There isn’t a detailed, step-by-step guideline on how to create the image of HackUPC for an edition, but there are some priorities: the most important one is the website, specifically the landing page, as its design will guide everything else; social media materials go after that, and then anything else that won’t be seen until the event. In this post, we’ll open the curtains a bit to show you how the process goes once the main design is ready.

We’ll take HackUPC 2018 as an example. The chosen theme for this edition was “Arcade”, winning over “4 elements’’ in our internal voting. Although at the start we mainly thought of video games, the final aesthetic went more in the 80s, retro, Tron-lines direction, as you can see in the landing page design:

This gave the design team many starting points to work on the rest of the materials of HackUPC: although many times new elements are introduced, using the ones that already exist (such as the skyline, in this case) gives the whole thing a sense of cohesion and belonging to the same event. One of the first places where we tried to include it was the profile picture for our social media:

Perhaps the most important piece of swag is the T-shirt, and the reason is obvious: it’s the most visible one! For us, it’s important to create a design that every assistant will want to wear, as it’s not only a great reminder of the weekend but also a way to identify every person at the event and their role.

The T-shirt design always starts with the image on the front. These were the first ideas and, as you can see, we were just playing with the elements of the design: the sun, the Barcelona skyline, our branding and the Tron lines.

However, one of the members of the design team thought that we could lean a bit more on the 80s theme. As a result, we were shown some mockups from him with these designs, going all in on the synthwave aesthetic and having the role on the front instead of the back:

This idea was further developed into the first of the three T-shirts below, while some new proposals arose that included glitch effects, something that never made it to the final designs of any material even though it had been talked about since the start of the process.

Finally, it was the skyline over the sun that won, and then it was time to choose the colors of the T-shirts. It’s not an easy task, as many factors come into play: we want hackers to have the nicest colour, and every role should have different enough tones to be distinguishable easily, but it would be better if staff was close in colour, and we are limited by the palette of the supplier! As always, mockups come to the rescue:

Colours were voted starting with the hacker T-shirts (which ended up with 2), and then proposals for organisers and volunteers were thrown around, ending up with 3 and 7 respectively. Finally, mentors were assigned number 4.

While these discussions were being had, the design team was also working on the back of the T-shirt, which includes some of the sponsors and the name of the role. This usually isn’t a hard job, but we made the most of the Barcelona skyline to add some easter eggs to the letters:

That summer, we also held an Instagram contest, asking everyone to upload a picture of themselves with some swag from past editions to win a unique T-shirt, which, of course, had to be designed too! As we had to show it when we announced the contest, it was the first piece of swag that the hackers saw. Although it follows some of the general lines of the rest of the edition, we wanted it to be a bit separate, as the contest could be held the next year and be its own thing.

Another important piece of swag is the wristband: it is your identification as a hacker who has checked in, and also the way staff can easily know your diet requirements during meals, according to the colour of the band. These are some of the proposals, which have variations on where the diet is shown.

The chosen design was this one, using just the lines of our logo, with a small but visible band next to the QR in the wristband (which would go on the center).

HackUPC 2018 was the first time we included water bottles in our swag, with the objective of reducing the waste of one-use bottles. The design was quickly chosen to be the logo and a play on our slogan Dream it, hack it, ship it, but even then we had many possibilities for the final product:

Everything is paid attention to: even the sticker to put your name on the bottle had variations we had to choose between.

Finally, we also had to design the I demoed sticker, as it’s usually given out by MLH but we weren’t associated with them that year. There were countless ideas, some changing only in colours, but it was important to get it right!

The guidance of the team, fortunately, weeded out most of them and we were left with one last decision: straight or sloped text?

This is just a taste of all the work behind designing the swag. In between these proposals there are discussions, requests for feedback, meetings and hours of work to reach the final designs that the hackers will get. There’s a lot of love put into it, and every edition we hope you love it!

Please, introduce yourselves

Bernat: Hey! My name is Bernat Torres and I was one of the co-directors from HackUPC 2020 edition! I have studied Computer Science in FIB-UPC Barcelona, the university where we hold HackUPC as well as other activities. I am currently working as a Software Engineer in Glovo!

Palo: Hi! I’m Gerard Palomares, but everybody calls me Palo! I’m currently finishing my studies in Computer Science at FIB-UPC Barcelona. Also, I’m working as a Software Engineer at Holded!

HackUPC 2021 was an online edition. What were the reasons that brought you to do an online edition?

Bernat: HackUPC has always been a face-to-face hackathon, however, the 2020’s pandemic made huge changes around the world and also to HackUPC! After some discussions, we believed it was better to not stop HackUPC for that long and bring hackers an online edition of the hackathon.

Palo: Due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to carry out the 2020 HackUPC edition. Hence, we decided to change the new edition to fit the restrictions of the pandemic, because as Bernat said, we didn’t want to stop HackUPC for a long time, so we chose that way.

About the organization of the event

What are the implications of organising an online hackathon? What are the main differences with an in-person edition?

Bernat: Changing the format of HackUPC is a big deal. A hackathon is a place to meet new people, learn new skills and allow the creativity and passion to lead the event. Those are things that can be done as well on an online event, however, the experience of meeting people face-to-face, enjoying activities and moving around rooms to talk to other hackers had to be changed to other kinds of activities (which we worked hard to do)!

Palo: One of the biggest challenges we faced was the lack of knowledge of the online format. There were a lot of situations where the knowledge acquired from past editions wasn’t enough. However, thanks to the incredible team at HackUPC, we could manage it.

