Senior Capstone

I affectionately refer to my Senior Capstone as “The Trifecta” as it combines my passion for graphic design, photography, and pottery.

In the fall of 2022, Gerry Kaplan became the new ceramics professor at Pennsylvania College of Technology. He came wearing a jumpsuit and with aspirations to foster the class into a serious ceramics program. Mr. Kaplan wants to mold a program to that similar of Pennsylvania State University. Because Pennsylvania College of Technology is more than a mouthful, he refers to his program as PCT Clay.
The ceramics program is already quite large, especially for the small room that it takes place in. The current studio is too tiny to comfortably contain all the students, supplies, and stacks of pottery that accumulate over the span of a semester. With the support of a broader audience, Kaplan hopes to convince Pennsylvania College of Technology that expanding upon the program would be beneficial for the community.
Kaplan’s ultimate goal is to establish a ceramics minor. Gathering support of the college and broader community will be paramount to this effort. The target audience includes high school students interested in enrolling at Penn College, current college students, and other institutes of higher education. Social media and printed materials will be used to communicate with the target audience, raise their awareness, and gather their support. Creating a brand identity for PCT Clay will include the following materials:
Deliverables
• 1 Logo Design
• Environmental Signage (1 Stairway Tiled Wall Sign, 1 Kiln Room Sign, 1 Glaze Room Sign)
• 1 Printed Informational Brochure
• 1 Printed Poster outside of the clay room that piques people’s interest in the program
• 1 Live Instagram Page (9 Instagram Posts)
• 1 YouTube Video
• Apparel
Gerry Kaplan just completed his first year of being the ceramics professor at Penn College. The ceramics program is highly sought after by the hands-on Penn College community. Every seat is always filled, and students wait on the waiting list to get a spot, sometimes for several semesters before they are able to secure a seat in Ceramics I.
The program offers Ceramics I and Ceramics II which teach students hand building, wheel throwing, mold making, and more. Students are responsible for creating and glazing their work. Mr. Kaplan handles the firing process. Ceramics III is an independent study where students can choose the processes that they are most interested in and expand upon them.
The target audience encompasses high school students interested in enrolling at Penn College, current PCT students, and other institutes of higher education. The brochure was made for those interested in learning more about the program, namely high school and college students interested in taking a ceramics class. Like the brochure, the poster outside the door piques the interest of those walking by. The environmental signage was developed with current students in mind, as they will be the ones physically occupying the space that the signs reside in. Current students will also be interested in the apparel. The Instagram caters to everyone interested in PCT Clay, from aspiring high school potters interested in Penn College, current students who would like to be up to date with the ongoings in the program, and alumni and staff who are also interested. The YouTube video fits this demographic as well.
1. To independently research, design, and produce a logo design, informational brochure, poster, live Instagram page, YouTube video, apparel line, and environmental signage for PCT Clay.
2. To receive and apply critique from professors, peers, and my “client,” Mr. Kaplan.
3. To apply previously learned skills such as typography, branding, photography, and environmental design to produce the deliverables.
4. To evaluate and maintain progress to ensure that all deadlines are met.
5. To produce an instructional video on YouTube and gain experience with videography.
6. To create an effective brand identity for PCT Clay.
7. To organize information in a way that it can be communicated to the general public.
8. To engage with an audience through visuals, signage, and social media.
9. To successfully present my project to the Penn College Art and Design faculty.
While I have been a potter for six years and have used the ceramics room at Penn College for two years now, there was still plenty of research that was needed to complete this project. I started by looking at Penn State’s ceramics program. This was a great place to start because Penn College is affiliated with Penn State. Penn State has an established program that has its own website and Instagram that I used to get an idea of what PCT Clay could look like.
I included the course descriptions from the Penn College website in the brochure to ensure consistency between the new PCT Clay and the preexisting identity for the program. Mr. Kaplan visited the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference and was kind enough to bring me a whole bag full of posters, brochures, postcards, and more from college ceramic programs across the United States. This provided me with a diverse point of reference when it came to visuals and branding used by other programs.

Logo

Mr. Kaplan chose PCT Clay as the name of the program. I wanted to include a pot and drew inspiration from a classic Greek pottery form and the stamps that potters use to sign their work.

To see the process behind the logo, view the thumbnail, rough, and comp below. The comp includes the rough draft of the color palette that I used for the branding.

Thumbnail Sketches

Roughs

Comp with Rough Color Scheme

Brochure

After the logo, I tackled the brochure. I used it to establish what I wanted the PCT Clay brand to look like, including the colors and typefaces. I went with a deep blue as the dominant color. It was a nod to Penn College’s blue but distinct enough to distinguish a brand of its own. Blue is a calming color and ceramics is a relaxing activity that is beneficial to mental health. I used Museo Slab as my dominant typeface to contrast with the curvilinear elements. The slabs on the typeface relate to the slabs of clay that are used to create hand-built pottery.

The logo drew inspiration from stamps that potters use to sign their work, so I stamped the logo onto the wheel thrown pot on the cover. The cover was also die cut to highlight the contour of the pottery and to add visual interest.

Poster

The poster invites people passing by the ceramics room to come and “get their paws dirty.” I used a “bird’s eye” point of view of my own pottery and of Mr. Kaplan throwing to create a pawprint. This paw subtly reflects Penn College’s branding to make PCT Clay appear right at home.

When I started my senior project, one of my goals was to replace the ancient poster that had been residing in the hallway outside of the ceramics room longer than anyone could remember. The colors were faded, and it took a can of WD-40 to pry the door open.

Environmental Signage

The ceramics room is full of many things, including signage to inform students to do this and that, and don’t do this and that. While adequately serving their purpose, some of the signs were typed in Microsoft Word, some were done in marker, and none of them have a consistent look to them. I wanted to create functional signs that had visual appeal and the humor that could be found in the original signage.

My deliverables only included 3 signs, but when I saw black text highlighted in green created in Microsoft Word (sorry, not sorry Mr. Kaplan) I had to do something about it. Using the branding established in the first set of signs, I developed a second set of signs that have same functionality as the originals pictured below, but in a more visually appealing way. I also included some additional information helpful for students.

YouTube Video

I have been a photographer for years, but my videography experience up until this point has been next to nothing. Always eager to expand my skillset, I tackled producing an instructional YouTube video. YouTube itself was helpful, as I watched tutorials to learn how to use Adobe Premeire. Mr. Kaplan did his thing, as I set up four cameras, lighting, and a backdrop. You can watch the result here or use the panel to the right.

Instagram

The Instagram includes the branded typeface, colors, and humor found in the rest of the project. It was important to me to utilize my photography skills, so all of the photos are my own. I also wanted to include GIFs, as they add variety to the images and relate to the YouTube video. For a preview of the page, look below. To view the live Instagram, please click here.