Financial Education Application for Children Created by UMN Students Wins 1st Place in CIMB Niaga National Competition

A team of Visual Communication Design students from Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) achieved national recognition by winning 1st place in the Kejar Mimpi Hackathon organized by CIMB Niaga. (Doc. Screenshot from Instagram/@kejarmimpi.id)

TANGERANG – A team of students from Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) made a mark at the national level by winning first place in the Kejar Mimpi Hackathon held by CIMB Niaga on Thursday (11/11/2021). They presented “Zoon”, an innovative financial education application for children.

The UMN student team, named “Couch Potato,” consisted of Rachelle Irene, Marleen Phangestu, and Keith Richard. All three are students from the UMN Visual Communication Design Study Program, class of 2018.

The intense three-day hackathon challenged participants to develop solutions to improve financial literacy among Indonesians. When announced as the winners, Rachelle admitted that all their efforts had paid off.

“It feels great and satisfying, because this hackathon was really intense and only lasted three days! We pushed ourselves to the limit. So, when we were announced as the winners, it felt like all our exhaustion was immediately rewarded,” Rachelle said.

The UMN team’s success was due to their collaborative work strategy and deep focus on user needs. Rachelle said that the main factor in their victory was the way the team unified their perspectives from the start. She explained that all members shared ideas and collaborated on building concepts together.

“The collaboration and shared thinking really made the difference [Collaboration and collective thinking really set us apart from other teams],” said Rachelle.

“Zoon” itself was developed as a fun and safe financial education game for children. This game-based financial education application introduces basic financial concepts through interactive adventures. Through the game, children can learn to save money, recognize needs and wants, and make financial decisions with parental guidance. In fact, every point earned from the game can be exchanged for real-world rewards through CIMB.

In her role as an interaction designer, Rachelle ensured that the entire design of “Zoon” was based on a deep understanding of child users. She focused on creating an intuitive and enjoyable game flow, from wireframes to interaction details that felt natural for the target age group.

In addition to providing valuable experience working under time pressure, this victory also motivated Rachelle and her team to continue their work. She encourages other UMN students to dare to start and utilize technology in solving social problems.

“Just start. Many social problems can be solved through technology, but the key is not in complicated features, but in a deep understanding of humans and their needs,” Rachelle concluded.

By Melinda Chang | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara.