What is Capstone?

I am Grace McDonald, a senior student studying Interactive Design. As a senior at Maryville University, we art majors take what is called Capstone.

Capstone is a senior-level course, consisting of one big project and lots of little projects.

What does this mean? With one big project, we have the freedom to choose a cause to design for. This can be anything, made up preferably. As if we have all the money in the world, we can create an entire brand for this made-up cause.

One main idea can be spread into an umbrella of things to design for. Just as any company has its own website and line of items to shop from, I too must think of things that I can include in my brand experience.

Small projects that we can include in our big project:

• Website
• App
• Product Line(s)
• Merchandise

To begin our Capstone process, we need to ideate. I first come up with as many brand ideas as I can, because since I’d like to create a brand experience, I want to think of things that I too want to use and see integrated into my community someday.

Brands I thought of pursuing during this process:

Houseplant&Co. — A local business selling beginner-friendly houseplants, starts, propagations, educational planting books, soil, etc.

CoWool — A local shepherd and wife created their business selling authentic, ethically harvested, knit wool sweaters, coats, hats, mittens, and socks.

Paper Corner — A recycled paper store that focuses on reusing recycled paper in their lines of notebooks, pads, sketchbooks, and planners.

Keep up to date with my blog profile to see what direction my Capstone project goes!