Designathon at UCLA is an annual beginner-friendly design competition hosted by Bruin Entrepreneurs with the goal of fostering design thinking at UCLA. Student designers and creatives from diverse backgrounds and skill levels come together to innovate and create. Students have an incredible opportunity to network with peers and professionals, attend dynamic workshops, seek guidance from expert designers and learn about buzzing opportunities in the design industry.
Summit is the 2023 theme for Designathon at UCLA promoting inclusivity and diversity of design. The purpose is clear: to reach the top. Design thinking helps us address problems, using innovation to contribute to our quickly developing society. By placing importance on empathy, equity, inclusivity, and diversity, we shape design to be whatever we need and dream it to be. These are our different ways to reach the top. No matter how you tackle design thinking, we’ll still meet you at the summit.
Summit will take place on Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 9AM to 7PM PST on UCLA’s Campus, with check-in beginning at 8:30 AM PST. Please note that Summit is an exclusively-in-person event.
A detailed itinerary personalized for each team will be posted on the Summit Intranet (“SummitNet”) prior to the event start.
Students are encouraged to work with each other and teams can be up to 4 participants. Teams sign up will begin a day after applications close. If students are applying in teams, each individual must submit an application.
Designathon is a beginner-friendly program that welcomes undergraduate students without prior design experience to learn and apply design skills in solving real-world problems, including UX, prototyping, typography, and layouts! All applications will be considered, regardless of prior design background.
Participants agree to follow the UCLA Student Group Conduct Code and the UCLA Office of Residential Life On Campus Housing Regulations regarding Facilities and Activities Regulations. Failure to comply with these regulations will subject participants to removal from the program.
SummitNet, or simply the Summit Intranet, is the internal system where Summit Participants, Mentors, Judges, and Staff have access to their personalized experience. Based on their role, Summit attendees will be able to access their personalized schedules, submit/view final projects, submit/view final scores/comments, and access the member directory to collaborate and network with other attendees and professionals, expanding networking beyond design work. Users may login at designathon2023.bruinentrepreneurs.org/login after an invite has been sent out.
Slack is the official communication platform connecting participants, mentors, judges, and staff in one place. Users may log in at designathon2023.slack.com after an invite has been sent out.
Summit will take place in the De Neve Plaza Room on UCLA grounds (351 Charles E. Young Drive West). Summit will utilize the top floor of De Neve Plaza in the following ways:
Parking is available in Parking Lot DD. Guests who do not have UCLA Parking may purchase a day parking pass for visitors in Lot DD.
Lot DD is located next to De Neve Plaza and participants may follow the map to the venue location.
Designathon at UCLA and UCLA Residential Life acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.
Participant check in will start at 8:30 AM on May 20, 2023 at the foyer in front of the Plaza Room. Participants are asked to check in at this time, no later than 9:00 AM for the Opening Plenary.
Participants will be asked to bring a BruinCard (if a UCLA Student) or another form of identity (School ID/Government-issued ID). Summit Staff will be checking-in participants via SummitNet.
Participants are asked to bring the following for the Summit Experience:
To access SummitNet, Slack, research materials, and other web/cloud-based programs (i.e., Figma), attendees may access the following WiFi platforms based on their roles: