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Student Design Competition

Quick facts

 

This is the first Student Design Competition at MobileHCI. The goal of the Student Design Competition is to demonstrate problem solving and design skills in an international competition focused on MobileHCI. The competition provides MobileHCI attendees insight into different approaches to problem solving and realization of solutions that can change the way we think about mobility.
We ask design educators in universities and colleges from around the world to encourage participation in this competition and to consider incorporating it into their academic curriculum for interested students.

Design Brief


Often one wants to give directions to someone on how to get to a given location; you may want to meet someone at your office, or invite them to your home. How2Get2 is an application for mobile handsets that creates a set of directions. The directions can be saved and sent to others.

Design the user experience for How2Get2, including:

  • user tasks: creating, saving, editing, sharing directions
  • enabling technologies for your solution: file types, 3G services, GPS, etc.
  • integration into other mobile applications and services

 

Entering the Competition

Your entry consists of three main elements: 1. a three-page written entry focusing on the Design Brief problem and a summary of the solution (published in Extended Abstracts) 2. an illustrative poster (reviewed in digital format and displayed in printed format at the conference) 3. If accepted to the competition, a 10 minute Design Theatre presentation at the conference designed to engage, provoke, and stimulate the conference attendees. We especially encourage entries that:

  • Illustrate points of view and relationships between actors and audience, users and interactive concepts
  • Challenge the audience’s beliefs and perspectives
  • Present a focused, clear, memorable point

Review Process

The design jury will review all entries based on the criteria listed below. Accepted entries will be presented at the conference. The design jury will determine winners based on a combination of feedback on the written portion of the entry, the poster, the presentation, and audience reaction to the presentation. Winners will be determined on site at MobileHCI 2008.

Judging Criteria

Entries will be judged by a design jury composed of a mix of industrial and academic professionals. The design jury may request additional information or explanations from the your team prior to awarding the winners. Jury selections and judging decisions are final and will be announced at the MobileHCI closing plenary.

Your design solution will be judged on demonstrating the following:

  • deep understanding of the problem space and the solution space
  • exploring, inventing, and presenting the details of your solution in a thoughtful manner
  • social factors including availability, cost efficiency, internationally appropriate
  • design quality including originality, usability, desirability
  • technical quality including practicality, using technology available now or anticipated in the near future

 

Your written entry will be reviewed based on:

  • originality of the work
  • clarity of the written presentation
  • quality of the design process
  • clarity of the solution
  • your persuasive argument for what makes your solution worthy of consideration

 

Your poster entry will be reviewed based on:

  • aesthetic appearance
  • clear communication of key aspects of solution
  • judicious use of text

 

Your Design Theatre presentation will be reviewed based on:

  • clarity and organization of the oral presentation
  • relevance and clarity of presentation content
  • audience reaction

 

Your written entry and poster will be reviewed by the jury. If selected, you will be invited to compete at the conference by making a 10 minute presentation to conference attendees. The jury will rely on their expertise, and audience reaction to your presentation, in order to determine the final winners.

Please note that not all solutions necessarily require a visible interface or visual design finesse, and entertainment value is not a judging criterion. However, you will need the audience’s support to win, so gauge your presentation appropriately. Entries will be judged as a whole with different judging factors weighted differently as contextually appropriate for the solution.

The Award

Gold, Silver, and Bronze award winners will be selected from the entries. Winners will receive:

  • a certificate of acknowledgment presented at the closing session of the conference
  • acknowledgment on the conference web site

 

Winners will be announced at the closing plenary of the conference. Please note: one member of each winning team must be present at the closing plenary of the conference to receive the award.

Forming Your Team

Teams of 2 to 5 individuals are invited to employ a multidisciplinary approach to the design brief. There is no limit to the number of teams that may compete from any given University, and no limit to the number of entries per team. All team members must be students but they need not be from the same institution. In general, teams composed of individuals with a mix of interests and specialties produce a more interesting result than teams with members who all share the same perspective. We encourage a participatory and multidisciplinary approach to the design problem.

