The document outlines Gabby Nguyen's capstone project focused on women in sports, examining issues of gender disparity in promotion, pay, and societal perceptions. Key research findings indicate that female athletes face higher standards and significant challenges, including lack of media coverage and harmful stereotypes. The project aims to create awareness and support for female athletes through various prototypes, including a mentorship app, a children's book, and a reimagined jersey design, while emphasizing the importance of encouraging young girls to participate in sports.

1. CAPSTONE
PROTOTYPING
GABBY NGUYEN | FALL 2020

2. CONTENTS
TOPIC INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH SUMMARY
PROTOTYPING HIGHLIGHTS
PROCESS TAKEAWAYS
WHAT’S NEXT

3. TOPIC: WOMEN IN SPORTS
My project topic is women in sports and how gender effects
society’s mindset towards male vs female athletes.
I am interested in the difference of how athletes are
promoted, paid, and portrayed based on their gender.

4. RESEARCH SUMMARY
I spent a little over a month researching my topic using a
variety of research methods from conducting interviews with
athletes to analyzing literary articles.
Her are some of the key takeaways from this process:
- female athletes are held to a higher standard than their male
counterparts, particularly in an educational environment
- one of the biggest problems professional female athletes
face is a lack of air time

5. RESEARCH SUMMARY
- the term “You throw like a girl” is being reclaimed and used to
empower women rather than tear them down
- women are less likely than men to identify themselves as athletic
- there’s a common belief, especially in young girls, that playing
sports means you lose part of your femininity
- the term “tomboy” is offensive to many female athletes
- it is important to instill the mindset that women can play sports
into girls from a young age

6. PROJECT OUTCOMES
After conducting my research I had three general outcomes I
wanted my prototypes to work towards.
- encouraging young girls to continue playing sports
- celebrating amazing female athletes in history
- exposing the divide between how female and male athletes
are treated differently

7. PROTOTYPING
During this stage of my project I prototyped different project
concepts and experimented with different project forms. This
process is meant to help me better grasp the direction I want
to take my final Capstone project which I will further develop
in the next two terms.
All of my prototypes work towards addressing at least one of
the mentioned project outcomes.

8. CONTENT JUXTAPOSITION: BACKGROUND
For this prototype I wanted to play with the contrast
between things that have been said about female athletes
and imagery of them being victorious. I laid out these
“juxtaposition experiments” in simple flip book compositions.
Through the research for this prototype I found a disgusting
amount of comments pointed toward these athletes’ looks
rather than their athleticism.

9. CONTENT JUXTAPOSITION
IT’S EXCITING
TO WATCH SEMI-NAKED
WOMEN who
glisten like
wet otters
SHE SMOTHERS
HER BEAUTY IN AN UNSIGHTLY
LAYER OF THICK,
MUSCLED BLUBBER

10. CONTENT JUXTAPOSITION
SHE HAS AN
ADVANTAGE BY POSSESSING A
DOLPHIN’S FACE
YOU HAVE TO BE
A SCRAPPY FIGHT BECAUSE YOU’re
NEVER GOING TO
BE A LOOKER

11. CLOTHING BRAND NAME + LOGO
Possible Brand Names I Ideated
- Joan
- LAW (Like a Woman)
- Jux (short for juxtaposition)
- Artemiss
- Athena
*I didn’t feel these were strong

12. SOCIAL MEDIA BLAST
Social media blast could include:
- branded illustrated social media posts
- hastags: #HERsport
- TikTok challenges
- Facebook profile filter

13. MENTORSHIP APP: BACKGROUND
During my research that a significant amount of women
stopped playing sports as a child/teen due to a poor support
system. This includes belittling coaches, unsupportive
parents, and a lack of someone to look up to.
The concept of my app would be to connect female
athletes, young and old, in order to create a supportive and
encouraging community.

14. MENTORSHIP APP

15. CHILDREN’S BOOK: INSPIRATION

16. CHILDREN’S BOOK

17. CHILDREN’S BOOK

18. The WNBA is often thought of as a joke and not taken
seriously. They are overshadowed and overpowered by the
NBA, this includes the designs of their jerseys.
REIMAGINED JERSEYS: BACKGROUND

19. REIMAGINED JERSEYS: BACKGROUND
Problems with current WNBA jerseys:
- sponsoring dominates the design
- look like high school jerseys
- all uniforms in the league are similar
- fan’s can’t develop the love for the
team jersey like in the NBA

