Beyond the Mood Board — The Alendei Design Hackathon

A design challenge that skips the resume pile. Show us the work — walk away with a job. Quick Facts: Mode: Online submissions, live final round for shortlisted participants Team Size: Individual only Registration Fee: Free Tracks: Junior Graphic Designer | Senior Graphic Designer Top Prizes: Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) and Pre-Placement Interview (PPI) opportunities for top performers About Alendei Media Alendei Media's Creative team designs across a diverse brand portfolio — social media campaigns, brand collateral, OOH, digital advertising, and everything in between. We don't hire people who just make things look good. We hire people who make every visual work harder for the brand it belongs to. About the Hackathon This isn't a portfolio review — it's a live creative brief, run the way we actually work at Alendei: real briefs, real deadlines, real pressure. Bring your range and your eye for what "on-brand and built to perform" actually looks like. The strongest entries won't just get feedback — they'll get hired. Two tracks. Two roles. One shot to skip straight to the offer. (Register for the track that matches your experience — one track per participant.) Track 1 — Junior Graphic Designer: "The Brief Sprint" Who it's for: Designers with 0–2 years of experience (internships count), or final-year students ready to prove they can execute at a professional level. The Challenge: You'll be given a real-style creative brief. Design a small campaign — a set of social media creatives plus one brand collateral piece — clean, on-brand, and fast, exactly the way it happens on the job. Judged on: How accurately you read and executed the brief Command of typography, layout, and color Polish and attention to detail Speed without cutting corners Track 2 — Senior Graphic Designer: "The Direction Brief" Who it's for: Designers with 4–6+ years of experience, ideally from an agency or fast-paced brand environment, ready to own a brand's visual direction end-to-end. The Challenge: You'll be given a brief that's intentionally vague — because that's how briefs actually show up. Build a visual direction and mini design system from it (mood, typography, color, tone), then apply it across at least two formats — think a social campaign and a print/OOH piece. You'll also review and elevate a couple of junior-level sample designs, because leading a team starts with feedback that sharpens the work, not just flags what's wrong. Judged on: Strength and clarity of the visual direction / system Ability to turn an ambiguous brief into a sharp concept Quality and usefulness of your design feedback Overall portfolio-level polish and craft Judged by Alendei Media's in-house Creative Leadership team. Eligibility & What You'll Need A portfolio link is mandatory to register — no exceptions, either track Junior track: working proficiency in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) or equivalent Senior track: expert proficiency in the same tools, plus experience mentoring or leading designers Motion graphics/video editing experience is a plus on both tracks, not a requirement Rewards & Perks Top Performers (Winners & Finalists, both tracks): A shot at direct recruitment — either a Pre-Placement Offer (PPO), a direct job offer with no further interviews, or a Pre-Placement Interview (PPI), a fast-tracked final-round interview that skips every screening round before it. Allocation is based on overall performance in the hackathon. All shortlisted participants: Certificate of recognition + written feedback on your submission from Alendei's Creative team Timeline Registrations open: 5 Aug 2026 (today) Registration deadline: 13 Aug 2026 Brief released: 10 Aug 2026 Submission deadline: 13 Aug 2026 Shortlist announced: 13 Aug 2026 (evening) Final round (live presentation/critique): 14 Aug 2026 Results + offer rollout: After 20 Aug 2026 How to Submit One PDF, or a shared Figma link (view access), or a Behance/Drive link with all your executions Include a short rationale (150-250 words max) explaining your choices Late submissions will not be considered Consider this your creative brief. The best designers always deliver beyond the mood board — this is just us handing you the pedestal to prove it.