Two Brandcenter teams named winners at VCU Adobe Creative Jam
Two teams of Brandcenter students were recognized for their innovative prototype projects at the September 2020 VCU Adobe Creative Jam, held virtually over the course of 72 hours on September 11-14 and 18-21. Adobe Creative Jams are design tournaments held throughout the year that give students experience solving real-world challenges. This Creative Jam focused on Covid-19, asking participants to create an app to help families adjust to our new reality.
Team LexLoJae—made up of Lex Coelho (XD, 2021), Lauryn Goodlett (XD, 2021), and Jael Williams (XD, 2021)—was awarded second place for their Google Classroom extension, HomeTeam. The digital tool kit uses student and guardian accounts to streamline and automate class/task management, as well as the process of earning breaks and rewards. It considers what could best help teachers support their students, making communication with parents easier, empowering students to do more on their own, and identifying ways for parents and teachers to encourage or celebrate students.
“The biggest thing I learned from this experience is to trust myself,” says Goodlett of her time in the Creative Jam. “Building screens can take a long time, but when you only have less than 72 hours, you have to go with your gut and rely on what you know. We can do way more than we think in a short amount of time.”
Team Idle Minds—made up of Dennis Liu (XD, 2021) and Dominik Hofacker (XD, 2021)—was awarded third place for their app, Loop. Loop is a family organization tool that "keeps everyone in the loop," making it easy to create tasks, schedule events, and organize routines. Loop allows family members to stay in constant communication and even gamifies task management.
“Creating an original concept in less than 24 hours in order to have enough time for designing and prototyping is a real challenge,” reflects Hofacker. “We were not allowed to make use of previous ideas or concepts from school, so creating something in such a short time frame from scratch requires quick, well thought out decisions.”
VCU is designated as an Adobe Creative Campus. The Adobe Creative Campus program spotlights leading colleges and universities that recognize the value of teaching digital literacy skills in higher education. This selective designation recognizes colleges for incorporating problem solving into their curriculum and fostering 21st-century methods of teaching and learning. VCU students and faculty are eligible for discounted rates on Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions.