Ohana Andre de Souza, a Visual Design major, participated in the most recent Design-A-Thon. In 2023, she and her group won the Design-A-Thon with their solution. Viscom Program Specialist, Taylor, talked with Ohana as she reflected on the experience of participating in the event.
Read about her experience below.
Taylor: Can you tell me a little bit about the experience you had leading into Design-A-Thon and within Design-A-Thon?
Ohana: I decided last minute actually. I was seeing the fliers at the college and it was my first semester. One of my teachers at the time in the design area was asking if we (the class) were going to go to Design-A-Thon and talking about it being a really good experience to put in the portfolio. They talked about it being an entire day, but worth it. So I did sign up, but I was thinking the whole time, “I don’t know because I really don’t know much about it”.
Getting there I was very nervous, there were a lot of people who were showing up and important people were going to be the judges and I was thinking “oh wow”. We got into our group and my group was very unusual, I would say. We had a team of about 5 or 6. They were from every major and I felt like the other groups felt less lost than us and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but we had an amazing mentor who was explaining how it works and she helped us to understand that we did not need to give the best prototype or new app, but just one problem that we can fix. So we started researching, split up and asked different people questions (students, employees, etc.). We realized a lot of people did not know that certain programs were offered so that was when it clicked for me. I thought I could give more ideas, so I started to think about what already existed and focused on what people did not know about. I realized the solution was to focus on what people did not know existed.
Taylor: For clarity, what was the prompt that you were given to solve?
Ohana: It was something dealing with how to assist students getting to their classes. We live in Austin and transportation can be pretty challenging, so we were working to find a solution to help students better get to their classes.
We thought “what is the best way to get students to get into the class?” and tried to put ourselves in the students’ shoes thinking about how they can get to class if they do not have a car.
Taylor: When this problem was given to you, what was your team’s primary solution to the problem?
Ohana: We all came in with different ideas and each of us had different thoughts. We thought of the company “Fetii” and thought of a possible partnership with that type of company. The other focus was on the presentation and realizing that the solution is about the design. Our first idea in the group was to work on an app and update something that was already existing to help ACC students.
Taylor: In the Design-A-Thon experience, what did you find to be most rewarding?
Ohana: I remember feeling so lost coming into this event and I think in the working on the solution with the team and understanding what we were working to create gave me excitement and confidence in thinking that our idea was going to win. Once I gained that confidence and worked with our mentor through ideas, the rest of the day was just fun and I really loved it.
Taylor: What would you say your overall experience was with the event?
Ohana: It was really good. It was a long day, but it was so good because my group was different with many majors, but at the end we had so much interaction with each other. The event allowed us to get to know each other better. There was no competition among us and we collaborated heavily. Working with people I had never met before was scary, but it was really good at the end.
Taylor: What is one of the lessons that you took away from Design-A-Thon?
Ohana: We cannot solve all of the problems. If you try to solve all of the problems, you won’t solve anything. We need to focus on one thing that we can make work and focus there. Our mentor really helped us to understand that through the day.
Taylor: Can you share a little bit about yourself? What part of the Visual Communication program are you in? What do you find enjoyable about design? Anything else you want to share about yourself?
Ohana: I started at ACC in my first semester in a business class, but I also decided to take an art class – completely opposite of business. I had never drawn anything in my life and the professor was super cool and encouraged me by saying, ‘No! You’re not going to fail, you’re learning. Just go slow and take your time. You won’t fail.’ It was one of the best classes I could have taken because I was completely focused on that class and not in my head or thinking about anything else. This class opened my mind and I realized I had a talent in something I never considered. After that drawing class, I did not continue with business and started taking classes in design. The first class was an architecture class and there is a part of the class where I was able to redesign a website and that was the moment I knew what I wanted to do. I spent hours doing it and I loved it. When I took Visual Design, I knew it was what I wanted to do for life.
Taylor: Thank you for sharing that. That’s awesome. Would you participate in Design-A-Thon again?
Ohana: I think so. It was a really good experience. There was no favoritism and the staff tried to make sure all of the groups were equally strong. It was a lot of time, but I definitely learned a lot about ideation and design. Our mentor was amazing.
Taylor: Last question. For any student who is on the fence about participating, do you have any words or encouragement or tips you want to share?
Ohana: I was afraid because it was my first semester and I thought I was not going to be able to add anything and going, I realized I was a huge part of my group. Our group needed each other and each of us brought something to the table that helped us to win with our solution. Don’t think that just because you are in your first semester you should not go. One idea can spark a full solution and you will learn a lot by going.
You are going to be judged by people in the field. Everything they will tell you is going to be valuable and it is very rewarding and inspirational.