20. REIMAGINED JERSEYS

21. SPORTS MAGAZINE
TOBIN
2
32
WORLD CUP
CHAMPIONSHIPS
INTERNATIONAL
GOALS SCORED
PERFECT FIT
THE
NORTH CAROLINA COACH Anson Dorrance has always had
someone like Mia Hamm or Heather O’Reilly. Someone
better than everyone else. Someone like Tobin Heath.
Yet as the second half slipped away on a cool afternoon
in November 2007, North Carolina continued to trail No-
tre Dame in an NCAA women’s soccer tournament match.
And Tobin Heath continued to sit on the bench.
Dorrance was exasperated by some now-forgotten
miscue and by Heath’s tendency to turn from team-
mate into solo artist. With the Tar Heels trailing, Heath
approached Dorrance and pleaded to go back in. When
he asked why he should accede, she said because she
wanted to win.
“I want to win, too,” Dorrance recalls telling her. “But
here’s the problem. I put you in, and all you’re interested
in doing is megging this girl, putting a hat on her, drible-
da-vaca-ing her.
“I need a f---ing goal scorer now, or I need an assister.”
Dorrance knew in some sense that he was risking --
even sabotaging -- the season to make a point. He soon
relented. But it didn’t save the game. For just eighth time
ever, North Carolina missed out on winning the tourna-
ment championship.
“I wanted her to realize there has to be a result,” Dor-
rance says of that moment.
Heath rarely remembers specific moments, good or bad,
from games. Nearly 12 years later, she doesn’t remem-
ber much of that day. She doesn’t recall Notre Dame’s
goals, 14 seconds apart in the first half. She doesn’t
remember the sideline conversation with Dorrance. But
while waiting for her forgotten cleats to arrive before a
photo shoot in Portland, Oregon, this spring, she breaks
out laughing at the description of his reaction -- right
down to the specific list of tricks, including the drible da
vaca move Pele made famous. It sounds like Dorrance,
“to a T,” she says.
It sounds familiar to her because she heard it often
enough. She is among her old coach’s favorites because
he sees a kindred spirit, a nonconformist resistant to
rules for the sake of rules. But that’s also why she drove
Dorrance around the bend. Since she was a child, Heath
has experimented with the ball at her foot. It’s why she
is one of the most technically skilled players the U.S.
women’s national team has ever had on its roster. She’s
the kind of player, Dorrance says, who can make wom-
en’s professional soccer successful in this country. She
can sell tickets.
But her skills have sometimes been at odds with coach-
es and teammates seeking a result.
“I think there’s kind of a duality in me, as well, where I
enjoy having the football so much that it’s almost, like,
creating a feeling instead of creating a result,” Heath
says. “I think that throughout my career, it’s a friction
that has existed to continue to push me to make me
better. Because with the feeling and the result, they’re
just constantly pushing each other up the path that I
want to go.”
Tobin Heath and her United States teammates are
favored to win the World Cup this summer in France, in
part because Heath accepted the truth of Dorrance’s
message that there must be a result, repeated across
years and continents by other coaches and teammates.
Heath, who turned 31 on May 29, wouldn’t be where she
is otherwise. The U.S., in turn, wouldn’t be where it is
without its most complete player.

22. ATHLETE TRADING CARDS: RESEARCH

23. ATHLETE TRADING CARDS
American professional tennis player
SERENA WILLIAMS
MEGAN RAPINOE
AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER
KATIE
LEDECKY
American
competitive swimmer

24. EMPOWERING PATTERNS

25. One thing from my research that stood out to me was
how controlling women leagues can be when it comes to
sport uniforms. This made me interested in creating a look
book of uniforms athletes have worn in the past that were
controversial or scandalous.
LOOK BOOK: BACKGROUND

26. LOOK BOOK: RESEARCH
Billie Jean King Griffith Joyner Tatiana Golovin Doaa Elghobashy Serena Williams

27. SUMMARY OF OTHER PROTOTYPES
Empowering Music Video:
Researched and analyzed popular song
lyrics as well as popular music videos
Children’s Coloring Book:
This prototype did not go as planned and
did not have a successful outcome
Poster Campaign:
This prototype became very similar to ad
campaigns run by Nike in recent years
Documentary:
Re watched initial interviews with female
athletes. Analyzed answers and formed
future interview questions
History of Female Athletes Animation:
Watched tutorials for Adobe Animate +
Character Animator

28. PROCESS TAKEAWAYS
- it’s going to be important to hone in on one main outcome
in order to focus my project on one audience takeaway
- more prototyping and further experimentation is helpful in
order to see how an idea could grow
- project aesthetic/visual identity is going to play a large role
in the tone of my messaging
- I want my project to be able to communicate to both male
and female audiences

29. WHAT’S NEXT
In the next few months I will continue to experiment with
more prototype ideas as well as expand on prototypes that
were successful during this first round.
In the Spring I will begin building out my final project.