Cade Wharton is a colorful and creative graphic designer passionate about environmental sustainability. He was born and grew up in Vernon Hills, IL. Growing up, art was also a passion of his, and in high school, when he was introduced to the work of graphic arts, he decided that it was the career for him and his passion drove him to the school of art and design at UIUC! Cade’s project focuses on teaching children how to properly recycle, in a fun and engaging way. When he got to college, and realized that not everyone was educated on the importance of and how to properly recycle, he knew he needed to create something that helped with this. He decided that the best way to do this was to teach kids who were just beginning to develop lifelong habits. In the same way that kids are taught to put their garbage in the trash can after lunch, they should also be taught to put their water bottles in the recycling bin. As a camp counselor of 5 years, he had a very clear understanding of how children learned and the best practices for teaching kids about a ‘boring’ topic, so he decided to create a fun and addictive app called Recyclops, that also teaches its user what is and is not recyclable using a fun cyclops character and cute, colorful icons.
