Design Marathon 2026 at NBU: 42 hours of creativity, strategy and work under pressure
In May, New Bulgarian University hosted the first edition of Design Marathon 2026 – a 42-hour intensive creative challenge that brought together students, mentors and professionals from the fields of design and communications in an extremely dynamic environment.The event placed the participants in a situation as close to real practice as possible, in which 9 teams had to develop a comprehensive brand identity and concept for the digital presence of a real physical product. Within the marathon, the teams went through processes such as strategy building, visual identity, social campaigns, UI/UX concepts and prototyping.
Pixel House Studio founder, Svetlana Tsoneva, was part of the event as a mentor together with Ivan Ginev (New Bulgarian University), Milen Dobrev (UX Bulgaria), Emilia Georgieva (Ascent), Iva Grigorova, Ivelin Todorov (Atos), Kristian K. (Smartly), Militsa Atanasova, Ralitsa Stoyanova (360 All Digital Communications) and Viktoria Veleva (Oblik Studio).
It is extremely valuable for us to be part of initiatives that give young creative people the opportunity to work in a real environment, under pressure, with short deadlines and dynamic changes in assignments. In addition to the limited time, the participants also had to deal with unexpected twists prepared by the organizers during the competition itself.
What impressed us most was the level of the participants. Despite sleepless nights and intense work until late, the students managed to present extremely well-structured ideas and visually strong projects.
Design Marathon 2026 showed something very important, that the new generation of designers thinks strategically, adapts quickly and knows how to work as a team even in the most intense situations.We thank New Bulgarian University, the organizers, students, lecturers and all partners for the invitation, the trust and the great organization.
More about the event:https://designmarathon-nbu.online/Official information from NBU:https://news.nbu.bg/bg/events/dizajn-maraton-2026
