Design Competition

Quick facts

The goal of the 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 encourage design professionals and design students to participate and get actively involved in the MobileHCI community. We ask design educators in universities and colleges from around the world to foster participation in this competition and to consider incorporating it into their academic curriculum for interested students.

Design Brief

Mobile activities show specific need for services, content presentation and user interaction. For such mobile applications design proposals are invited where the functionality and interaction pattern reflects the mobile characteristics of the usage scenario. One example for a mobile application is a guidance system. Often one wants to give directions to someone on how to get to a given location, or when to take a given action, for example; you may want to meet someone at your office, or invite them to your home, or remind someone of a routine activity, such as taking a medicine. How2Get2 is an application for mobile handsets that creates a set of directions, be they spatial, behavioural or simply instructional. Via a mobile phone you can share, update, and distribute such directions, in different media channels.

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 MobileHCI09.

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

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. 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.

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 MobileHCI09 Proceedings format, due Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 5:00 PM CEST Berlin, 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

2. A digital version (PDF) of a full-size poster for display at the conference, due Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 5:00 PM CEST Berlin (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 like. The entry site will be locked promptly at the entry deadline on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 5:00 PM CEST Berlin, and authors will no longer be allowed access to the entries.

All entries must include:

  • a short abstract
  • keywords
  • body
  • references

To ensure that your entry is reviewed:

Upon Acceptance

Teams will be notified of accept status by Sunday, June 07th, 2009. 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 Chairs at design-competition@MobileHCI09.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 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 Design Competition for MobileHCI09, contact the Design Competition Chairs Wolfgang Henseler, Monika Fleischmann, Andrea Krajewski and Lucia Terrenghi at DesignCompetitionChairs@MobileHCI09.org

Website by: Research and Design of Ubiquitous Computing, Ethnography, Design Probes, Triggering Artifacts things Team Fraunhofer FIT.