Product Design Builder Award '26

Overview:

Identify a real user problem and design a digital product that solves it thoughtfully. Demonstrate your research, product thinking, iterations, interface, and working prototype—not just attractive screens. Build something useful, explain every important decision, and compete for the Product Design Builder Award '26.

• Design something people genuinely need—not another beautiful screen.
• The Product Design Builder Award '26 invites designers, students, and problem-solvers to identify a real user problem and design a thoughtful digital product that makes the experience simpler, clearer, or more accessible.
• This challenge is not judged solely on visual appeal. We want to understand how you identify problems, make decisions, respond to constraints, and turn insights into a usable product experience.

The Challenge:

- Design or redesign a digital product that improves an everyday experience.

Choose a meaningful problem from areas such as:

• Education and learning
• Careers and employment
• Healthcare and well-being
• Personal finance
• Accessibility and inclusion
• Productivity and collaboration
• Public or civic services
• Sustainability
• Any everyday experience that deserves a better solution

You may design a new product or substantially improve an existing experience. Your submission must clearly demonstrate the problem, the intended users, and why your proposed solution is better.

What You Need to Submit:

Your submission should include:

• Problem statement
• Explain the problem, who experiences it, and why it matters.
• User understanding
• Share the research, observations, interviews, or evidence used to understand the problem.
• Key insights
• Highlight the findings that influenced your design decisions.
• User journey or task flow
• Demonstrate how users currently experience the problem and how your solution improves it.
• Wireframes and iterations
• Show how the solution developed—not only the final screens.
• Final interface design
• Present the most important screens and interactions.
• Clickable prototype
• Submit a publicly accessible Figma or equivalent prototype link.
• Design rationale
• Explain your major decisions, trade-offs, and constraints.
• Testing and reflection
• Share any user feedback received, improvements made, and what you would develop next.

Submission Format:

Submit one presentation or case-study document in PDF format, along with:

• Public prototype link
• Public case-study or portfolio link, if available
• A 2–3 minute walkthrough video
• Participant details and contact information

Recommended presentation length: 10–15 slides.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Problem understanding and relevance: 20%
• User research and insight quality: 15%
• Product thinking and decision-making: 20%
• Usability and interaction design: 20%
• Visual clarity and consistency: 15%
• Testing, iteration, and presentation: 10%

A visually impressive interface without clear problem-solving will not receive a high score.

Who Can Participate?

The award is open to:

• Students from any academic discipline
• UI/UX and product design learners
• Early-career product designers
• Developers exploring product design
• Independent creators and professionals
• Self-taught designers

Participants may use any design tool. Formal design education is not required.

Use of AI:

AI tools may be used for research support, ideation, content refinement, or design assistance. Participants must disclose:

• Which AI tools were used
• How they were used
• Which decisions and outputs were created by the participant

Undisclosed or substantially AI-generated submissions without original reasoning may be disqualified.

Important Rules:

• The submitted work must be original.
• Existing portfolio projects may only be submitted if they are substantially developed during the challenge period.
• Plagiarism, copied interfaces, or fabricated research may result in disqualification.
• Prototype and document links must remain publicly accessible during evaluation.
• Participants must explain their individual contribution if the project involved collaborators.
• Wooble may showcase shortlisted submissions with appropriate attribution.

Recognition:

Selected participants may receive:

• Product Design Builder Award '26
• Finalist and special-recognition certificates
• Structured feedback from industry practitioners
• A verified proof-of-work entry on Wooble
• Featured placement across Wooble's channels
• Opportunities to be discovered by participating employers

Special Recognitions:

In addition to the primary award, the jury may recognize:

• Best Product Thinking
• Best User Research
• Best Interaction Design
• Best Visual Experience
• Best Accessibility Solution
• Emerging Product Designer