Gregory Koberger

Today was RIT's second annual Imagine RIT festival- a massive event displaying cool stuff people across campus are doing. I had an exhibit (which I'll post about later), however there were a ton of much cooler things going on.

So, here's my top five things I wish I had come up with or done.

5. Dr Destlers Green Challenge

Say what you will about sustainability and green technology- there's no denying that Dr Destlers' bike is pretty cool. I got to ride it at his house, and it was like riding a bike downhill- no peddling, you just glide.

And to make a vehicle that uses even less power? Seems like the perfect competition for RIT students. And as it turns out, it was.

An entry in the Green Vehicle Challenge

4. The Hot Dog Robot

Most of the best things at Imagine RIT are not only cool, but completely useless- and the hot dog robot is the perfect example.

As cool as it is, though- I'd much rather if it made breakfast.

3. The Logo

The logo for Imagine RIT is absolutely amazing. I don't think the program would be as much of a success as it was if the logo wasn't so attractive. Whoever designed it deserves a ton of credit.

2. The meetu Ad Campaign

The concept behind meetu is cool enough, however it's the branding that really got me. First, the name- "meetu" of course sounds like "meet you"- but on top of that, the e's are facing each other and look like people, while the t is really a plus symbol ("mee + u").

However, the really cool stuff was their ad campaign- they used a bunch of "___ and ___" style phrases (such as"peanut butter + jelly", "Ben + Jerry" and "Luke + Leia") that have e's on both sides. The e's are stylized and facing each other- hard to explain, but really impressive.

1. The Event Itself

The first year, the entire thing went from concept to finished product within three months- with over 20,000 people showing up to see a few hundred projects. It was an amazingly large scale project, and they pulled it off with style. They did a brilliant job of marketing (and I won't hold the gimmicky invite to Obama against them) to both exhibitors and visitors. It really shows off what RIT students can do- I didn't realize how many cool things were being done at RIT until I went to Imagine RIT. I give President Destler a lot of credit for making this happen.

It really has the potential to put RIT on the map- it's well worth traveling to Rochester to see.