This is my Capstone project at SUNY Cobleskill, similar to a senior thesis for other areas of study. This was created in my Senior Seminar class, which started August 2024, and concluded at the end of the semester in May 2025. This project started by identifying a problem, which could be anything.
Once we found that problem, we had to start to brainstorm solutions. At first, it started with simple design solutions for a logo. I started by exploring typographical solutions, then added iconography as well.
The name was a decisive topic for a few weeks, until I decided on Off The Benches, at the conclusion of the fall semester, which eventually became "Off The Bench" at the start of the spring semester.
Off The Bench is a program that serves kids from ages 12-18 (middle-high school), and provides a place for them to play baseball, if they weren't given the opportunity to play on their school's team. I came to this solution after interviewing people of many different baseball backgrounds and coming to the conclusion that if there were more opportunities, more kids would be playing. Because I went to an incredibly small high school (my class had 16 kids), we had the opportunities whenever we wanted, but I realized that this is an incredibly niche situation, and providing a nationwide program that can be instituted by any community, has the opportunity to exponentially increase the range of baseball with youth.
Throughout the two semesters working on this project, we had to work on a "Process Book" that as the name suggests, shows our process from start to finish. My complete process book can be found here
The final logo, which was originally created during a brainstorming session in January and not touched until late February. I was having trouble figuring out what my final logo would be, when one of my professors saw it in passing and loved it. I made some small revisions, added color, and couldn't be happier with the result!
Once the digital production was finished, I had to move to my physical production. At the conclusion of the fall semester, my classmates and I had a discussion with our professor about what we wanted out of this project, including our physical elements. I immediately determined I'd want jerseys, as the jersey is such an important piece of baseball. I also made hats, stationary, and secondary paperwork, like uniform and glove order forms. Finally, I also designed and cut vinyl graphics for the wall, including the logo on the left of the posters, and the "Big 3" Icons (Base, Ball, Home) on top of the posters.
Left- Me with my Showcase Setup
Right- Posters, Order Forms, and Stationary Mockups
