Tag Archives: capstone proposal

Capstone Project: Student Loan Debt

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For my capstone project I want to discuss the social issue of the increase in college student loan debt and the disadvantages it creates on the economy and students after graduation. In 2014, seven in ten students graduated with student loan debt with an average of $28,950 per borrower. Students with major debt after college tend to postpone marriage, childbearing, home ownership, and the desire to open new businesses and endure the risks of entrepreneurship. #InTheRed is a campaign addressing a need for better higher education affordability. RED stands for the implement of the Reducing Education Debt act created by select democratic senators. The Red act plans on encouraging 2 years of tuition free community college and student loan refinancing at lower interest rates.

The two media objects that I will present in my project are an infographic file, as well as a remixed video with some animation within. My infographic file is going to introduce the topic and provide graphs and charts that I make within photoshop and illustrator to show the increase in student debt over time. The infographic is gong to introduce the Reducing Education Debt act and provide a section of other organizations that have contributed towards finding ways to eliminate student debt. One of these organizations is SponsorChange which allows graduates to get involved in volunteer volunteer projects, donors then help the students chip away at their student debt in return for their volunteer work. The remixed video is going to include different news clips of democratic senators discussing #InTheRed and other personal stories of individuals and how student debt has impacted and/or hindered their life after graduation.

Evan Torres | Paper Vs. Web Comics

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My capstone project will have a focus on webcomics, in particular, webcomics versus traditional comics. Potential topics would include some comparing and contrasting of the two, a brief history of both, views and opinions on what the general public thinks of them, and maybe even the different styles of the two.

Web and traditional comics might have totally different mediums, but the styles they have are often quite similar to one another, by which I mean they can be roughly sorted into two categories: Strips and stories. My project would go into detail about what these two coined styles mean, as well as provide external links to various comic publishers’ websites.

Comic strips are what you might expect: A series of three to four panels usually telling a joke. There are more than enough examples of these in traditional format (Peanuts, Garfield), but there are a few examples of this in digital form as well (Penny Arcade, PvP). Likewise, stories are more elaborate and detailed, taking form in traditional mediums as comic books, and in webcomics as whole pages posted over a set time.

Additionally, I could very easily go into detail on whether or not multimedia comics and flash animations count as “webcomics.” Since this is somewhat subjective, I would probably do my comparing and contrasting here using an infographic, displaying the differences between these types of media and standstill images. Of course, I still need to use remixed media, so I could probably use it to help make this point by creating a short video detailing how this type of comic looks and feels.