Capstone Project Proposal Draft

Name of student: __Genevieve Preddy____________________ Date: ___10/15/22__

Teacher: ____________Ms. Brar Block: ______C

The Capstone strand I have chosen is ______Entrepreneur________________________

Proposed title for my Project Proposal: (write the proposed title for your Capstone Project in one clear
sentence): Starting my own sticker business on etsy.

_________________________________________________________________________________

What is your inquiry question that interests you for further research? It should be a question that connects with
a purpose, passion or personalized area of interest for you. This is a question that you cannot just google an
answer for. Please see examples from your Capstone booklet.
My inquiry question is:

How do I make profitable designs that appeal to my targeted audience but still stays true to how I want to
present my art.

Rationale/context: Detail your reasons for choosing this inquiry question. Explain WHY you are choosing to
investigate this topic as a major area of focus. How does this area of inquiry connect to your passion(s),
purpose? Why is it of personal interest to you?

There is a lot of competition in the sticker community on etsy and so I know I have to make stickers the
targeted audience are most likely to enjoy. What’s really important to me, however, is keeping my art unique
and true to me. I don’t want to do what every else is doing but I’m afraid that my designs won’t sell
otherwise. My inquiry question allows me to further overcome that fear and learn in the process. Who
knows maybe I’ll have to come up with a compromise? There is even a possibility that I may like making
designs that speak more to others, I just need to try it out first. In the end the answer to this question will
have many benefits to my future in graphic design and figuring out how I like to go about making my art.

Background: What background knowledge/connections/prior learning do you have in this area of inquiry?

I’ve already done a little bit of research on what’s popular in the sticker community and I enjoy quite a few
of the ideas people have come up with. It makes me excited to try some in my own way. Otherwise I don’t
know much except for how I like to design my art.
Career connections: What is your intended career area at this point in time? What connections does this
inquiry question have to your life, academic and/ or career goals?

I would love to become a graphic designer for my career and this inquiry question would be a great way to
discover if I can design a product a client would an appeal to. In graphic design you make other people’s
vision come true and this business will give me a lot of insight into that part of the career. In college I’ll also
be taking business classes because that really interests me and who knows it might be involved in my
career. This small business will also give me some good insight into what it means to start a business. My
skills in digital art will also increase because of how many designs I plan on attempting/achieving.

Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections: What subject areas and core competencies will
be connected with your project? Outline and explain the connections.

The subject areas I am exploring are graphic design and business, with a little bit of marketing.
One of my strong core competencies is that I am personally responsible, self-motivated, and can advocate
for myself. This strength will be very helpful because I am doing the entrepreneur strand which involves a
lot of personal responsibility and self-motivation. To own your own business, you need to be dependent of
yourself and since I am personally responsible, I won’t have a problem with that.
I can analyze and critique my own work. This core competency strength will help ensure my products are
staying at their best quality. I won’t stop until they’re perfect and that’s exactly what my customers will want.
I understand the purpose of my work and consider my audience. It’s important that I know what my targeted
audience wants. I believe I can achieve this in my business because I am part of that targeted audience. I
love buying stickers and sticker sheets, I’ll also do my research and see what others like as well.

Capstone Presentation medium: select one or more project mediums you wish to use to present your
project. Outline and give details about how you will present your project once completed. You may use a
combination of mediums.
o Electronic portfolio: Prezi or PPT
o Physical portfolio
o Website
o iMovie presentation
o YouTube channel

I will be doing an electronic portfolio for my presentation on PowerPoint. My first slide will
be a basic overview of what my business is. I will then have a slide for branding that will
have all my logos on it and my Instagram account. On this slide I will explain what I
learned about marketing and coming up with my own brand. The next slide will be about
how I design my stickers, maybe I’ll even add in a video of me designing one of them. I’ll
have a product slide talking about all the products I made. Another one for how I
package and ship my orders. Lastly a detailed overview and conclusion about the reality
of running a business, my overall thoughts on it all, and my succession from my
business.
Description of my Capstone project. Specific Project Details of the Capstone Project: what will you
research, create, study, produce, solve, investigate? What product will be produced at the end of this
project for evaluation. Write a one-page description outlining your proposal.

