(Jan. 7, 2020) – I have been offering a senior capstone course on Web and Print design since Fall 2017. This required course is offered every fall.
Communication majors specializing in digital media, communication minors concentrating in digital media and Innovation and Entrepreneurship majors/minors can enroll in this course. In this course, students apply their knowledge and skills of graphic and web design and video production for web and social media for local community organizations.
Partnership with community and local organizations
In the last three years, this class partnered with Baltimore-based charities, nonprofits, and social innovation initiatives, such as William & Lanaea Featherstone Foundation, Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland, Pivot, and Touching Young Lives. The capstone class also partnered with on-campus units such as the counseling center and the office of Annual Giving.
For many students enrolled in this class, it is their first-time experience working with a client directly. In some cases, clients adopt and utilize the content and design that students create in this capstone class. Moreover, students get to know about the clients and their programs that serve underserved, immigrants and marginalized communities in the Baltimore area. In some cases, they end up interacting with the beneficiaries of charities and social innovation initiatives.
The rewarding experience of this class for students also reflected in the blog post, “Creative journeys are rarely linear,” by our guest speaker Matt DeVille, VP Digital of a branding agency Fifteen4, as he wrote,
“the students in Dr. Biswas’ class are impressive. Of course, they are concerned with how they will enter the workforce, but they also are keenly interested in learning about the culture of companies and how they might fit in. And frankly, that’s a great place to start.”
Matt DeVille (2019). “Creative Journeys are Rarely Linear”
Examples of capstone projects utilized by clients
- Website Update for Pivot (Pivot’s website): Students (Alden Coyne, Megan Stangis and Elisa Jonas) added new pages/sections under “About” and “What We Do.” Also, they updated the News section (Capstone Project, Fall 2019).
- A video for the Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland’s volunteering program (Capstone Project by Ashley Nicholson, Tara Howell and Savannah Brogan, Fall 2017).
- A video for the Featherstone Foundation’s scholarship program (Capstone Project by Aaron Petit and Justin Pasthila, Fall 2019).
- Loyola Counseling Center has utilized some of the graphic design items from fall 2019 capstone class projects since they have relaunched their “Belongingness” campaign on campus. (Designed by Emily Fitzsimmons, Noah Gallen, Peter Goodman, and Meghan Daly).
- An app prototype for the GFTD app client (Capstone Project, Fall 2018).
- Capstone client Pivot has been utilizing email newsletter templates created by a Capstone student #CM401 pic.twitter.com/6LCM7XwpU9
— Mas Biswas (@MasBiswas) December 12, 2019