UI Camp
15 design challenges, 24 hours each, no safety net.
2024
Timeline
UI Designer
Role
The Problem
24-hour design sprints expose a specific weakness: without a system for fast decisions, most time gets spent on structural choices (typography, spacing, layout) instead of actual design. The bottleneck isn't creativity; it's decision speed.
The Challenge
24-hour design sprints leave no room for second-guessing. Each challenge required committing to palette, typography, and layout almost instantly, with no iteration cycles and no safety net. The bottleneck wasn't creativity, it was decision speed. I solved it by building a personal rapid-decision framework: a fixed type scale and spacing system I applied to every challenge, so I only needed to make aesthetic choices (color, composition) rather than structural ones. Fewer variables in play meant faster, more confident output.
Goals
Time trial
Work against the clock to achieve the day's objectives and stay on track to meet them.
Decide quickly
Choose palettes, typographies, and structures suitable for the development of the screens.
Giving and receiving feedback
We learned to receive and give constructive feedback in order to improve our designs and those of our colleagues.
Background
Being one of the 52 participants of the camp, I kept myself in the camp delivering in time and form the challenges to continue participating, these were the points learned.
My Role & Approach
I competed individually across all 15 challenges. Built a personal rapid-decision framework before the camp began: a fixed type scale and spacing system that eliminated structural decisions and freed all energy for aesthetic choices. Also gave and received daily critique with 52 participants.
Process
01. Framework Setup
Established a personal rapid-decision system before the challenges began: a fixed type scale and spacing structure to apply across all 15 days, eliminating structural decisions and freeing all energy for aesthetic choices.
"Setting up the framework before day one wasn't preparation; it was the competitive edge. Structural decisions made in advance don't cost time on the clock."
02. Daily Challenge Cycles
Solved one design challenge per day within 24 hours. Committed to palette, layout, and component decisions quickly without iteration cycles; the constraint forced decisive, confident output.
"The constraint of 24 hours makes commitment non-optional. Deciding fast and moving on was the only viable approach."
03. Feedback Loop
Gave and received daily critique from 52 participants. Each round incorporated learnings into the next challenge, compounding skill across 15 days of rapid iterations.
"Daily critique with 52 designers compounds faster than working alone for months. The feedback loop was the real learning."
04. Portfolio & Community
Published the completed challenge set on Layers.to and connected with the LATAM design and Service Design Club networks, turning a competitive exercise into lasting professional relationships.
"Publishing on Layers.to while the camp ran turned competition into visibility: work seen while it's fresh lands differently."
Outcome
Completed all 15 challenges without elimination. Published the full challenge set on Layers.to and built lasting connections with the LATAM design community and Service Design Club network. The camp compressed months of portfolio feedback into 15 days.