First I came up with sticker sheet ideas, this is the list of ideas:
 Sunday breakfast- eggs, toast, croissant, strawberries, waffles, whip cream, orange juice, french
toast, bacon.
 Meal plan- meals with their ingredients separated
 Artists desk-water glass, paint tubes, dirty paint brush, 
 Autumn’s aesthetic - pumpkins, coffee, tote bag, books, candles, leaves, blanket
 Cottagecore
 Animals interacting with objects-fox,bear,bunny
 Planner stickers- goal chart, to do chart,notes page.
 Planner stickers 2- important!!!, months, days, numbers
 Coffee
 Dessert dinosaurs
 Winter cats
 Mushroom people
 Flower people
 Animals wearing onesies 
 Turtles with flowers for shells

Mystery sticker bundle- a randomized group of stickers from each of my sheets, 30 random stickers,
add special stickers that aren’t in any of the sheets

Then I needed to come up with a brand name and I thought of sticky sketches.
I also searched up all the materials that I need and I made a budget of $200 dollars for myself. I made sure
to put the extra cost in for more eco friendly packaging and the fees from Etsy. There is quite a lot I have to
research such as how to price things and ship things but a lot of the other stuff like learning how to run an
Etsy business I’ve already watched countless of videos on.
I’m a little nervous about actually making the stickers because I’ve never done something like this and I
really want it to turn out great. I also don’t know how to print with sticker paper yet but it’s all about trial and
error.
My design process will start in my sketchbook, I sketch thumbnails and developed ideas of all the sticker
ideas I want to make. Then I’m hoping to meet up with an illustrator and have them give me advice on my
drawings. Then I’ll put them to the digital paper, I’m hoping to design at least two sticker sheets (later does
1).
After I’ve designed my logo, business card, thank you cards, and sticker sheets, I will then meet up with a
graphic designer to get some tips on how to later design my sticker sheets and get advice on the one I
have already created.. I will also put up a instagram account to help market my business. There I will put
things like design updates and sneak peaks, new sticker sheets that are or will be available, events ( when
things go on sale).
I also have an extra room to do all this but it is currently used for storage, so I will have to clean that out
 and set everything up.

Resources/ Technology/Skills: Make an assessment of the resources, technology and skills you will
need to be able to complete this project. What is your plan to be able to access/learn all of the resources
necessary to achieve completion of this project? Detail your plans.

One thing I considered was how hard it was going to be to run a website myself. That is primarily the
reason why I am using Etsy because it’s super beginner friendly and it does almost everything for you.
There is a little more expense for Etsy though, they charge you for putting things up for sail, only 20 cents
though. I’ve never used sticker paper before with my printer so I will have to figure that out. Otherwise I
already know how to use adobe for designing my stickers. I think that making sure everything is printed to
the right measurements will take trial and error, but I think I can do it.

Mentors/Community Connections: What types of mentor(s)/community connections will you need to

help you complete your capstone project? How will your mentor(s) help you? What is your plan to access
the mentorship/community connections necessary for this project?

Originally, I was going to get mentored by an Etsy seller my moms friend knew but she declined. I have
another option to be mentored by an illustrator that my neighbour knows. I will still try to find an Etsy seller
to mentor me because I think having a business mentor will help a lot. A mentor I’m hoping will give me
tips on what to do and what not to do. I’m hoping they go over how they started out and how they grew
because I would love to hear about that. My main option for finding a mentor is through other people, If I
really can’t find one, I will try to get in touch with someone online maybe even through Etsy. If not, I have
a back up animator that is a family friends’ wife.

Project limitations: What are some project limitations and potential obstacles that you foresee that might
affect progress with your Capstone Project?

I believe my biggest project limitation is that building a small business is a long process. I’ve decided that
my goal is to at least design 4 sticker sheets and have my website set up. I also know there will be trial
and error with my designs because I’ve never designed anything like this before but I’m willing to try.
There’s so much I have to learn about running a business, how to ship packages and price things, etc.

Other considerations: List and detail any other related information/ considerations about your project
that you feel should be included in your project proposal.
I have a feeling this proposal is going to change a lot compared to my end result.