Design + Environmental Analysis: Design Challenge
Updated for the 2025 Undergraduate Admissions Cycle
The Design + Environmental Analysis (DEA) Design Challenge is required of all first-year and transfer DEA applicants. This submission will be considered along with your required application materials (Common Application, transcripts, etc). DEA applicants who do not submit the Case Study will not be considered.
The goal of the DEA Design Challenge is to communicate your point-of-view. The work you submit should say something about who you are, your opinions, and your personal goals. There is also an optional category if you wish to submit additional examples of your creative expression. Be sure to review the DEA Design Challenge instructions carefully and thoughtfully prepare your materials.
Submission instructions
All DEA Design Challenge components must be submitted via SlideRoom. Materials submitted through other means will not be reviewed or returned.
Deadlines
Your DEA Design Challenge must be submitted to SlideRoom by the application deadline that corresponds with your application status. Late submissions will not be considered.
DEA Design Challenge Components
The DEA Design Challenge consists of the following (3) required components and (1) optional component (see below). Applicants must complete and submit the (3) required components.
- Required — Written challenge
- Required — Two-dimensional challenge
- Required — Scenario challenge
- Optional — Your own creative samples
All work must be original and produced by the applicant only, with no assistance from consultants, Artificial Intelligence, etc. Submissions found to have significant similarity to work posted on the internet or from other sources will not be accepted.
DEA Design Challenge Instructions (2025)
DEA Design Challenge Instructions (2025)
Respond to both parts of the following essay prompt. Word limit: 300 words. Submit (1) file with your Written Challenge essay to SlideRoom.
Design is empathy: it should aspire to create meaningful solutions for both people and the planet that transcend a list of functional requirements. As a department dedicated to preparing students to tackle challenging design opportunities, we teach evidence-based design, using research to guide every step of the design process. This more scholarly approach to design education is unique.
- Please describe why the DEA approach to design education meets your educational and pre-professional goals?
- How do you see yourself contributing to the world as a designer using your DEA education?
Diagram a task / process of your choice, without using words or text, to convey a message. The definition of “message” might be interpreted as an opportunity to enlighten, enable, or educate an end-user. The creative presentation of the sequence and the quality of visual communication will form the basis of your work’s evaluation. Submit (1) file with your finished 2-D Challenge to SlideRoom.
Review the following instructions.
- Create a 5-step diagram, i.e., similar to a comic book strip layout, that communicates the process and the message.
- Consider the sequential steps, context, and objectives involved while doing the task / process.
- Use any two-dimensional media: pen, pencils, markers, digital camera, computer software, etc.
DEA's focus on research brings both analytical and creative skills together to improve the human condition and help save our planet.
Scenario: With the adoption of more alternative fuel sources, many gas stations will no longer be necessary. How might we generate ideas for existing gasoline pumping stations once gas-powered vehicles are extinct?
Task: Propose a human-centered user experience, that includes a 3D design solution, for existing gasoline pumping stations. How might we reframe these existing structures to create a new use that serves a specific segment of society that is marginalized (i.e. the elderly, differently-abled citizens, geographic locations without human-centered services) so that these structures can support humans to thrive?
Format: Create a compelling slide presentation that includes the following components. Slides can include illustrations that you have created or photographic images where you name the source of the image. Submit (1) file with your finished Scenario Challenge to SlideRoom.
- Slide 1: Identify the problem and yourself
- Provide your name and address.
- Write one sentence that states how your values will impact your proposed design solution.
- State the design issue: how might these pumping stations become viable and vital user experiences for a marginalized group of society.
- Use both visual and verbal information to convey why this set of end users is currently not being served.
- Slide 2: Use research to inform your design ideas
- Review scholarly studies of your selected user group and select one or two research papers that address the particular challenges or design opportunities for your user group: vision, mobility, accessibility, weather, climate change, amenities in the built environment, etc.
- Consider using Google Scholar for possible appropriate research publications.
- State the study and cite the website for the research article you have selected that pertains to your user group.
- Discuss how this particular study would inform your design process.
- Use images to document your selected user group, an existing gas pumping station, and its location, providing sources for each.
- Review scholarly studies of your selected user group and select one or two research papers that address the particular challenges or design opportunities for your user group: vision, mobility, accessibility, weather, climate change, amenities in the built environment, etc.
- Slide 3: Design Proposal
- Create a 3D design solution that incorporates your selected research study.
- Use visual tools to communicate how your idea would address the needs of your underserved end user group.
- Provide a brief paragraph (max: 100 words) that describes how your solution would address your end users’ needs.
- Annotate your drawings or images to explain how you have made design provisions for your end users.
- Slides can include illustrations that you have created or photographic images where you name the source of the image.
Submit up to (4) additional images/examples of prior creative work for consideration. Submissions might range from poetry to photography, drawings to paintings or models. For each image/example, provide a title, a short description, and a reflective statement about the outcome or process.
Submit optional creative work (maximum of 4 pages) to SlideRoom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
It is one determinant in learning who you are as a person, understanding your point-of-view, and recognizing how you might fit within DEA. DEA faculty review and evaluate the DEA Design Challenge. Faculty feedback is included in the full review of the application. The DEA Design Challenge is required of all DEA applicants.
No. All DEA applicants must complete the DEA Design Challenge and submit their work via SlideRoom. The DEA Design Challenge offers an opportunity to submit additional creative work as part of the Design Challenge.
Not necessarily. Your creative thought processes and written rationale are as important as aesthetic aptitude. DEA accommodates students with a wide range of creative talents and experiences.
- For your 2D Challenge, you may use any type of media to express your message sequence.
- For the 3D Scenario Challenge, submit slides created using Canva, PowerPoint, or other digital tools.
No. Adhere to the number of images designated in each category.
No. There is no one type of correct or successful submission. Consider your submissions as exercises in experimental thinking and risk-taking more than final presentations or examples of technical proficiency.
We are not scheduling faculty appointments at this time. You can email DEA’s Academic Programs Coordinator with questions about the program and/or Design Challenge.