Friends of Figma Make-a-thon

The Challenge

The Makeathon brought together 28 teams, with three people in each team. Teams were formed on the spot, and everyone received the same prompt:

Build a whimsical interactive story that helps people explore local culture in ways they never imagined.

With only 90 minutes to ideate, design, build, and present, we needed an idea that was simple enough to execute quickly but still captured the spirit of the prompt.

We decided to focus on local exploration in Kathmandu, but rather than building another travel guide, we wanted to make discovering the city feel more spontaneous and playful.

The Concept

We created an interactive exploration app that turns Kathmandu into a collection of stories, discoveries, and small adventures.

The experience starts with a simple onboarding flow where users select their visit date, preferred language, and interests. From there, they arrive at an interactive map of Kathmandu.

Instead of showing users a conventional list of tourist destinations, the map lets them explore different places through short, bite-sized stories. Tapping a location reveals information about its history, culture, or significance, making the city feel more like an interactive story than a static map.

Adventure Mode

The core of the experience was Adventure Mode. We wanted to solve a simple problem: sometimes people want to explore but don't know where to go.

Adventure Mode gives users clues that lead them toward a nearby place. Rather than revealing the destination immediately, the experience encourages curiosity and discovery along the way.

Once users visit a place, they receive a collectible, creating a sense of progression and giving them another reason to keep exploring.

Events

We also included an events section where users could discover local events and activities.

Each event provides the essential details (location, date, time, and contact information) so users can find something happening around them and decide what they want to experience.

Camera Exploration

The app also includes a camera-based feature for moments when users encounter something unfamiliar.

By taking a picture, users can use OCR to identify and understand what they're looking at. This extends the experience beyond the locations already featured in the app and makes the physical environment itself part of the exploration.

Our Design Process

We divided the 90 minutes into three stages:

• 40 minutes: Ideation. We explored different interpretations of the prompt and narrowed them down to the idea of turning cultural exploration into an adventure.
• 15 minutes: Flow exploration. We mapped the key user journeys and decided how the map, Adventure Mode, events, and camera feature would fit together.
• 35 minutes: Build. We moved into implementation and focused on getting the core experience working rather than trying to perfect every detail.

The time constraint meant prioritizing the experience over completeness. We focused on the features that best communicated our concept and avoided spending time on details that wouldn't significantly affect the final presentation.

Working With a New Team

The team dynamic was one of the most interesting parts of the experience.

Since we had just met, there was no established workflow or division of responsibilities. We simply started by throwing ideas around and building on each other's suggestions.

Once we had a direction, we worked on moodboards and generated visual references independently. We then brought those ideas together to establish the visual direction and product layout.

I was particularly surprised by how quickly we found a rhythm. Even without knowing each other beforehand, we were able to communicate ideas, challenge them, and move forward without getting stuck in lengthy discussions.

That experience reinforced how much open communication and shared ownership can matter when working under pressure.

Building With Figma Make

Figma Make played a major role in turning our concept into a working prototype.

We first created the homepage layout in Figma to establish the structure and visual direction. We then used Figma Make to build most of the remaining experience.

The biggest benefit was speed. With only 35 minutes dedicated to building, being able to describe an interaction or interface and quickly see a working version helped us move through the product much faster.

It wasn't perfect. Figma Make didn't always interpret every UI element or interaction exactly as we intended, so we had to adjust our prompts and rethink certain implementations.

That was an important part of the experience for me: using AI for product building isn't simply about giving it instructions and accepting the result. Design judgment is still needed to guide the tool, evaluate its output, and decide what to refine.

The Outcome

After the product-building phase, the top 8 teams were selected to present their work.

I presented our product to the judges, who evaluated the solutions based on factors including how well they addressed the prompt, UI, and UX.

Our team ultimately placed 3rd. More than the placement itself, I found the process valuable because we were able to take an open-ended prompt and turn it into a tangible product experience within a very short timeframe.

Key Takeaways

• Start with the experience, not the features. The prompt could have led us toward many different products. Focusing first on how we wanted someone to experience Kathmandu helped us decide which features were actually worth building.
• Constraints force clarity. With limited time, every decision had to serve the core idea. We couldn't build everything, which made prioritization an essential part of the process.
• AI can compress the distance between idea and prototype. Figma Make allowed us to experiment and build at a pace that would have been difficult through a completely manual workflow.
• Good collaboration doesn't always require familiarity. Working with people I'd just met was initially an unknown, but the shared goal gave us enough common ground to work effectively.

The Makeathon was ultimately a short exercise in ideation, collaboration, product thinking, and rapid prototyping. It was a great opportunity to experiment with Figma Make, meet new people in the design community, and see how far a small team can take an idea when time is the biggest constraint.