Ripple

Ripple home page

Inspiration

The creators had watched a video promoting random acts of kindness in society. It showed a man who paid for a birthday cake that a family ran out of money for at the counter was going to buy for the absent grandpa. His motive was that a man had paid for his birthday cake as a boy when he was in a similar situation. That same man turned out to be the celebrating grandpa. The moral was that the ripple caused by the first act of kindness goes on and affected even the original man. This video impacted all of us and we wanted to inspire other people the same way this video inspired us. It was also the inspiration behind the app name: Ripple.

What it does

Every time the app is opened, it displays one of our many acts of kindness paired with an inspiring quote in hopes that the user will be inspired by the quote and carry out the act of kindness.

How we built it

We learned how to use Android Studio through a series of tutorials and Google searches. Then we researched and compiled a list of_ _quotes and acts of kindness that can be easily carried out by the average person. We put together the compilation and displayed a random one every single time the app is opened.

Challenges we ran into

We didn't know how to use Android Studio at all; the .xml files did not make a lot of sense at first, second, or twentieth glance. Also, the tutorials did not make a lot of sense either, as we understood almost none of the terminology and what any given piece of code did. Furthermore, we ran into trouble simply trying to find an idea. Our previous ideas seemed almost impossible to code as none of us have learned how to use the Java GUI and we debated a lot over other ideas, changing ideas 3 times.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're extremely proud of the fact that we learned how to use Android Studio and managed to create an app for the first time! Also, we were able to incorporate some of our previous Java knowledge as well, which felt empowering.

What we learned

We learned the basics of Android Studio and explored the extent of Google and other internet resources. Also, we got really far with teamwork and splitting the work. Our morale was high throughout the whole project and really encouraged us to push through the challenges; we have learned how important positivity is.

What's next for Ripple

We might add a button so that they can refresh a new quote without closing and re-opening the app. Also, we should have a bigger database of inspirational quotes and maybe make them holiday-related during certain seasons.