Microsoft tasked competitors in the 2012 Microsoft Firenze | BXT competition to reimagine Bing as a truly social search engine.
Two rounds. One finalist. Since 2009, the Microsoft Firenze | BXT competition has challenged designers, developers, engineers, business majors, plus many others to join together to tackle real problems faced by teams within the company.
In 2012, the challenge was simple: redesign Microsoft's search engine, Bing, to focus on social connections.
In the first round, members of each competing university (including Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and The Ohio State) competed against one another internally as teams of four, focusing on an interdisciplinary composition ranging across studies and majors.
The advancing teams from each university then compete in a caffeine-fueled weekend at Microsoft's HQ in Redmond, WA. New teams are formed, intermixing finalists, and a new challenge is posed.
The challenges, connections, and lessons are second to none - an incredible experience by every measure.
Finalist Project in Microsoft Competition
2012
In the first round, 12 teams at Cornell were formed, each consisting of four participants: a developer, a designer, a business specialist, and a "wildcard." I had the great fortune of joining forces with Computer Science, Business, and Hospitality majors - each with diverse backgrounds, studies, and perspectives.
As the team's designer, I immediately found myself tasked with the primary deliverables of user experience designs and a demonstrative use-case video for our concept.
With only three weeks until the first round judging session, the team started ideation early. We worked through ideas, features, and important user goals in order to help define our solution space. As our design began to take shape, I started to translate features and ideas into low-fidelity mockups.
After two weeks of continuing in this fashion, we decided upon a direction and the real work began. With just one week left, it was now on me to create our high-fidelity UIs and use-case video... all while keeping up with my courses.
Coupling my passion for animation with my love for creative writing, I drafted a script for an animated use-case video. In order to better understand the flow and style choices, I created a "visual script" and traditional storyboard. With the approval of the team, I then began the next and most sleep-depriving stage: design and animation.
With the low-fi UI, script, and storyboards in place, it was time to start the show. Using everything from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to Audition and After Effects, I quickly built out high-fidelity UI mockups and began animating our video.
With just a week till the deadline, many late nights and early mornings were needed to perfect each deliverable - all while balancing a full course load. The result surpassed my highest expectations and wowed the judges - showing well the team's great ideas.
Our team presented to a panel of Bing developers and their reaction was beyond what we could have hoped: "Do one of you have a secret insider source!?" Out of the 12 Cornell teams, our team won the university round and advanced to the Final Round at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, W.A.
Our solution aligned well with the work currently undergoing at the time by the Bing team and represented well our dedication to creating an offering that was user-focused and forward-thinking.
Never one for creating just another Powerpoint presentation, I wanted to create a deliverable to show off not just the features but the story our solution holds. To do just that, I created a short use-case animation which I scripted, storyboarded, drew, animated, and, yes, even helped voice.
The end result is a short video which helps show the power of our design solution - not only in the function of a social search but in the breadth of means to help users make meaningful connections with and through their searches.
For more information on the Microsoft Firenze | BXT competition - including my role as designer and animator, the final round proceedings, thoughts and opinions, and the aftermath - check out my blog posts on the entire experience.
