets at Tolosa Winery during an 8-month …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

The Artist's Diary, Anamae Gilroy

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

What Interactive Web Features Are Most Used, Travis Tyler

Experiential Learning Projects

The use of interactive features in websites has become common place on the internet. People use these tools to help navigate and understand the content related to that website. However, due the large variety of websites it can be tricky to understand what features are best to utilize based on the topic of your site. This paper seeks to address this issue by researching how users interact and utilized different features on different websites. Research is gathered via scholarly articles and direct data gathered from volunteers. This data shows users tend to favor more interactive tools to help with navigation, …

Fast Fashion From A Buddhist Perspective, Elizabeth Mclaughlin

HON499 projects

The connection between Buddhism and fast fashion is not immediately apparent, nor is it a particularly well-researched area. However, the topic of consumption underlies both topics, relating to each in markedly different ways. Buddhist precepts outline practices of mindful and sustainable consumption within limited means; fast fashion fosters consumption on a massive, global scale. The work of Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, a man with a career in economics that was aided by great concern for the survival and success of humankind, offers clarity to the conversation about Buddhism and fast fashion. He pioneered the field of Buddhist economics, which seeks to …

Improving Academic Success: Creating A College Planning Resource For Students, Hannah Grunden

Honors Projects

Academic performance of students is a major concern for colleges, especially with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Research has shown that active involvement, the development of self-regulation skills, and improved mental health all have a considerable impact on college students’ academic success. Colleges like Bowling Green State University need to consider how they can use these factors and leverage resources to improve student performance. In this project, a solution is proposed in the form of a college/personal planner which is directly based off research on early academic success. While further, more specific research is needed to fully understand the issue and …

Digital Brand Identity Design From A User Experience Perspective, Isaiah Harwood

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As a graphic designer and as a creative in general, my interest has always been in the conceptualization and execution of brand identities. I am most comfortable as a designer when I am working in the realm of art direction, and most of my design heroes and inspirations are legendary art directors and designers like Paula Scher, Paul Rand, and Michael Bierut. Logo and wordmark design in particular are among my favorite aspects of design, and finding ways to creatively apply these foundational aspects of a brand to each stage of the user experience is exciting to me. The stages …

Artisan Tea Project Re-Brand, Alyssa J. Tong

Graphic Communication

Artisan Tea Project, a local cold brew tea pop-up in San Luis Obispo, aims to communicate the brand’s quality, simplicity, and creativity. The company is in need of design collateral that can best market the nuances of their product to target audiences, especially through digital means. The end result of the project is a fully re-branded company with a cohesive brand image that supports the company’s products, mission, and vision.

2+2=Cake: A Book Of Conversations About Possibilities In Business And Art, Elizabeth Ann Alspach

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

2+2=CAKE is a toolkit for people interested in creating their own economic container to support their livelihood. Calling upon the entrepreneurial experience of artists and creatives who founded or run organizations, the book and accompanying workbook and motivational posters serve as an incubator, buoy, and affirming resource for those looking to build the economic container in which they make their livelihood.

Print Foundation: Student Guide To Graphic Communication, Yeyoung Kim

Graphic Communication

This book covers the foundation of print technologies and information related to graphic communication and aims to resolve the absence of the graphic communication textbook for beginners. While there are plenty of professional and technical resources for students, it can be challenging to read professional books without prior knowledge on the subject. This book will also clarify the difference between the Graphic Communication major and the Graphic Design major at Cal Poly SLO.

The project began with the student survey on what they would want to be included in the introductory textbook and some of their additional suggestions were followed. …

Platforming Gamification As A Means Of Engagement In Employee Recruitment And Onboarding, Samuel D. Lipson

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gamification, generally understood as the application of game elements and design concepts in non-game contexts, is a field of academic study and multibillion-dollar business tool whose popularity is growing as a means of employee engagement, education and training, and talent selection. While there are companies that attempt to gamify separate processes within the employee life cycle, no company exists that gamifies the stages surrounding talent selection: attraction and recruitment of applicants and onboarding of final candidates. To this end, this thesis proposes a software and consulting company, GameON Business Solutions, that will work with small and medium enterprises to expand …

Beautiful People: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Fashion Industry's Thin Ideal, Shane White

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Negative body image among women has become an extremely relevant topic in the last decade. The “ideal” female body image and what a person should look like according to marketing and advertising has become a highly controversial issue. This project seeks to show how the fashion industry has, over centuries, shaped how people think they need to look and in today’s time and show how it has been a root cause of issues like body image complexes leading to negative self-perception, eating disorders, mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and addiction, and even suicide. Over the last three to four decades, …

Beauty And Lifestyle Subscription Services: A Modern Retailing Format For The Vigilante Collaborative Consumption Consumer, Melisa Spilinek

Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Advancements in technology and ease of use of online shopping via phone applications (apps) and subscription services have fundamentally changed how consumers shop. Now more than ever, consumers are turning to time-saving technological tools that are subscription services. Subscription services provide a multitude of benefits to consumers and contribute to collaborative consumption in nearly every product and service category from coffee to apparel. To investigate beauty and lifestyle subscription services and collaborative consumption this study will utilize a mixed methods convergent design to analyze user experience including price sensitivity, subscription service apps and ease of use. Anticipated contributions to the …

Media, Marketing, And More – How Social Technology Is Changing The Face Of Small Business, Lily Reynolds

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify the ways in which social media and marketing technology advances are affecting small retail businesses. A total of three interviews were conducted with working professionals in different areas along the fashion supply chain, and were contacted based on common acquaintances. Each interview was conducted over the phone, and lasted between ten minutes and half an hour, with guided and supplemental questions focusing on their experiences with technology in their fields. The results showed that each area was affected in numerous ways, from superficial business changes to advancements at the cores of their …

Exposing Racism In Fashion: How Black Women Navigate Societal Beauty Standards, Re'nae Dillard 21

Honor Scholar Theses

Throughout American history, Black women have been treated as the most inferior group. Social status is dependent on race, gender, and economic status. These factors contribute to overall social hierarchies. Whiter skin tones are more desired than darker tones. The fashion industry perpetuates white desirability while also displaying Black women as undesirable and inferior. The fashion industry is dominated by white males, and white women are the representations within fashion. Fashion, therefore, is a reflection of the white male’s ideal world: desirable white women, submissive Black women, and very few Black men. Black women however are changing the narrative within …

Megan Stout Design: Design Firm Business Plan, Megan Stout

MA Projects

Megan Stout Design is a full-service interiors firm rooted in delivering artful spaces
with a sense of easygoing elegance — from its architectural heritage to its modern spirit. We focus on high end residential and commercial hospitality projects coupled with art advisory services. We can assist in all aspects of a project from start to finish, including but not limited to consulting with architects and artists, as well as providing a tailor-made approach to finishes, furnishings, and custom drawings. Working within a clear and transparent time frame, we track everything from costs to schedules. We’re conversant in the languages of …