DesignVerse is a yearly 24-hour design-a-thon run by Design@UCR, a student club in UC Riverside’s School of Business. Teams get a prompt, design the interface of an app or website, then demo and pitch it to a panel of industry judges.
The weekend also carries workshops, mentorship and networking. It ran in 2024, 2025 and on May 16–17, 2026; the next edition has not been announced.
Benefits & funding
- Prizes by track; the site lists prizes in its FAQ but no amounts (the 2024 edition gave US$530 in total).
- Workshops, mentoring and feedback from industry judges.
- The open site does not state whether joining costs money.
Eligibility
- High school, undergraduate and graduate students.
- No design experience needed; the event is billed as beginner-friendly.
- Held in person on the UC Riverside campus; no nationality or residence rule is published.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.
Education required
High School
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Application process
- 1Submit the participant form linked from “Apply Now!” on the official site (the 2026 form is now offline).
- 2Join or form a team before the event.
Program timeline
2026 design-a-thon (past)
May 16, 2026 to May 17, 2026
Next edition
not yet announced