Student Projects: Submit a Design Challenge

One of the core pillars of Experience Haus courses is the opportunity for students to apply their learnings directly on to live design challenges provided by small businesses and startups from across the country. There is no cost for a business (of any size) to take part in this opportunity – we are simply looking for challenging briefs from a range of industries.

So, first of all, what is Experience Haus?

Experience Haus is a design education provider that runs courses for professionals who wish to pivot, upskill or refresh into creative roles. Our courses include UX and UI Design, Product Design, Service Design, User Research, Product Management, and more.

A core feature of our courses is that students are either paired individually or in groups to work on live challenges. Along the way they will apply their learnings to create deliverables that will build up over time to solutions that answer the design challenge.

Courses range from eight to twelve weeks long and new cohorts are scheduled to start regularly throughout the year.

What courses can I provide a brief for?

We are looking for design challenges for the following courses:

• User Experience Design
• User Interface Design
• Product Design
• Service Design
• User Research
• Product Strategy and Management

What makes a good design challenge? What can the students work on?

Design wise – we are looking for challenges that include several user journeys, for example a booking flow, an e-commerce journey or completing a particular task. Ideally we also need a relatively easy to access target audience, or help from the business in getting access to the target audience. If you are a startup struggling with traction, clear vision, or differentiation, this can make for a good Product Strategy and Management challenge. For more holistic challenges, it might be Service Design. And if you are looking to understand your potential base, then it could be for our User Research course.

Briefs do not need to be extremely detailed and can be vague in part, this is because we teach our students to sit down with their clients, ask the right questions, refine the ask and fill in the gaps – very much like a real life client brief. If you have a particular problem you may want to ask this very clearly up front and expand upon it in the initial briefing session with your student(s).

Who does the the output belong to?

With individuals and teams completing between 100 – 500 hours of design work, all for free, and valued upwards of £10,000, the outcome is real research, real solutions and working prototypes that all belong to the business and are ready for them to use moving forwards. All we kindly ask is that our students can use the work in their portfolios.

At the end of each course your student(s) will present back their process, journey and final solution to the design challenge you have set and you will receive a copy of the presentation and prototype.

Read our testimonials from start-ups we have recently worked with:

• Wellx – insuretech platform based in the UAE
• Azuko – charity using design thinking to improve the lives of women globally
• Wealthmaster – fintech startup focused on wealth management
• Forme Shaker – the modern day supplement shaker

At the end of each course your student(s) will present back their process, journey and final solution to the design challenge you have set.

What is your involvement?

All we ask is that you make yourself available for approximately 5 hours throughout the course duration. There are a few specific engagements scheduled into the syllabus that you will be required for, these include:

• A stakeholder interview
• A final presentation

There might also be the occasional check-in or workshop with the student(s). These sessions can take place either in-person or online. All stakeholder engagements happen in class sessions between 6:30pm – 8:30pm, either on Monday/ Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday depending on the running days of the course.*

*With the exception of our Product Design course, where the initial chats can take place at a convenient time for you and the student working on your design brief.

What else do we ask?

We value the collaborative relationships we build with companies, and your feedback is integral to our continuous improvement. To showcase the impactful collaborations we’ve had, we may kindly request your participation in providing a testimonial, input towards a case study or a short interview of your experience working with us and our students.

Your insights will not only highlight the success stories born out of our partnership but also inspire others to partner with Experience Haus.

Please understand that we are receiving design challenges on an ongoing basis and we cannot accommodate all projects. If you do you have questions however feel free to email us.

What to expect and next steps

If your brief is selected, our student support team will reach out to you via email to confirm you still wish to have our student(s) work on your design brief.

Once your participation is confirmed they will work with you to finalise the stakeholder engagement dates and get calendar invites (and zoom links for online courses) sent across.

Please complete the following form by clicking on button below, and once submitted, we’ll be in touch.

If you do you have questions however feel free to email us at learn@experiencehaus.com.