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Industry & Alumni

Sample Capstone Project Proposal

Getting Started 

Open annually between August through November, the HCDE online capstone proposal form is where you submit a project proposal. CAP members may submit more than one project idea, but please think about how many teams you will be able to support in total. The project description should be a straightforward, one-paragraph summary of the design brief or project challenge.

 Before submitting your project, read the Capstone project guidelines.

Submit a Capstone Proposal

Example Project Proposals

Example Design-Focused Project
  • Sponsor: ABC User Experience Consultants 
  • Title: Designing Mobile Technologies for Environmental Sustainability 
  • Contact(s): Jane Doe, jane@doe.com  
  • Description: Design an object, interface, system, or service intended to support the idea of utilizing or consuming local resources rather than global resources, in a sustainable and environmentally efficient manner. Use methods of ethnography and contextual research to understand the problem space, and design a mobile phone application that supports, assists, enhances or otherwise benefits people interested in sustainability. 
  • Target User Group: Seattle residents 

Example Usability-Focused Project

  • Sponsor: Usability R’ Us 
  • Title: Evaluate and Redesign Awesome Airlines Website 
  • Contact(s): Bob Smith, bob@smith.com 
  • Description: Conduct an in-depth usability test of the current Awesome Airlines corporate website. Prepare a usability test plan, recruit 5-10 clients, and conduct the evaluation. Generate a list of recommended changes, and then provide design mock-ups for how those changes might be implemented into the existing website design to make it more usable.
  • Target User Group: Awesome Airlines customers 

Example User Research-Focused Project

  • Sponsor: The User Research People 
  • Title: Determine Design Requirements for Home Sensing Project 
  • Contact(s): Alison Miller, alison@miller.com 
  • Description: The User Research People company is conducting user research for a client who is interested in building sensors for people to install in their home that will monitor appliance usage, record maintenance and repairs, and report any safety issues. Your task will be to conduct user research with homeowners to identify the design requirements and concerns with using such technology in their home and the provide mock-ups and sketches for ideas for different sensing solutions. 
  • Target User Group: Homeowners