Emily Straughn

A system map divided into four sections: physical touchpoints, digital touchpoints, community engagement, and oversight. Arrows connect different touchpoints and groups of people, indicating how the elements are interrelated.

The system map shows how physical touchpoints, digital touchpoints, community oversight, and oversight all work together to make the campaign operate successfully.

A roughly 12x12” stack of booklets, with a hand reaching into the frame, taking one of the booklets from the top of the stack.

Flip books are to be displayed as a stack at an ODNR visitor’s center.

An envelope with the following text printed inside: “During recess Chipmunk, Jenny, Punky and I sat sweating in the shade of a big elm tree talking about how much money we could make if we knew where an unclaimed ginseng patch was located. All our dads dug “sang” but the location of a “sang” patch was more carefully guarded than the location of the neighbor's moonshine still. Unsavory strangers, outsiders, were known to roam the woods every fall looking for “sang” patches. Once found, they would dig up a

After opening the flip book envelope, park visitors will find a short Appalachian narrative printed on the inside of the envelope.

Hands holding a 3.5”x4.875” booklet, with the text “Your Litter” printed on the cover.

Flip books are small handheld booklets.

Hands flipping through the pages of the booklet. The flip book photos show an animation where an American ginseng plant morphs into a littered soda can.

Flipping through the booklet will reveal an image transformation.

The digital campaign homepage features images of the plants the booklets are related to, along with brief text from the corresponding narratives captioning the photos.

The digital campaign homepage features an archive of printed flip books.

In the campaign website, there is a submission box where 2 photos, and a corresponding narrative can be submitted to create a flip book.

People from Southeastern Ohio Appalachia can submit their own stories and photos to be turned into flip books.

Templates indicate how the 4 images can be aligned on 1 page and printed in order to correctly orient the pages of the flip book.

A campaign project management team would be in charge of printing and assembling flip books using the templates shown in the image.

Your Litter, Our Appalachia

Since most state parks are located in rural parts of Ohio, my project explores perceptions of rural Ohioans, specifically Southeastern, or Appalachian Ohioans. Historically, photography has been used to portray Appalachians as poor, conservative, uneducated “hillbillies”. And while there might be some truth to these generalizations, they obscure the diverse and complex nature of Appalachian culture. The “Your Litter” campaign is a storytelling format featuring reversible photographic flip books paired with Appalachian folklore, revealing the deep connection Appalachian people have with their land. Flip books start out as photo and story submissions from local Appalachians on the campaign’s webpage. Eventually, books are printed and made available for visitors to collect at state park visitor centers. Showing how local Appalachian people respect their land is intended to inspire park visitors to reflect on their perceptions of Appalachia, as well as the footprint they leave as they travel through the region.

I would describe myself as designer by day, music enthusiast by night. My design projects are often related to experience design, social impact design, and/or some combination of art and design. My free time is mostly occupied by music, whether that’s through attending small local basement shows, large concerts, collecting CDs, or running my own weekly radio show through the student radio organization, AROUSE, here at OSU.

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Filters: 2025, Undergraduate Studies, Industrial Design, Undergraduate Capstone Project