Design and Branding for KOEP © by Sarah Koep

MAY 2020

ko ep

Sarah E. KoEP

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SENIOR PROJECT GRC 462

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ABSTRACT KOEP Š is a clothing brand created to sell and market graphic tees centered around the COVID-19 pandemic. The quirky apparel was designed to bring a glimmer of joy in the midst of global chaos as well as raise money for the COVD-19 Solidarity Response Fund. I plan on continuing to operate and maintain the business after graduating.

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ABOUT ME Hi! My name is Sarah Koep. I created KOEP © in May 2020 towards the end of my undergraduate career at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. I recently received my Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Communication with a concentration in Design Reproduction Technology. I built KOEP © from the ground up. In other words, I am responsible for the magic behind all clothing design, website design, marketing, and merchandising.

One might call me a “boss”. When I’m not designing, you might find me performing comedy, on a run, attempting to cook, or out with friends.

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CO NT EN TS IRB statement Problem statement

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Project OBJECTIVES 13 Deliverables 14 THE PROCESS

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T-Shirt DesignS 26 THE Brand 34 WEBSITE DESIGN

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INSTAGRAM 44 PRODUCT SALES

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REFLECTION 46

IRB statement I am conducting this activity as a function of my education at Cal Poly. The activity is not a systematic investigation. Therefore, the activity is not research and an IRB review is not needed.

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Problem statement I had never designed clothing or created an online marketplace before, so I thought it would be fun to give myself the opportunity to try it. At the beginning of 2020, our world was struck by a global pandemic known as COVID-19.

Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to save lives or donate millions to help fight the virus, but I do have the ability to make a small difference. I thought a good way to give back to my community was to use my skills to design and sell clothes, then donate part of the money made to the cause. It was an opportunity for me not only to learn how to run a small business and design every aspect of it, but also an opportunity to make people smile and aid the fight against COVID-19.

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Project OBJECTIVES My main objective was to learn how to accomplish a large goal that I set for myself with self-made deadlines.

I did so by creating a calendar filled with goals for the project and dates I wanted to complete them by. I broke my overall goal down into smaller goals that I completed over the course of ten weeks. Another objective of mine was to prevent myself from procrastinating.

I ended up combatting procrastination by setting aside a particular time every week to check on my overall progress.

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Deliverables T- s h i r t s

Website

Instagram

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T I M E

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L I N E

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G A M E

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P L A N

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T H E P R O C E S S 20

Getting Started I started my process by creating the classic mood board. I knew I wanted the shirts to have fun pops of color and semi-retro illustrations. Here are just a few images I took inspiration from.

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FIrst Drafts Right from the start, I knew I wanted my shirt designs to be creative and COVID-19 related. I just didn’t know what exactly that would look like. I also wanted to make sure the content of each shirt wasn’t too specific or niche. I wanted them to relate to current events without being too on the nose.

Here is one of my initial sketches. Above the two happy characters, it says “I’m staying inside.” I thought about making several designs all with the caption “I’m staying inside.” but decided it was a little vague and the drawings (like this one) lacked a relatability factor.

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SECOND DRAFTS My second drafts were where my vision really started coming to life. I decided to focus less on a fun quarantine catchphrase and more on quarantine activities. The use of very bright monochrome color schemes make the designs look modern and unique.

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T-shirt COLOR SCHEME

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FINAL

t-shirt DESIGNS Each of these designs was hand-drawn and then finalized in Adobe Illustrator.

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how im feeling right now...

I call this first design “Mind Map”. It’s the most abstract design of the bunch. The wild shapes and colors are supposed to represent a person’s mind while quarantine: scrambled.

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Knitting!

This design is called “At My Knit’s End!” and was inspired by all my friends who have taken up knitting as a result of being stuck at home.

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Baking!

This design is called “For Goodness Bakes!� and was created for the same reason I designed the previous tee.

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“thanks!” “you’re lookin’ sharp.”

This design is called “Boss Thinks I’m Lookin’ Sharp Tee”. First of all, I personally think that’s a really awesome name for a t-shirt.

I think this design speaks for itself.

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VI

RT UAL

This design is called “Online Skool”. A lot of jokes have been floating around the past couple of months amongst college students that they now attend “Zoom University” since all classes have been moved online. So I thought this design was very on trend and relatable.

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stay home stay home

YO U T H AT NH KA NY KO U

This design is called “Stay-At-Home Tee”. The “stay home” is the front design while the rest is the back design. This design as a whole is my attempt at streetwear for the more modern customer.

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Brand creation After finalizing my t-shirt designs, I was finally able to move forward with the next step of my project: the brand. I was very pleased with the happy colors and unique vibes of my shirt designs so I wanted my brand to reflect that. After thinking about it for a couple of days, I realized that I, as a person, actually reflected those things very well, so what better name for my company than my own! Plus, the word “Koep” is short, catchy, and one of a kind.

The logo came very soon after the name decision. The best explanation I can give for my logo choice is that it just makes sense. It was honestly one of my very first iterations and it immediately stuck.

Lastly, I needed a brand slogan. I thought about my own values when it came to buying clothes, and eventually decided on “Wear Your Personality.” The clothes I designed have a lot of personality, so you have to have the confidence to rock them.

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LOGO

ko ep MOTTO

TYPEFACES

Anton LUlo Clean Arial Black Helvetica Bold TYPEFACES The target market for this brand is definitely Gen Z, specifically college age women. I took a lot of my design inspiration from the quarantine activities I saw my peers partaking in so I think that age group would be the most drawn to it. Plus, the bright colors, inclusive message, and sans-serif font are definitely more geared towards them.

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WEBSITE COLOR SCHEME

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FINAL

WEbsite DESIGN This took hours upon hours upon hours to create.

LIVE SITE:

https://www.koepapparel.com/

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Checking out & DONATING

It’s very small and hard to see in the photo below, but at checkout it tells the customer to “Add a note” of which charity they would like the proceeds from their purchase to go to. If the customer does not add a note then the money automatically goes to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund.

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SPING/SUMMER MOOD BOARD

You look nice today.

518 k followers

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PRODUCT SALES As you have seen throughout this process book, I completed virtually all of the tasks I set out to complete and I am very proud of that. However, one thing I was not able to do because of outstanding circumstances was raise $500 for COVID-19 relief within the 10-week period. The reason I was not able to reach this goal in the end had to do with two things. One being that shipping shirts to my home has taken a very long time because of coronavirus. The other reason is I do not feel comfortable advertising or selling my apparel while Black Lives Matter protests are still occurring. My brand feels like the wrong thing to focus on at this time.

With all that being said, I still intend to sell and raise money in the coming months when I feel the time is right!

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REFLECTION A t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h i s q u a r t e r, I w a s excited about this project, but had absolutely no idea where to start. It seemed like too big of a challenge to tackle, so naturally I procrastinated doing it. This didn’t affect anything for a while until I realized one day that this project wasn’t going to magically do itself. It wasn’t the type of project I could do the night before or even the week before. It took planning, self-discipline, and hours of hard work.

I think I ended up doing all of that, but were there still things I could have done better? 100% yes. Though I did eventually get a move on with this project, I could have done so much earlier. If I had started earlier, I would have been under less stress and gotten a n e v e n b e t t e r r e s u l t . I c o u l d h a v e maybe made more designs. I could have sketched out every move. I could have done a lot of things.

Overall, I am extremely proud of what I accomplished and what I can do with it in the future. I am also happy I gained such valuable time management skills.

This was truly an eye-opening experience that I am grateful to have had.

Thank you for reading!

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For educacational purposes only.