Two Product Design students win Zinc Challenge international student design competition

Winning design by Bryce Lee ’22 (Product Design)

Two MIAD students were among the top three students recognized in the 2020-2021 Zinc Challenge Student Design Competition. Bryce Lee ‘22 (Product Design) and Szymon Salamon ‘22 (Product Design) each won a $2,000 prize for their designs. The faculty sponsor Pascal Malassigné, MIAD professor of product design, also received an $1,000 award for the college.

Bryce designed a fishing lure with zinc alloy sinkers, and Szymon redesigned a clothes hanger with zinc properties to replace plastic and wooden hangers.

Winning design by Szymon Salamon ’22 (Product Design)

This year’s competition was the 20th anniversary of the “Zinc Challenge” student design competition, hosted by the International Zinc Association. The competition tests students on their knowledge of zinc alloys and practical design for die casting. The contest is open to all undergraduate design students in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The contest theme this year was material substitution, and students were challenged to recreated, redesign and redevelop an existing product in zinc to take advantage of the superior properties of zinc alloys and the zinc die casting process. More information on the competition is at diecasting.zinc.org.