SAN FRANCISCO – Standing out amongst their peers for their ingenuity and creativity, three Academy of Art student-athletes, Web Design & New Media majors Kris Jensson and Edvard Edvardsson of men's soccer, as well as Fashion Marketing major Sofia Ragona of women's tennis, had their work recognized at Web Design & New Media / Advertising year-end award ceremony. Jensson's work on a hardware and application companionship to help track the life of your plants, Edvardsson's work on developing an app that would allow you to create fully customizable vinyl records, and Ragona's contributions to a campaign ideation for the "We Are Bruce Lee" exhibit, were all highlighted by the discipline.
 
Jensson, who just recently completed his senior season with the Knights, was awarded the Web Design & New Media Best In Show for his work on "Planta," a mobile application and hardware chip that work together to make sure that plants are cared for at their best. The purpose behind it was to help all who wanted to get into plant ownership to give it the tailored care it needs.
 
"We have a lot of plants in the apartment, some are doing great and others are not, so I wanted to design a platform that could help you track, take care of and recognize the plants you have," Jensson said. "I probably know 10 percent of the plant species in our apartment, so how am I supposed to know how to take care of them?"
 
In the design, a colorful chip sits in the vessel of one's plant and can tell its owner all the necessary information about their plant, including the amount of water and sunlight it is receiving, as well as the plant nutrition. Should one be unaware of what plant they are raising, it can be scanned it into "Planta" for identification, and "Planta" then adds it to the database. Then, after adding the "Planta" hardware chip, one is set to care for all of their plants, all from their phone. 
 
"You have hardware that does all the dirty work, keeps track of your plants, humidity, sunlight, based on specie when to water and how it is doing," Jensson said. "Then you have the mobile application that you connect to the hardware which is more like a remote. You can scan your plants to know what species they are, you can name them, locate them in your household, and have a basic overview."
 
Earning Academic All-PacWest honors in each of his first three seasons with Academy of Art, Jensson leaves in the top-3 of most ART U career goalkeeper records, including saves (third, 164), saves per game (first, 4.32), and wins (tied for third, 6). The fire inside of Jensson that has driven him on the pitch is the same drive that powers him in the classroom. 
 
"As a student-athlete, we are lucky to have that motivation to become better," Jensson said. "We are blessed with having coaches that really care about our schoolwork, and I remember last year when [ART U Assistant Coach] Danny Kirkland congratulated me on the Silver Award, I told him I would be going for Best In Show this year. You always want to improve and become better, it does not matter if you are kicking a soccer ball, designing, or living your life. There is always a lot of space to grow. Be inspired, keep inspiring, keep that cycle going."
 
Click here to visit Jensson's 2021 Spring Show page which highlights "Planta."
 
Taking home this year's Web Design & New Media Silver Award was Edvardsson for his work in designing "MELO," an application and website that allows one to use their favorite streaming platforms and create fully customizable vinyl records, aimed at those who long for the crackling of a record player.
 
"Melo is a platform that allows users to put the music of their own liking to an LP record and enjoy their favorite artists with the satisfying sound of vinyl," Edvardsson said. "The product I created includes an application where you can create your playlist and order your vinyl record, and an informational website about 'MELO.'"
 
Thanks to record players having come back into the mainstream trends for music over the past five years, one problem that has remained is that there is no way to skip songs without picking up the needle. The design for "MELO" blends the old ability to burn just the songs one wants onto compact discs, along with the warm sound of an LP craved by artists and musicians. Adding a modern twist, with "MELO" a user can change the color of your vinyl as well as add front and back cover art, truly building a unique listening experience. The design was created out of a desire to help Edvardsson's family.
 
"My brother kept complaining about not being able to listen to his Spotify playlists on the vinyl record player he loves," Edvardsson said. "So, I decided to create 'MELO.'"
 
Playing in nearly every match since joining the Urban Knights as a freshman, Edvardsson has totaled nine points in his career, split evenly with three goals and three assists. A two-time Academic All-PacWest selection, Edvardsson has been an anchor within the Urban Knights defense, helping contribute to a pair of shutouts in the 2020-21 season. His experience on the pitch has helped him just as much while off of it. 
 
"Being a student-athlete and a designer is a unique combination and helps you in a lot of ways, you get inspiration from your teammates, and from the traveling that goes with the sport," Edvardsson said. "Time management is very important for me since we train a lot during the semester. In that case, I have each hour of the day planned, which has changed a lot for me to finish my projects."
 
Click here to visit Edvardsson's 2021 Spring Show page which highlights "MELO."
 
Though she is a Fashion Marketing major, Ragona still took home the Web Design & New Media/Advertising Best In Collaboration award for her contributions to an advertising campaign for the "We Are Bruce Lee" exhibit that will launch later this year at the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum. Tasked with everything from research, to creating events, to publicizing and marketing, Ragona knew her role right away.
 
"When I first started the project, I immediately knew that I had to focus on the marketing, promotions, and social media parts because that's my major main focus right now," Ragona said. "I represented the social media group as team leader, and I worked with two other different groups playing the role of research and data builder."
 
Among the ideas generated for the ad campaign was cotton candy named "Chest Hair Candy Floss," inspired by the fistful of chest hair that Bruce Lee ripped from Chuck Norris in the movie Way of the Dragon. Besides being a tasty treat, the cotton candy would be used to bring outside media to the exhibit, as it would be passed out while at other events held at the CHSAM prior to the opening. Additionally, outdoor activities such as movie screenings and Park Jeet Kune Do lessons would be offered "in the spirit of unity and to get literal with the exhibit's tagline 'Under the sky, one family.'" 
 
"This project helped me get out of my comfort zone, since I'm majoring in Fashion Marketing," Ragona said. "I managed to strengthen my skills and expand my knowledge especially regarding the advertising industry, which I ended up liking very much. Together with my group, I developed a social media strategy with a focus on Instagram as the main platform. We analyzed Gen Z data about connectivity and we built up a list of Influencers and Instagram pages to collaborate with for the exhibition engagement and social activity."
 
Now the most experienced member of the women's tennis team, Ragona led the Knights from the No. 1 singles and doubles position all season, resulting in 2021 All-PacWest First Team Singles and All-PacWest Third Team Doubles honors. Named the PacWest Player of the Week on Mar. 22 after an undefeated week, Ragona has also been a two-time Academic All-PacWest selection, and truly epitomizes the moniker of "student-athlete."
 
"Being an athlete as always helped me being more responsible about organizing the things that I have to do during the day, I try to maximize the work that I do," Ragona said. "It's no secret that this class was very stressful at times because we felt the pressure of working with real clients, who had expectations of us. However, they were very supportive and always gave us feedback throughout the whole semester."
 
No stranger to pressure due to the fact that she anchored ART U from court one all season, it's the grit she has developed that aided her in completing the project.
 
"From the tennis court I got lots of mental strength, and willingness to pursue my ideas in spite of everything," Ragona said. "Tennis is an individual sport; on the court it's just me and I can only blame myself for what I do. However, for this project we were an agency and I had to work with different people at the same time. It wasn't always easy, but in the end we learned how to work together and be successful."

Click here to visit the "We Are Bruce Lee" campaign ideation in the 2021 Spring Show.