East Village Final Design. Stress

East Village Project

Three problems in my neighborhood

• People need to be more encouraged to  recycle. People recycle about only 30% of what could have been recycled. Why are we too lazy to recycle when we know it will be such a good help?
• My neighborhood has too many trash bags outside their residences, why isn’t there a better system for trash?
• There is so much stress in my surroundings (Chosen Topic)

Freshmen college students suffer from stress

My research regarding this topic started in the East Village, I interviewed some people and got my idea from my own photoblog to start looking into stress, as I started taking pictures every week of my neighborhood I realized a pattern of people that looked like they were loosing their mind. I found a lot of freshmen students residences and realized all the students appeared to be the most stressed which made me decide to go further on the problem and find out what is causing freshmen students stress.

I started off by looking for books in the library and articles on the internet, interviewed 4 students and an academic advisor where I got to the conclusion most students stress the most about school because they don’t manage time right, everyone procrastinates at some point, also, stress is an omnipresent issue in New York.

Freshmen college students in New York suffer from stress. My design solves this by creating a “stress-free garment”. I will create a garment that transmits comfort for students. The branding of the garment will target young students with tips on how to deal with stress. Each garment comes with a well designed card with an advice on how to relax.

MoodBoard

 

Color Palette

 

Fabric Research

 

 

Black and White Sketches

 

Color Sketches

Prototype. Documentation

 

Final Product/ Styled photos:

For the styled photos, I decorated a dorm room in order to create a stress-free set. When you have a well decorated environment it can help release stress. I had help of two friends, one a photographer and another one that would make sure everything was looking good in the picture. In this pictures I am trying to show how if you manage time right while working there is no need to stress because you end up finishing on time in order to have time for yourself and relax.

I approached this assignment by creating a solution to the problem. My solution is to create a brand that focuses on students by distressing them with quotes and really comfortable simple clothing. For the branding of my garment I wanted to give out a Stress-free card every time you buy a piece from our company WhyStress. I gave these out at the lobby of The New School to see people’s reactions after seeing them. People seemed to need some words to help them distress.

Our goal is to let students know they are not alone, stress may be everywhere but it can also be controlled with your attitude.

After giving out these cards, students seemed really happy to get some encouragement as to not stress out, because we are in one of the most stressful times of the year – Finals. I will try to document now more card I give out because I didn’t do that the first time.

In conclusion I realized there is no way freshmen college students in New York are not stressed out, they just need to find a way to cope with stress in a positive way. Hopefully people understand that there are ways to deal with stress in a positive and negative way..  relying in drugs is not the best answer and the best way to get through college is learning how to manage time. In my interview with Theresa Vitale -Academic advisor I asked her to give some advice to upcoming freshmen students “​​​No one is perfect.  Practicing what works best for you, good planning and organization, and a healthy balance can build you up for success so that stress doesn’t negatively affect your life. Keep trying until you find a method that works for you.”. Learn how to loosen up for a little and stay positive, too much stress doesn’t help anyone.

 

 

Research paper. Stress