Fig AI Design Student Makeathon 2026
Fig AI Design Student Makeathon 2026
November 14–16 · Online Makeathon
Winners Demo · Third Coast Foundry, San Francisco · Date TBD
AI is creating new products, behaviors, workflows, and interaction patterns faster than traditional design practices can keep up.
Join a three-day online competition for design students to tackle emerging design challenges created by AI and turn ideas into functional prototypes.
This is not another design exercise.
Form a team, explore a real-world challenge, build with AI-enabled tools, and submit a working prototype for cross-functional judging. Selected winning teams will be invited to showcase their projects in San Francisco.
Who Should Join
Design and HCI students, and students interested in AI products, design engineering, or emerging interfaces.
Join solo or in a team of 2–5. You do not need to be an expert engineer.
The focus is on moving beyond static concepts to create something people can actually experience.
The Challenge
Real-World AI Problems
Challenges will explore design problems created or transformed by emerging AI products and workflows, including:
How should humans interact with multiple AI agents?
How do we design AI systems people can understand and trust?
What new interfaces are needed when software becomes increasingly autonomous?
Final challenge briefs and requirements will be shared with registered participants shortly before the event begins.
How It Works
Register → Meet Teammates → Design & Build → Checkpoint → Submit → Judging
The full competition runs through the Fig Event Platform, from registration and team matching to submission and judging.
Along the way, join workshops, panels, and office hours for practical tool guidance, product feedback, and industry perspectives. Partner-provided tool access and credits will be announced as confirmed.
Projects will be reviewed by a cross-functional judging panel, bringing both design and non-design perspectives. Final judging criteria, submission requirements, and review format will be shared before the event.
Meet the Judges
Lewis Liu — Product @ Microsoft, building agents and knowledge systems; ex-Google (Gemini), startup advisor; Stanford GSB
Ziyuan “Zoey” Zhu — Creative Technologist and Project Lead @ IDEO AI Lab; MIT; Co-founder of FuturePIXEL
Xuyan Zhao — Principal Product Manager, AI @Turo ex-AI/ML product @ Collectors, eBay
Fred McHale — Executive Director of Product Design @ Academy of Art University; ex-design manager @ Cisco
Hao Wang — Chief Strategy and Business Growth Officer @ NetMind.AI; Stanford GSB
Yitong Wang — User Experience Designer @ Lenovo; California College of the Arts
More judges will be announced as the panel grows.
Prizes & Rewards
Potential rewards include tool credits, product access, partner-sponsored prizes, swag, and opportunities to showcase your work across the Fig community.
Confirmed prizes and rewards will be announced before the event.
Tentative Schedule
November 14 — Kickoff & Build
Challenge reveal, competition briefing, tool workshop, team formation, and building begins.
November 15 — Build & Checkpoint
Continue developing your project, submit your midpoint update, and access available support sessions.
November 16 — Final Build & Submit
Complete your prototype and submit your project.
Workshops, panels, and office hours will run throughout the makeathon. Exact session times and the judging window will be announced before the event.
Winners Demo · San Francisco
Selected winning teams will be invited to present at Third Coast Foundry in San Francisco for live demos, awards, conversations with judges and partners, and a community mixer.
Date TBD. Attendance is limited to selected teams and invited guests.
Travel and accommodation are not currently provided. Further participation details and eligibility requirements will be shared with selected teams.
Who We Are
Fig Studio is an AI incubator and community bringing together designers, engineers, founders, researchers, and investors to explore and build what’s next in AI.
Through hackathons, makeathons, demo days, and mixers, we connect emerging talent with industry practitioners, help turn ideas into working products, and give teams a stage—and a path forward.
We run the Fig Event Platform, supporting the full journey from registration and team matching to submission, judging, and post-event project discovery: [platform link]
Participants will have the opportunity to help shape the platform through their experience and feedback.
Important Notes
The event is in active planning. Challenge details, sessions, tool access, judges, rewards, participation rules, submission requirements, and schedules may change. Registered participants will receive confirmed details and material updates before the event.
Award eligibility: Before announcing the final winners, we will verify the student status of all members of the winning teams. Each member must be currently enrolled or have graduated within the 12 months preceding the makeathon’s start date (November 14, 2026). Proof of enrollment or graduation may be required.
A listed judge’s affiliation does not imply organizational sponsorship.