The Freshman 15: A Creative Approach to Helping Students Make Healthier Nutritional Choices During Their First Year in College

52 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Advertising and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2016.The purpose of this thesis is to examine factors related to weight gain among freshman students in college and to create educational health tools that can help them make healthier lifestyle choices during this time. Information was gathered from multiple sources, including independent research, an interview with the University of Oregon Dietician, and insights from students of the freshman class at the University of Oregon. This information was then used to formulate the focus and strategy of two separate campaigns, each of which addresses a specific factor related to problems facing freshman regarding their health and nutrition. The first campaign addresses the role that alcohol plays in adding calories to one's diet and the second campaign addresses students' total reliance on dorm food and the inability to prepare their own meals. The executions for each campaign were designed using a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop and each contains interactive/social, traditional and non-traditional components. Looking forward, the campaigns and interactive tools created could help future incoming students make smarter decisions regarding alcohol and to better cope with the transition in diet that occurs when living in dorm residence halls