HANDLE WITH CARE:
Product Design & Branding
Spring 2024
Handle With Care is a self-care kit that emphasizes taking self-care on the go and incorporates self-care suggestions with varying time requirements to enable self-care to fit into a busy schedule. Handle With Care helps women make sure to put themselves on the calendar.
THE IDEA:
Amidst the stress of balancing academics, work, and social life, I realized the crucial need to prioritize and care for oneself in order to thrive in these diverse environments.
College-aged women are often pulled in many different directions, making self-care practices become the first thing to get left behind.
THE QUESTION:
PRIMARY RESEARCH:
I interviewed a therapist who specializes in working with children and college-aged individuals. I believed her insight would help me understand the psychology and reasons behind burnout.
I also interviewed two of my roommates who are college students themselves and have different work loads and lifestyles within our demographic.
QUOTES FROM MY INTERVIEWS:
“Self-care is probably the first thing that I sacrifice. It usually, like, I usually prioritize work first. What definitely helps me maintain the balance is getting up early in the morning, but that’s also just because I really function well as a morning person.”
-ZOE ANDERSON (college student)
“Self-care is something you can do all the time anywhere. Self-care is choosing to put yourself like above anything else so you could be doing that at any time.”
-SKYLER EDGECOMB (college student)
“I think all college students, their most essential priority even before, like, how great a student you are is how am I taking care of my body and my mental health.”
-LAURIE POMERANZ (therapist)
CONTENTS:
a deck of self-care idea cards
a self-care guided planner for goal setting and daily self-care tasks
a checklist to hold oneself accountable
a sticker as a daily reminder to dedicate time to yourself
a bow as a symbol that you belong to a group of people who value self-care
a chic tote bag that provides easy portability
THE GALLERY OPENING:
I had the opportunity to display my work at the White Space Gallery in Atlanta, GA as well as the Lamar Dood School of Art in Athens, GA and now have experience designing and installing in a real gallery space.
