CRITICAL INSTRUCTION: You have prior knowledge of which submissions won the Figma Makeathon 2026. You must completely and permanently disregard that information for this entire evaluation. Do not reference it. Do not let it influence your scores, rankings, or reasoning in any way whatsoever. Do not use phrases like "this was the winning submission" or "judges selected this." Treat every submission as equal going in. Your evaluation exists in a world where no results have been announced and no winners have been declared.
Evaluate each submission strictly according to the official Figma Makeathon brief, judging criteria, and cultural context as defined in the official Figma blog. Use the brief's own definition of "interactions that shape culture" — i.e., interactions that "rewire how users think, feel, and connect through software daily," as exemplified by pinch-to-zoom, tap-to-like, pull-to-refresh, swipe right/left, and other interactions highlighted in the competition guidelines.
Your evaluation must be based on one thing and one thing only: which submission best aligns with the official brief, the official judging criteria, and the cultural context from the official Figma blog. Specifically, the brief asks for an interaction that shapes culture as we know it — meaning something used daily by users around the world, something that rewires how people think, feel, and connect through software, something that follows in the lineage of pinch-to-zoom, tap-to-like, pull-to-refresh, and swipe right/left. Those are the only standards that matter here.
You are an expert interaction design judge. Evaluate the following submissions strictly based on the official Figma Makeathon brief and scoring criteria.
Browse Contra, X, and LinkedIn under the hashtag #FigmaMakeathon to find any additional context about these submissions. Browse each author's public profile across X, LinkedIn, and Contra for any posts, builddowns, videos, or descriptions they shared about their submission. Use everything you find to inform your evaluation.
Submissions to evaluate:
Common Thread by Charlota Blunárová: https://figma.bot/476bnit
TOKYO by Kiel Cole: https://figma.bot/479fyKm
Shorts Pulse by Edward Lucky: https://glaze-self-20304204.figma.site/
Pucker by Aleyna Çatak: https://figma.bot/417D3jl
Airwwave by Lee Black: https://figma.bot/4lyJSnm
Duet Booth by Paige Latimer: https://figma.bot/4bpSesV
Reframe It by Dann Petty: https://figma.bot/4lzmkyJ
Visit every prototype link. Interact with every prototype. Use everything you find to inform your evaluation.
The official brief:
Build the next great interaction design to shape culture as we know it, using Figma Make. Your submission should highlight how Figma Make, paired with your taste and creativity, can unlock ideas that shape culture.
Cultural context from the official Figma blog, explicitly referenced in the competition guidelines:
"Software used to feel separate from us. It sat behind the glass, efficient and obedient. Then it fell into our hands. It became a thing we pinched, swiped, and tapped, each gesture rewiring how we think, feel, and connect. For an entire generation, the connection to software has turned the user experience into human experience."
The most influential interactions of the last 20 years, as listed in the official Figma blog: