Trio students at Middlesex University achieved winnings in both the Masar Student Creative Award for Print Competition, and the Student Integrated Award Competition at the annual Dubai Lynx Festival.
Communicate will be publishing a three parts interview with them.
The Third and final interview is with Melina Serrao, who designed a campaign to inspire personal growth and development.
Melina Serrao designed ‘SmartLife with a Friend’ to inspire personal growth and development supported by a friend or by working in a team. For this, she drafted the theme around ‘community’. It aims to bring labourers together to encourage each other to learn a new skill. The intention was to promote social learning and peer support, including with labourers in other camps through an app. The campaign also connects workers through the “Smart Travel Pillow” and with families through the “Smart Booth”.
What exactly are the workers supposed to learn out of this app?
The SmartReading App is a visual learning app. The workers will be able to learn new words with the help of images. All you have to do is log in with your details, select whether you are a beginner or not. It will then direct you to a page where there will be a word for which you have to pick the right image from a set to match the word. The app also speaks out the word as you practice that will make it easier for workers to memorize the word. It is said that humans are capable of getting a sense of a visual scene faster as opposed to text, therefore the app will be a fun learning app as you can consider it a game with words to match images for ‘practice’.
How did you promote the application among the workers?
The application will be promoted via WhatsApp group which exists and is very active with their teacher. It will also be spoken about in class and will be advertised in the bus and around the campus.
What made you build this particular app?
As a part of my research, worker’s spend a lot of time travelling on bus journeys to and from work. In this time, many of them are either sleeping because they are tired or are forced to do so as they do not have any other pass time. I observed many of them play games such as ‘Candy crush’ that is simple and easy to understand. This inspired me to create an app which will be fun visual learning as well as help them learn a new language. Workers can also operate these lessons as a team and at the end of their practice, they will be able to collect points which can be redeemed for a gift by SmartLife.
Did you test the application?
No, I have not tested the app with any worker. It was just an idea proposed as per the client’s needs and my observation and knowledge about the organization and the workers.
What do you think marketers can learn from your project?
Marketers can learn how a simple concept can enhance learning much quicker. This project promotes social learning and peer support from one another. Ultimately it encourages team work that supports personal growth and brings people together to inspire one another to learn new skills. These skills are very essential at workplace in the creative and media industry.
