By: Rachel Anderson ’17, Staff Writer
Four digital communications students combined their passion of adventure and good times to build the Alpine Supply Co. brand.
Tim Harris, Baker Landon, Travis Saylor and Nick Jones have been working together since the fall as a part of their senior capstone project to create a travel backpack. The Alpine Supply Co. brand has been designed with the overall goal to create aesthetically pleasing products that are simple and durable for college-aged adventurers.
“We are extremely excited about our brand’s feature product, a cooler backpack, which is ideal for keeping drinks and food cold while on the go,” Harris said. “We wanted to create a high-quality cooler that has the comfort and convenience of a backpack that is perfect for trips to the beach, concerts and hikes.”
The students spent hours building a prototype with the help of an expert industrial designer, Dave Longenecker, located in Lancaster County. The backpack was shown during the annual Inquiry Symposium, which was held in April. The brand will now refine any adjustments needed before taking the product to Kickstarter, a funding platform that can provide funds and resources for creative ideas.
“We have dedicated numerous hours to develop branding, marketing campaigns, and designing potential products,” Harris said. “Our long-term goal is to host a variety of products, which includes apparel and gear that identifies with our brand’s concept.”
The backpack was built to be used for adventure but will also have the dual functionality to wear every day.
“We were thinking of items we could combine that people use separately, but if they were one entity, it would decrease the load of the user,” Landon said. “Then, the cooler backpack was born. We saw potential uses for the backpack as going from house to house on a crazy LVC weekend, while maintaining a comfortable drinking temperature of adult beverages.”
At the Valley, all senior digital communications (digiCOM) students are required to take both the project management capstone in the fall semester and the research and development capstone in the spring. The goal of these courses is to combine the core knowledge of digiCOM classes to plan and build a project through the collaboration of group members.
Most digiCOM capstone projects are digitally based; however the group wanted to go beyond this expectation and build a brand that is more particular to their interest of adventure.
“We wanted to produce a fully-functioning consumer product” Landon said. “We think that being able to create a successful brand along with the production of our backpack and merchandise really goes above-and-beyond.”
The College also requires digiCOM majors to have a concentration in one of the following six fields: business technology, communications, design, programming, user experience or videography. These four seniors all have different concentrations that has enabled the group to have a broad and unique skill set to go further than just a digital project.
“We hope that LVC students, faculty and alumni can get behind our vision and realize the potential scope of Alpine Supply Company,” Landon said. “We know that the knowledge the digiCOM department has provided us with, paired with the help of Dave Longenecker, Alpine Supply Company will be successful.”
Alpine Supply Co. has been building their presence on social media over the spring semester. Their goal is to have followers who are familiar with the brand before they launch their finished product.
Be on the lookout for the Alpine Supply Co. Kickstarter campaign.