Microsoft Design Expo 2017
The moment we had been preparing for all semester had arrived! The last two months were spent crafting our pitch, prototyping our concept on the HoloLens and daydreaming about the Microsoft Campus in Seattle. Now, it was time for one final hurdle… the Expo itself.
First, a bit about the Expo…
Each year, Microsoft Research sponsors a semester-long class at leading design schools. Students tackle a brief that typically centers around imminent themes, such as inclusive design, Internet of Things and conversational UIs. This year, the theme was around the creating positive cultural impact in Mixed Reality.
One team from each school is then selected to present at Microsoft HQ in Redmond. Our team, The Real World, was chosen to represent Carnegie Mellon University at the Expo this year alongside ArtCenter College of Design, MIT, New York University, ITP, Royal College of Art, University of Southern California, and University of Washington.
Day 1: Getting Our Bearings
The day started with a chance to meet fellow Expo participants, Expo veteran and mentor, Mike Kasprow (co-founder of Trapeze), and Expo Co-host, Colleen Estrada (director of design experience with FUSE Labs).
Following a dry run of our presentation, we spent the afternoon huddled together and working on our pitch deck. We also got a tour of the Microsoft Envisioning Center; where the team works on exciting ideas for 5–10 years into the future.
Day 2: Technical Rehearsals
Between more dry-runs, pitch refinement and meeting people, day two raced by. We got a chance to run through our presentation in the big auditorium we would be presenting the next day. After our carefully scripted 8-minute presentation ran well over 15 minutes, let’s just say that we had some practicing to do and slides to cut.
Aside from a quick trip to the incredibly inspiring Fusionist Lab and meeting with Asta Roseway, we spent the rest of day reviewing our notes and practicing.
Day 3: The Big Day
We were up bright and early for the morning demo sessions. This was a chance to showcase our project to people from various teams at Microsoft.
The main elements were our low-fidelity paper prototypes, interaction video prototypes and click-through prototype on the Hololens on display for people to interact with.
The feedback we got was really positive. People loved the idea, especially the fact that we worked closely with stakeholders and the depth of our research.
Next, it was presentation time! There was a rush of excitement as we entered the auditorium. This was the moment all the teams worked so hard for. We saw other schools deliver excellent projects, and their confidence was contagious! When our turn came, we strode up on stage and pitched our design concept.
Check out our presentation PDF and video here:
Going into this, we knew that our concept fell on the practical end of the spectrum for Mixed Reality applications; as a team, that’s exactly the kind of work we wanted to do. It was great to see our idea was well-received by the audience and the response was extremely encouraging.