All members of the team must provide proof that they were students at the time the work for the competition was conducted (see Proof of Student Status below). Entries are invited from all students at all stages of their university careers, from undergraduate to post-graduate. Part-time students and professionals enrolled in Continuing Education coursework are not eligible to compete.

Creating Your Deliverables

Your entry must not contain proprietary or confidential material and should not cite proprietary or confidential publications. Please prepare the following:

1. Three-page written design document submitted in the ACM MobileHCI 2008 Proceedings format, due Monday 3 March 2008 (5:00pm CET) (passed), must include:

  • a description of the problem and context
  • a description of the design process followed
  • detailed description of the proposed solution
  • reference to design principles and theory where appropriate
  • acknowledgement of partial or incomplete solutions
  • acknowledgement of any assistance drawn from outside the student team (advisors, faculty, domain experts, etc.)

 

2. A digital version (PDF) of a full-size poster for display at the conference, due Monday 3 March 2008 (5:00pm CET) (passed) (if accepted, please bring your print version to the conference). The format should adhere to the International Standards Organization (ISO) poster size format (AO) in either landscape or portrait orientation. The dimensions for AO format are 84cm x 119cm or approximately 33" x 47." Your poster must include:

  • title, team, school affiliation(s)
  • the context for the proposed solution
  • a concise description of the proposed solution
  • clear illustrations of key aspects of your proposed solution
  • compelling, effective visual design

 

3. If selected to compete, prepare a 10-minute presentation in a theatrical format to be presented at conference. We suggest that you cover the following:

  • your design process
  • your proposed solution
  • reference to design principles and theory where appropriate
  • acknowledgement of partial or incomplete solutions

 

Submitting Your Entry

All entries must be in English and must include title and author information. Faxed entries are not acceptable.

Please log into the Conference Review System and become familiarized with the online entry process well before the deadline. You can submit and resubmit materials as often as you please as one ZIP archive before the deadline. The entry site will be locked promptly at the entry deadline on Monday 3 March 2008 (5:00pm CET) (passed), and authors will no longer be allowed access to the entries. To be fair to all authors, no extensions will be granted and late entries will not be reviewed.

All entries must be preceded or accompanied by a Proof of Student Status package. (See Proof of Student Status section below) including:

  • a short abstract
  • keywords
  • body
  • references

 

To ensure that your entry is reviewed:


Proof of Student Status

To be eligible for the student competition, you must send in proof of full-time student status on or prior to Monday 3 March 2008 (5:00pm CET) (passed) as one proof package per team. You must acknowledge that the work submitted was performed exclusively by the team and that all team members have been verified as full-time students. If we do not receive your verification package, your entry can not be considered in the competition.

You must send Proof of full-time student status in one package for the entire team. Please include:

  • a cover sheet identifying the names and affiliations of all team members and any consulting or advisory faculty
  • for each team member, a separate signed statement from the organization where each author was registered as a full-time student when the work was carried out

 

Upon Acceptance

Teams will be notified of accept status by 7 April 2008 (passed). If your entry is accepted, you will receive a letter of acceptance.

Mentoring

MobileHCI will not provide individual mentoring for competition entries. You may use faculty and colleagues at your University for mentoring, but mentors may not actively participate in the design solution. Please contact the co-chairs at design-competition@mobilehci2008.org if you have questions about mentoring.

At the Conference

Design Theatre presentations are 10 minutes. Digital projection will be available but you are not required to use it. You are encouraged to develop a theatrical approach to your work, creating not only your thesis but also the user experience that will make the point come alive for the audience. An important part of this venue is the meaningful presentation of well-paced material that holds the audience’s attention.

Accepted Student Design Competition abstracts will be available in the supplementary conference proceedings on CD-ROM. Submission of the final camera-ready version includes and is not complete without giving us permission to distribute your final camera-ready version as described above. This permission is given during submitting the final version of your work via the Conference Review System.

If you have questions about the Student Design Competition for MobileHCI 2008, contact the Student Design Competition Co-chairs, Elisabeth Dykstra-Erickson and Pieter Jan Stappers at design-competition@mobilehci2008.org

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