Three University of Rhode Island seniors spent their summer creating and launching Rhodimojis, a sticker and emoji app featuring designs of all different URI landmarks, organizations and memorabilia.
Computer engineering seniors Ken Auguste, Omose Ogala and Faith Akinbo noticed an appeal towards emoji and sticker packs, but realized there were no apps designed specifically for colleges. The three acknowledged that there was great potential for the market and decided to create their app. Rhodimojis features over 100 stickers and emojis that URI students will recognize immediately.
“Rhodimojis is a great way that students at URI can communicate with each other and share different ideas,” Ogala said. “We put a lot of work into building these different emojis that can represent every single person at the University of Rhode Island and allow us to really share the Rhody pride between each other.”
Bringing the URI community together was one of the main reasons the three decided to create the app when brainstorming ideas at the end of the last school year. Auguste stated that the goal for this app was to give back to the university, and to leave their stamp on the school.
“We just wanted URI to be distinctly known,” Auguste said. “There is not really any other colleges that have a dedicated sticker pack with 70+ (more emojis have since been added) emojis out there and we take pride in that because URI is all about Rhody pride. That’s exactly what we were trying to make an example of. We were just trying to show that URI is one the best school because it was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had as a student here and I think I can speak for my two colleagues as well. We are just trying to make something for URI that will last for a very long time and that will be used for years to come.”
Akinbo, the head designer, created every sticker in Microsoft Word before cleaning them up in Photoshop. Working rigorously throughout the summer, there was a lot of back and forth discussion and collaboration between the three to determine what stickers and emojis would ultimately be created.
“It’s usually a tedious process, but the end result is very unique and is something you can’t really find it anywhere else,” Akinbo said. “There is no other college that has buildings, organizations, and different faces on the app store as a sticker pack.”
Since the launch, the app has been steadily gaining traction, getting more downloads each day.
“People are getting it,” Auguste said. “It’s vastly increasing and it’s actually shocking how we come together and day by day we look at the analytics and we just talk and we ask ‘How are we doing this?’ People are really enjoying what we are putting out there and that’s just the basis of what we are trying to do. Just getting people to have that passion that we had when we were making the app.”
The response has been positive for Rhodimojis so far, and they mentioned how important it is to have a good group of people to help give input.
“We are grateful to have people in our camp that are not biased,” Auguste said. “I have people that I know if I show them and they think it’s not good or needs improvement… it means the world to us. We are constantly improving and constantly getting better and we are just very appreciative of the people who have helped us out.”
As Rhodimojis increases in popularity, other schools have reached out to the three asking for advice and input on creating their own version of the app. Many local colleges and students are curious as to how they can create an app for themselves. There has been talk of helping to expand and create apps for other colleges, but that is just talk right now.
Currently, Rhodimojis is available exclusively on the iOS app store for 99 cents. However, an Android version is currently in the works and is planned to be released soon. Rhodimojis is always looking for more suggestions from organizations, students, and clubs on new designs. Suggestions for new app designs, as well as questions or comments can be sent through Facebook, Twitter, or at [email protected].