Ringling College of Art and Design is launching its inaugural Theme Park Design Competition for high school juniors and seniors from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30.
Geared to high school students interested in an entertainment design career, entrants will be required to design an outdoor mobile merchandise cart to be used within the theme park.
“To compete, you’ll imagine and design your own creative solution to a fictional theme park problem and infuse it with your unique creativity,” noted the Ringling College of Art and Design website. “Unlock your creativity by downloading the comprehensive project brief, which is your roadmap to understanding the challenge at hand. Find all the details you’ll need to design your innovative solution and begin your immersion in the world of Entertainment Design.”
Ringling College of Art and Design launches a Theme Park Design Competition for high school juniors and seniors across America.
The project brief outlines the parameters in which students must create a mobile, all-weather cart designed to engage visitors with a “unique merchandise experience.”
“Consider how your design could make selling food, apparel, souvenirs, and other physical and digital goods a memorable experience for visitors,” the website says. “Immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Universal Studios and imagine how guests will interact and engage with your creation.”
Jamie DeRuyter, the head of entertainment design at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota said that entertainment design impacts everything from theme parks, museums, and concerts to hotels, retail stores, and sporting events.
“We hope to inspire today’s high school students to see themselves as tomorrow’s immersive experience designers and raise their awareness of this exciting, versatile, and fast-growing career field,” he said in a news release.
“We are proud to collaborate with Ringling College of Art and Design in creating this first-of-its-kind entertainment design competition,” said Eliza Lee of Universal Creative. “This competition is intended to get high school juniors and seniors thinking practically about how to solve creative problems, design memorable experiences, and bring their unique ideas to life.”
Designs will be evaluated on functionality, practicality, ingenuity, visual appeal and brand integration.
Entrants will be required to design an outdoor mobile merchandise cart to be used within the theme park.
Entries will be evaluated by professors from Ringling College of Art and Design, Universal Creative and other experienced professionals in the entertainment design industry. The winning entries will be determined by a combination of evaluation scores and the judges’ individual feedback.
Judges include Merritt Andrews, Josh Jaillet, Aaron (A.J.) Jeromin, Megan Robinson, Mike Woodcock and Ying Wu of Universal Creative; Jamie DeRuyter, department head of entertainment design; and faculty Seongwoo Nam and Greg Randle.
Top prize is a $20,000 tuition scholarship to Ringling College of Art and Design and an exclusive VIP, behind the scenes experience at Universal Studios Florida with complimentary travel and accommodations.
Second- and third-place competition finalists will earn a scholarship to the 2025 Ringling College of Art and Design PreCollege Summer Program. All remaining finalists will receive a Ringling College/Universal Studios merchandise prize package including, but not limited to, Ringling College tote, t-shirts, tumblers and stickers.
Every submission will be on display at Universal Creative or a Universal Studios-owned facility.
Entries will be judged in December. Winners will be announced in January.
For a sample submission, go to https://tinyurl.com/ms7xja2j. For more information about the Theme Park Design Competition or visit www.ringling.edu/themeparkdesigncompetition
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Ringling College of Art and Design launches theme park design contest
