Designs

“It took awhile to come up with a design that Allissa and I felt symbolized 'Student Driver. For months we would sketch designs, and ideas, and then show them to each other in order to figure out what was good about them and what could be improved. “With 'Student Driver' I wanted the design to be creative. I wanted it to be artistic, but also I wanted it to symbolize that a student driver is generally more cautious at first than other drivers. “One day, I thought of the slogan "Slow and Steady Wins the Race." After that, my ideas seemed to improve and I began incorporating a snail into the student driver drawings. Eventually, after asking my friends and family how they picture a Student Driver sign, I realized that a road would need to be incorporated into the picture. All of them envisioned a magnet that displayed a road, a car, or a picture that let the viewer understand that the student was learning to drive. Thus, I made one snail fill in for a car. The first magnet depicted two snails, on one road, with the words 'Student Driver' written above.”– Anna Richards

We had our first edition magnets produced by a company in Houston, Texas with the design above. While we waited for the magnets to arrive, we spoke to first-year students at Sweet Briar College to receive as much feedback as possible. Many students expressed that our message would be clearer if we placed a car next to the snail instead of another snail. They advised us to add ‘drive slow’ or ‘caution’ to communicate the message more effectively. Professors and other students also suggested that we make the letters white and the background darker to create contrast. “Therefore, when Anna drew the second design, she incorporated all the feedback we had received. Eventually when we created the third design, we chose to include ‘Caution’ instead of ‘Drive Slow.’ We realized that we do not want other drivers to drive slow, instead we want to encourage them be cautious when driving near student drivers by taking into account that student drivers can stop or change lanes unexpectedly.”– Allissa Abdelwahed

After we finalized the design, we needed to go to a graphic design format to improve the formatting and make the image and words clearer. For that, we asked graphic designer Michael W. for help, as well as Professor Brunelle who is a graphic designer, and a professor at Sweet Briar. With their help, we learned about color, and transposing images into graphic design. Eventually, we managed to come up with design number three, that we have begun to sell through a mass market.”– Anna Richards

Final design. Click here to order for $7.99

"L" for Learner

In many European countries, including England and France, everyone with a permit is legally required to use a student driver sign on the back of a new drivers vehicle, such as the "L" for learner.  This warns others that the driver is less experienced and may therefore drive slower or stop abruptly.  Below is a story written by Anna's grandmother who experienced the benefits of having an "L" on the back of her car while driving through the British countryside.  

"Some years ago while on a business trip to the UK, I had a free weekend to do some sightseeing.  I was staying out in the country and needed to rent a car to see the sights.  I was quite nervous about driving on the "wrong side" of the road.  My car was available at a small gas station-rental agency.   A British gentleman who  worked for the  same company as I did, accompanied me to pick up the car.  I expressed my concerns to the owner of the agency and after hesitating a minute, he said "would you like me to put  an " L" on the vehicle?  I had no idea what he was talking about but my friend started laughing and said he didn't think I would.  I asked what it meant and I was told all individuals who were learning to drive and were still on permits had to have an "L" on the car.  This alerted other drivers to be aware that the driver might do something "unexpected".  When I heard this, I said "yes, please do". My friend was incredulous, but I decided a little embarrassment was better than a car accident in the British countryside. 

PS: I did just fine, perhaps because everyone steered clear, literally and figuratively."

Christine Wardlow

Sweet Briar College Class of '63

The Story of Sophomore Entrepreneurship: Sweet Drivers

The “About” section gives you a clear definition of our product, while explaining that the idea started from a mother and her daughter (Allissa), a student driver like you or like your teenager. “However, we want to tell you the rest of our story and explain how two sophomores in college were able to develop a product in addition to our other coursework.”

Before forming the partnership, Allissa reached out to Professor Loftus, a business professor at Sweet Briar College (SBC). One of the advantages of attending a small liberal arts school is the possibility to work closely with professors through a directed study. In September 2011, Allissa recruited Anna for her creativity and trustworthiness as a friend. They began by exploring the market with the guidance of Professor Loftus and realized that most student driver magnets were black and yellow signs that said “Student Driver” in large. They realized that the market was critically in need for an effective student driver magnet with an appealing design and that this magnet would need to be easily available to high schools, driver education companies, and other stores so parents and teenagers can purchase them and experience less road rage when their child is learning to drive.

For weeks Anna and Allissa drew various designs, but none of them struck them as THE ONE. Just as it seemed like they were hitting a brick wall, Anna came to their next meeting with the perfect design! It was effective, clear, but also original and “cool” according to the freshmen at SBC. They framed the first hand drawn designs (one targeting towards females and another targeting towards males) and Anna hung them up in her dorm.

However, Anna and Allissa completely acknowledged that they could not have made it this far with their product without the help of many others. First they met an entrepreneur at a Business Conference at Sweet Briar. She helped them specifically with their selling strategy, so that it may be available to more teenagers. Second, they received help from Tom Marcais, the Academic Technology Trainer & Consultant at SBC, who is also a proprietor and sells vintage paper ads online. He spent an hour with them explaining the costs and logistics involved in designing a website or blog and gave them other advice regarding their marketing strategy.

From a Graphic Design perspective, they received the help of Michael W. from Chicago, who is a friend of Allissa’s family, a talented graphic designer and also entrepreneur. He gave them suggestions on the design and was the first one to put the design in an official software program. They also reached out to Professor Brunelle, Allissa’s Spanish teacher, who has worked as a graphic designer since 1985. He helped Anna and Allissa with choice of colors, creating contrast and explained to them the process of creating a design in a software program.

These Sweet Briar entrepreneurs also contacted the Amherst High School Drivers Ed teachers: Coach Thomas and Coach Bryan, whom they met in December 2011. They received the coaches’ positive feedback and their belief that there is a demand for these magnets.

After they ordered their first magnets, Anna and Allissa sold them to freshmen students on campus and used their feedback to make changes from their first design to the design that they are now making available to the general population. “We appreciate everyone’s feedback and support throughout this process. It has been a great experience and continues to be an amazing learning opportunity.”

Spring 2012, Anna and Allissa were enrolled in a Marketing Practicum with Professor Loftus. In addition, they were taking a one-credit directed study with Professor Brunelle, who taught them Graphic Design Theory, and Tom Marcais, who taught them the ins-and-outs of various graphic designing programs.

COMING UP: the original drawings of our design by Anna.