Afterclass - Student Projects
Winner of Drivhusets Ideathon 2026 - idea that connects students for projects
MAY 2026Winner of Drivhusets Ideathon 2026 - idea that connects students for projects
MAY 2026The 2026 Ideathon hosted by Drivhuset welcomed students to practice on exploring different ideas with AI (Loveable). My team came with our own idea and frustration: Student group projects and matching those with entering industry experience.
It is difficult for student's to participate in cross functional project and finding people with the same motivation.
A way for students with same motivation and goals to easily connect beyond academic programs for projects.
A website that connects students in Swedish universities to different projects and cross functional teams.
Denise Heijkenskjöld, Edvin Lindemalm, John Lindeman and me.
UX Researcher & Designer
Figjam, Figma & Loveable
As a team of students, we found in common that we struggled to describe our responsibility in portfolios from academic projects where everyone technically had the same role.
Along with the perceived difficulty of getting internships or entry-level jobs, degrees feel like they are not enough - experience and projects are more and more relevant for competition.
One of our first thoughts on the problem
I did desktop research to better understand the field of what recruiters expected and the needs and behaviours of students trying to get hired after graduation. We also discussed our experience as undergrad students applying for internships, which together summarised into these pain points.
Academic group projects
In academic group projects its difficult to stand out because its rarely cross-program and results with similar roles
Need for a group
It felt unmotivating to do projects alone
Entry level positions require experience
Projects are needed for a competitive portfolio
Motivation and goals
Finding others or projects with the same goals and motivations in an introverted society was hard
Based on the research, I created a userflow to communicate with my team and set the functional expectations for our prototype.
Userflow of joining or creating a project
Design profile: color palette and illustrations
We made wireframes and focused on refining the visual style of the website with our own design. The team prompted, iterated and refined the design and functions based on pain points we had discovered through Loveable.
After receiving feedback externally from mentors and exchanging feedback internally, we landed on this final and simple MVP for our prototype to present and pitch our idea for a community website where students can create and connect to different projects with different roles.
In an Swedish culture that is quite introverted, it can be difficult to find other students to do projects with.
To make this easier, there is a forum where students can join different projects and have the ability to create own projects to find teammates.
A reoccuring student experience was conducting academic projects in teams where essentially everyone had the same role.
To make it easier to join and gain experience in cross functional teams, projects have role specific positions to ensure skill diverse teams.
With these functions we hope that our idea could bring together ambitious students to practice an hone their skills in cross functional team settings, and maybe even build strong connections on the way into the industry.
This idea also aimed to be adopted by University Institutes such as Stockholm University to incorporate and give students a better opportunity in diverse projects for building a strong portfolio.
The idea was well received by the jury that found it was a relevant issue today where as post graduate students may struggle to get jobs, and named it the winning idea for the Ideathon 2026.
To understand the problem we are solving is the most important first step. In the beginning it felt a bit unclear when we hadn't stated a clear problem formulation before working. Secondly, communication is key. During time pressure and high expectations, our team did an exellent job in communication, organising, giving feedback and having fun which made our work path clear. We also got to try the practice of doing prototypes with Loveable while incorporating our design knowledge to refine AI generated content to communicate and adapt our idea to an audience.
It was a great experience to find a problem and come up with an idea in such short time, and put in perspective that not all ideas are final and that a starting point is all you need to get started.