Aprende Cão Diversão APPS FOR GOOD

Creative direction, mentoring, workshopping, graphic design, and marketing campaign strategy

2024
Valongo, Portugal
Image of a dog robot with mouth open and with a happy expression, image full of bright colors and flying objects in the background. On the right side of the image is a branding element with the words "Aprende Cao Diversao"This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.
Our hero "Bob, o Cãopanheiro!" posing for the marketing campaign "Aprende Cão Diversão". Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues
Bike Flying High and This is How I Feel (+ 8 Geek Coders)!
On July 5th, 2023, my wonderful wife Letícia and I had a motorbike accident (fun fact: eight little geniuses called Geek Coders agree with me she is wonderful! Keep reading to find out more!). Well, "accident" is putting it mildly—it was more like an unintentional attempt at a space launch, courtesy of a lady in her car who was apparently texting NASA. We were just chilling at a red light, waiting for it to change, when suddenly, we were catapulted into the sky and then to the ground in about two seconds flat. This woman, clearly driving at warp speed, rear-ended us so hard that we ended up sprawled on the road a considerable distance from where the traffic light used to be, right in the heart of Porto city.
Thankfully, we’re both fine now—nothing serious happened. It was just a terrifying day that ended with a trip to the hospital. A few weeks later, the bike accident had an unexpected side effect: the Fitness Up Club Manager where my wife worked tried to fire her while she was on medical leave. Yes, you read that correctly. The Fitness Up MaiaShopping Club Manager called my wife Letícia to meet him in MaiaShopping without revealing what and why she need her so urgently, and then publicly attempted to fire her in the middle of the shopping center without even bothering to take her to a private room. After we alerted the company's corporate leadership to the possible consequences of what they were trying to do, they then decied to offer her a position at another nearby Fitness Up club. By then, she felt way too insecure about working for Fitness Up and decided to resign, triggered by the fact that the upper management and corporate leadership did absolutely nothing to hold the MaiaShopping Club Manager accountable for his actions, unfortunatelly quite the contrary happened.
Because of all this chaos (read: my wife Letícia becoming jobless), we had all the "time" in the world we otherwise wouldn't have to attend a few times an event called ExpoVal .There, we met and connected surprisingly fast with the amazing team from CDI, and the rest is history. Letícia got a job teaching many wonderful children at Escola Básica do Valado technology, programming and robotics and even led 8 of them to form a group called Geek Coders to compete and win a local competition for the best app in their category for the Apps for Good education technology movement! I chipped in with some creative direction, graphic design, and marketing expertise—just a nudge here and there, but always with their involvement and decision making. They were co-creators of what you see below—not just head-nodders. The goal was always to never influence the process and end result of this 11 years old collective, or at least try our very best to don't bias them in any way. At best me and my wife Letícia were facilitators trying to "amplify their sound and music" and never trying to make them "change the frequency and notation" of their work and ideias based on our own notions of right or wrong. 
These eight little geniuses deserve all the credit, all of it. They poured their hearts into this project, practicing their pitch with a determination that would make even Steve Jobs (R.I.P.) rise from the grave to applaud. The app’s concept and value proposition are entirely their making, 100% theirs. After a few iterations, where my wife Letícia guided them to make it a more solid proof of concept, it became something to be defined with the following words:
"Aprende Cão Diversão" is focused primarly as a peer-to-peer learning platform among children in a gamified environment, making homework and studying a fun and engaging experience.
The concept of "cão" requires a brief explanation for localization to be clear to a non-Portuguese audience. In Portuguese, "cão" means dog, but phonetically, it sounds exactly like "com," which means "with" in English. In the app name "Aprende Cão Diversão," (meaning to "learning with fun,") "com" is replaced by "cão". The entire campaign also plays with words that start and end with "com" substituting them with "cão." The choice of the dog was deliberate due to its universally recognized attributes of companionship, ability to learn, support humans in various tasks and missions, and even act as heroes by saving lives. These qualities are central to what we want the app to embody.
A huge shoutout to Centro de Cidadania Digital Valongo, Escola Básica do Valado, CDI and Apps for Good for letting me assist these hardworking young masterminds. Believe me, they are geniuses because they are truly creative, committed and insanely dedicated!
Image of children and an adult (myself, Pedro Rodrigues) on a workshop with post it notes, tables colorful seats and an iPad. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.
Workshopping with the Geek Coders at Centro de Cidadania Digital Valongo just 1 week before the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competition on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues
Image of an adult (myself, Pedro Rodrigues) workshopping with 6 children while standing up. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

Workshopping with the Geek Coders at Centro de Cidadania Digital Valongo just 1 week before the Apps for Good regional competition on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of an adult (myself, Pedro Rodrigues) worshopping with 2 children, post-its on a table and tv on the background. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

Workshopping with the Geek Coders at Centro de Cidadania Digital Valongo just 1 week before the Apps for Good regional competition on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Beatriz wore throughout the day of the Apps for Good pitch presentation at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Diogo wore throughout the day of the Apps for Good pitch presentation at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Francisco wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt GABRIELA wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Lucas wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Mafalda wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

T-shirt Rafael wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of thirts with branding that say Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.
T-shirt Sofia wore throughout day of the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues
Image of six children rehearsing and having a lot of fun. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.
Rehearsing the pitch (tiressly but always with joy in our hearts) with the 8 Geek Coders at Escola Básica do Valado just 2 hours before the Apps for Good pitch for the regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 july 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues
Image of a branding A1 poster for the app Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

A1 presentation poster to be displayed in the main hall of the Apps for Good competition at​​​​​​​ Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Valongo, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

Image of 8 children posing for a camera while presenting their app Aprende Cao Diversao. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

Geek Coders posing next to their A1 presentation poster in the main hall of the Apps for Good competition at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Maia, Portugal. 2024 © CDI

Image of children presenting their app Aprende Cao Diversao to 2 members of a Juri while all stading up. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

Geek Coders pitching the app Aprende Cão Diversão to two members of the juri right next to their A1 presentation poster in the main hall of the Apps for Good competition at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Maia, Portugal. 2024 © CDI

Image of a lot of people standing up at one event while the host opens this event. 8 children are standing up on the first line.. This is an image related to a project inside Pedro Rodrigues (Treze413) graphic design portfolio.

Geek Coders on the frontline at the opening in the main hall of the Apps for Good competition at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Maia, Portugal. 2024 © CDI

Pitch presentation video that was projected on the wall to the juri and audience while the Geek Coders were pitching for the Apps for Good regional competion at Universidade da Maia on 5 July 2024. Maia, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

After-Movie compiling both Apps for Good events in Portugal by CDI in 2024. This is a summary of the Apps for Good regional competions in the centre-south (hosted with Câmara Municipal de Lisboa) and north (hosted with Câmara Municipal da Maia) that happened across the country in 2024. Portugal. 2024 © CDI

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