Avery and his daft punk costume
Yesterday we had an IDSA event on how tin design competitions by our famed CSULB winner Avery Holleman, who graduated just 2 years ago.
He was won awards such as the NextGen PC sponsored by Microsoft and won the $20,000 cash prize, as well as an honorable mention in the Housewares Competition, and several others.
This is what he has to say:
How To Win a Design Competition
Get to know the competition:
Learn all of the requirements, make sure you fulfill them
Study past winners, why did they win? What could they have done better?
Find out who the judges are, what is their occupation, what are they known for, what will interest them?
Have a gimmick (your concept):
Keep it simple, it should illicit a “why didn't I think of that”
Keep it pure, one idea. Don't feature creep
Solve a real problem, show the problem, show how your concept solves it
Your presentation must include:
The All-In-One
This page should explain the entire concept in one image with no words (or less than 10 if needed)
If you could only submit this one page it should be able to win on its own
Show your concept as if it were real, use real photography wherever possible
Show your concept in its most iconic use scenario, play off of your gimmick
The Gimmick
This page should be a piece of graphic poetry, use real images, play off of emotions / nostalgia
This page is to explain why your concept is special and give insight on where the idea came from
If you could only submit two pages, the all-in-one would show the concept and the gimmick would explain it
Usage scenario
This can be a few images or just one, but keep it simple and straight forward
Tell a story, use scenario examples or story boarding
Show the user interacting with your concept, make it look natural
Try to use full humans, avoid using disembodied human parts unless you have to
All the other stuff
Research, sketches, mock ups, colors, materials, manufacturing, drafting, etc.
Select only the best, you should be proud of every single thing you include
Keep it simple and concise, one thing per page, one page per thing
Some general tips:
Use real photography, find (or create) studio quality images
When in doubt, bleed everywhere
Never string together more than 3 short sentences
Use as little text as possible, try to replace text with graphics or images
HIERARCHY CONTRAST ALIGNMENT
He was won awards such as the NextGen PC sponsored by Microsoft and won the $20,000 cash prize, as well as an honorable mention in the Housewares Competition, and several others.
This is what he has to say:
How To Win a Design Competition
Get to know the competition:
Learn all of the requirements, make sure you fulfill them
Study past winners, why did they win? What could they have done better?
Find out who the judges are, what is their occupation, what are they known for, what will interest them?
Have a gimmick (your concept):
Keep it simple, it should illicit a “why didn't I think of that”
Keep it pure, one idea. Don't feature creep
Solve a real problem, show the problem, show how your concept solves it
Your presentation must include:
The All-In-One
This page should explain the entire concept in one image with no words (or less than 10 if needed)
If you could only submit this one page it should be able to win on its own
Show your concept as if it were real, use real photography wherever possible
Show your concept in its most iconic use scenario, play off of your gimmick
The Gimmick
This page should be a piece of graphic poetry, use real images, play off of emotions / nostalgia
This page is to explain why your concept is special and give insight on where the idea came from
If you could only submit two pages, the all-in-one would show the concept and the gimmick would explain it
Usage scenario
This can be a few images or just one, but keep it simple and straight forward
Tell a story, use scenario examples or story boarding
Show the user interacting with your concept, make it look natural
Try to use full humans, avoid using disembodied human parts unless you have to
All the other stuff
Research, sketches, mock ups, colors, materials, manufacturing, drafting, etc.
Select only the best, you should be proud of every single thing you include
Keep it simple and concise, one thing per page, one page per thing
Some general tips:
Use real photography, find (or create) studio quality images
When in doubt, bleed everywhere
Never string together more than 3 short sentences
Use as little text as possible, try to replace text with graphics or images
HIERARCHY CONTRAST ALIGNMENT