Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2013
Capstone Advisor
Professor Sherri Taylor
Honors Reader
Professor Jeff Passetti
Capstone Major
Graphic Design
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Art and Design | Education | Graphic Design
Abstract
My Honors Capstone Project is entitled “Branding and Web Design for Inkululeko: With Freedom Comes Hope.” I worked with a Syracuse native, Jason Torreano, who recently started up an education nonprofit in Grahamstown, South Africa. This program is called Inkululeko, which, in the local Xhosa language, means “freedom.” The organization seeks to combat the inequalities in education that are a result of Apartheid in South Africa. They operate under the belief that anyone deserves a quality education, and that education is the key to success in a place where people have been denied it for so long.
This project allowed me to combine my interest in education with my skills in graphic design. I have been tutoring students from Somalia for the past four years at Syracuse, and although their situation is different, I have realized how important education is to a child or teen’s success. So I was drawn to this project because it allowed me to mix two of my passions together for a good cause.
I did the majority of my work on this project when school was not in session, because I knew that this was the only time I would be able to design with a clear head. I designed the logo over winter break of my junior year, exchanging ideas with Jason the whole time. I began with sketches, and once we had settled on one that we liked, I began adding colors and typefaces. The finished product is an abstract combination of a sun emerging from a book. As per Jason’s request, the logo’s colors are bright (red, orange and yellow) and evoke a message of hope, change and movement.
After I returned from studying abroad in the spring of my junior year, I began work on Inkululeko’s website. I had never designed a real website before, only non-functional mock-ups for class. Since I did not know how to code in HTML/CSS, I enlisted the help of a friend and iSchool student, Julie Dellinger, to code the site for me. After I designed each page in Adobe InDesign, I would send them to her to start coding. The process took the majority of the summer, and extended into the school year. During the fall of my senior year, I took a basic web design class, and am now able to make minor updates to the site at Jason’s request. In the future, Julie plans to create a Wordpress theme from the site, which would allow anyone – even those with no background in web design – to edit the site. In this way, it would function almost like a blog. Additionally, Jason has hired an intern to take my place next year, and I have been training this student and providing her with the necessary materials to carry on what I have started with Inkululeko.
View the site: http://www.inkululeko.org/
Recommended Citation
Clark, Allison, "Branding and Web Design for Inkululeko: With Freedom Comes Hope" (2013). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 23.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/23
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