Rudolph Baumann, for ADES Uruguay
ADES Uruguaywas founded when a group of citizens, moved by several tragedies that occurred in 1955 in Uruguayan territorial waters, decided to establish a volunteer maritime rescue organization. The organization maintains a permanent on-call status and has necessary has and trained crews, with the goal of responding to distress calls as quickly as possible.
Rudolph Baumann, a student in the Bachelor’s program in Multimedia Design, identified two major problems when he began working with them. ADES is funded by donations and operates thanks to a group of volunteers. However, “they didn’t have a very easy way to accept donations, and it was also very difficult to sign up as a volunteer,” he explained. In addition, “the emergency response system was very outdated: paper and phone calls.”
Overall, they concluded that they needed to create a management system so that, when a user indicated they were on call, they could be located and contacted based on their current location. “What the system does is identify who is nearby to ensure the fastest possible response to any emergency that arises,” he summarized.
In addition, Baumann worked to streamline the registration process for part-time workers and the donation system, and produced educational videos for new volunteers.
Franca Idiarte, for Personal Gym
Franca Idiarte completed her Capstone Project for Personal Gym. “I wanted to apply everything I’d learned during my degree, which, as the name suggests, is in multimedia; it covers many areas, like the many different aspects we focus on,” she said. “From the moment I joined the gym, I noticed gaps in all aspects of communication, both within and outside the company. That’s what I wanted to focus on.”
The student designed the mobile-responsive website, created promotional materials, and developed a mobile and touchscreen app to assist the gym’s users. “The owner told me that members were asking how to do the exercises, how many reps, and for how long; so he would write it down on a whiteboard. I came up with this idea so that members could have access to the exercise routines, and the gym liked it.”
Sebastián Gervasio, for Capri
Student Sebastián Gervasio’s challenge was to innovate, to “give it a unique twist.” “Today, in the footwear industry, there are quite a few companies that are doing things very well,” he said. His goal, then, was to stand out from the crowd.
Capri is a company that designs and sells women's shoes and accessories. It isn't one of the brands with the most followers on social media: "So, what could I do to help it compete directly with or even surpass the others?"
After surveying companies in the industry, he noticed that none of them had a unique website and that social media was used in a standard way: “photos and little else.” “That’s when I saw an interesting opportunity,” he said.
Gervasio created a mobile app and an e-commerce website where users can sign up or simply browse. “Users can create or design their own shoes—more customized—by selecting from a range of predefined features. That’s a great feature that no one else offers in the local market. It’s an interesting added value for the brand.”