On May 12, the Lake Washington Institute of Technology hosted their Annual Applied Research Symposium, where students of all disciplines came together and presented what they’ve learned through their research and applied experiences to the community.
The event was held both in person and virtually, and included posters, visual arts and presentation sessions. All attendees were able to communicate with the student presenters.
“I’m really proud of what we put together, and I do feel that this is a benefit for our students and for our college,” said Michael Rodriguez, Associate Professor in the biology department.
Virtual and live presentations at the symposium consisted of “Structure and Bonding of Diamond, Graphite, and Fullerene,” by Brianna Bonds, Arohee Kumar, Alex Gale, Tucker Wilson and Kwan Jie Lee; “Does Milk Do an Autistic Kid Body Good?” by Athena Rospo; “Mathematical Modeling for Computer Vision,” by Christian Tarta, Nicholas Develle, Han Ji, Kwan Jie Lee, and Alex Gale.
Featured posters at the symposium included “Isolating Antibiotic Producing Bacteria from Soil Isolates,” by Tucker Wilson; “Antibiotic Producers Discovered in Soil Microbes,” by Hadiya Amjad, Hanah Nguyen and Lidiia Gagarina; “READYPCB Prototype,” by Carlos Fernandez; “Possible Antibiotic Producer Bacteria Found in Soil Sample,” by Morgan Perry; “Flatpack Dollhouse,” by Asha Thomas; “Laser Therapy as an Adjunct to SRP Compared to SRP Alone for Patients with Periodontitis,” by Elizabeth Bratulin and Jennifer Yamaura; and “Breaking the Silence Campaign,” by Sage Abplanalp.
A look into ‘Breaking the Silence Campaign’
Abplanalp and Olga Okhapina, from the Public Health BAS program at LWIT, worked on a campaign to educate people about postpartum depression in a way that helped to destigmatize the topic.
Abplanalp created a brand campaign that consisted of a brochure, a fact sheet, a poster series, and matching informational Instagram carousels.
During the research process, Abplanalp had to first understand the context she was creating, which required sifting through research documentation provided by Okhapina and looking for the core of the issue. The target audience was primarily mothers, but also friends and family members.
For the campaign, Abplanalp conducted two interviews and incorporated the content to form personas from that.
“One of the big take-aways from my interviews was that there seems to be a cultural and generational difference in how people view postpartum depression,” noted Abplanalp. “Depending on where you live and how old you are people are more or less likely to be open to talking about it or even believing it exists in the first place.”
The factsheet was the first asset designed and set the visual aesthetic for the entire campaign. Nude colors were chosen to express a level of vulnerability, and photographs were paired with quotes that approximated what was being expressed through research.
The design process based on the factsheet for the “Breaking the Silence” campaign by Sage Abplanalp.
The completed content was originally intended to be placed within perinatal clinics, while fact sheets and questionnaire brochures were created to be used in lobbies. The goal of the poster series was to appeal to sympathy and direct clients to the informational campaign on Instagram through QR codes.
Abplanalp believes her campaign was successful and effective at communicating with the target audience in the way she intended, and if she were to continue this project, she would create a posting plan for Instagram with the hopes of reaching a greater audience.
For more information or to check out the posters and presentations click here.
