student design competition

FREQUESNTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Registration Fee

If one of the members of our team is an AIAS member, do we need to pay the registration fee?
No, if one or more members of a team is a member of the AIAS, the team does not need to pay the $50 registration fee ($150 USD international).

AIAS Member Number

I don't know my AIAS member number, how can I get this?
You can contact the AIAS office at 202.626.7472 or membership@aias.org to get your member number.

New AIAS Member

I just became an AIAS member and have not received my confirmation email, what should I put for my member number?
Please type "New Member" in the provided space on your registration. The AIAS office will look up your member number and place it in your registration record.

Recent Graduate

If I'm graduating soon, can I still participate in the competition?
If you are in school at the time the competition is announced, you are eligible to compete in the competition, even if the competition deadline is after you have graduated. For this competition, if you were in school during the spring 2010 semester, you are eligible to compete.

Faculty Advisor

Do I need to have a faculty advisor for the competition?
No, the registration form asks for faculty advisor information that you can fill out if you have a facutly advisor for the project. This is not a requirement to enter the competition.

Final File Requirements

What are the final file requirements again?
Final Submission uploads must contain each of the following 3 individual files in a single (ZIP) folder not exceeding 20 MB:

Completed submission information cover page including all team members and faculty sponsors
Each of the four 20”X 20” boards. The boards should be compiled in one PDF file, each as separate pages. When saving the boards to a PDF file students should not use a resolution any higher than 150 dpi. The file should also be flattened and not include any layers
A copy of the design essay as a high resolution Portable Document Format (PDF) file

the final submission file should be named with your registration number (i.e., "000000.zip")

Registration Number

I have misplaced my registration confirmation, how do I find my registration number?
You can contact the AIAS office at 202.626.7472 or competitions@aias.org to get your registration number.

How to make a ZIP Folder

How do I make a zip folder?
Creating a zip folder is a default function on most windows based computers. However if you can not find the zip fuction on your computer or you are using a MAC, please click the corrisponding icon below.

File is Too Large

My file is larger than 20MB, what should I do?
While 20 MB is a lot of space, some design files get extremely large. The best way to ensure your files do not get too large is by following these simple steps:

If you are developing your boards in photoshop, remember to flatten the document before exporting to a PDF
Your designs only need to be 150 DPI. There is no need to design anything higher than 300 DPI as your the file size will be extremely large.
If taking pictures of your model, details, site, etc, remember to size them appropriately before placing them into your final design. Images take up a large portion of a files size.
Try saving your designs in a different format. JPEG files tend to be about half the size of a TIFF file due to image compression.

Do not have Adobe Products

I don't have any of the Adobe Suite products. How can I make my design boards?
There are many different programs that are similar to the Adobe Suite and completely free. Here are just a few programs that would work great:

Gimp is a program similar to Adobe Photoshop
Sribus is a program, similar to Adobe InDesign
Microsoft Publisher is part of the Office Suite (not free but you may already own it)