What challenges did you encounter during the organisation of the event?

Bernat: As said before, we had to reinvent the wheel of a hackathon but in an online form. We saw that our organization team was not trained for an online event, actually, no one was! So we had to coordinate lots of things, understand new processes, and also transmit this new kind of hackathon to the hackers, partners, sponsors, and other stakeholders!

Palo: The biggest challenge we had to face was to step out of our comfort zone. No one is always ready to do it, neither us. But, after seeing the results, I strongly believe we can feel very proud of what we did.

How do you think that the fact of doing an online edition affected the organiser’s team?

Bernat: As we mentioned previously, an online hackathon differs from the actual knowledge that we initially learned organizing our previous events, so we had to design new activities, communications, find new platforms, etc… In addition, our usual way of meeting was always face-to-face in our university office, so we also had to move to online meetings as of the pandemic. Overall, team dynamics changed, but we stayed motivated and optimistic for the event!

Palo: One of the best parts of being a HackUPC organizer is to know other people with the same interests as yours, so we were afraid of the lack of contact, especially for newbies. However, we kept a high level of motivation so we could carry out the edition.

About the event

What platforms did you use?

Bernat: HackUPC communication used to be through Slack, however, as we wanted to have a faster way of reaching hackers and also some place where we could talk with partners and sponsors easily, we thought of using Discord. It was used for the main communication, judging, and a place to announce all the important events. In addition, for the talks and ceremonies, we used Twitch, which allowed the use of other applications to create smooth transitions in ceremonies, as well as we could then record everything and post it for later visualization. Last but not least, we have an internal platform that we use to register hackers called MyHackUPC, which we used to let hackers enter their information as well as to register for swag.

Palo: In addition to the tools Bernat has mentioned, I would like to stand out the BieneBot, a Discord bot that can manage a lot of things: from the check-in to the announcements. The bot was developed (with ❤) by the WebDev department and was really helpful. Moreover, it had a lot of easter eggs.

So, how did the event go?

Bernat: I believe that the hackathon went well! We were able to adapt ourselves to the new platforms we used and the hackers understood super fast how the dynamics of the hackathon worked, so really happy about it. It’s worth mentioning that we had more than 300 hackers and 70+ projects presented!

Palo: We can be really happy with this edition. Despite the risks and obstacles, we have carried out our first online hackathon. Moreover, the numbers speak for themselves, as well as the positive reviews of the hackers. There are a lot of things to improve, but the overall result is really satisfactory.

Did the hackers actually participate in the activities and platforms?

Bernat: They did! We organized different kinds of virtual activities for hackers to relax their minds, they did participate in those. They also sent photos on our photocall, draw their own BIENEs and also kept chit-chatting on the random channels 😊

Palo: Yes, hackers were participative! One of the principal fears of the HX department and the team was to have a low rate of participation. However, they created awesome activities that engaged hackers!

After the event

What advantages and disadvantages would you say that the online edition has in contrast with an in-person event?

Bernat: Bringing an online edition reduces physical stress and budget, so this gives us more margins and resources to dedicate to other parts of the hackathon. Also, having an online edition lets hackers that couldn’t travel to Barcelona, experience a HackUPC edition from their homes, from anywhere in the world, which we believe is amazing.

Palo: As mentioned, the advantages of doing an online edition are many, but for me the most important one is the latter: we can bring HackUPC to people who cannot come to Barcelona. Also, it is a way of stepping out of our comfort zone and discovering new activities and processes that increase our knowledge. The disadvantages are more related to the lack of face-to-face contact, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important parts of joining this team.

Do you think that this format of hackathon has a future?

Bernat: I think it depends on the moment, online vs in-person are very different formats, and each hackathon has to think about it. Both ways allow hackers to have a nice experience but in different ways. I think that an online hackathon is awesome as it brings a lot of freedom to hackers to code from anywhere they want and even use their awesome setups at home! But also, an in-person hackathon brings face-to-face interactions, so each hackathon has to think about what kind of experiences they want to bring to their hackers.

Palo: As Bernat said, it depends. There are a lot of factors. As we are in a pandemic, we can’t guarantee anything except that we will give our best to bring the best possible editions of HackUPC.

Is there anything from this format that you think that you can apply to future editions?

Bernat: Before the pandemic, we have never thought about doing an online hackathon, but now that we know about doing it, we believe we could explore other formats, such as a hybrid-form hackathon (Face-to-face and online), which will both allow hackers that can assist to meet other hackers in person and also, bring the opportunity to the ones that can’t come, to participate the hackathon.

Palo: Yes! We have generated a lot of knowledge that can be applied in the next HackUPC edition, regardless of if it is online or presential (or hybrid). We created or adapted activities for hackers. Also, we managed to give swag to hackers from around the world. Or we customized the way sponsors can reach and chat with the hackers. There are many more things. And all of this knowledge will be used!

What advice would you give to other hackathons that want to do an online edition?

Bernat: Train your team! Switching an organising team that is used to a form of hackathon to a completely new one can be a challenge, so make sure everyone understands the new dynamics and that they can make an impact on the hackathon. Some people’s work will have to completely be changed, our logistics and staff departments had to completely re-adapt their workforces to other kinds as you can imagine!

Palo: I think the comfort and motivation of the team are the keys when facing big challenges. If you want to readapt the hackathon, look for the opinion of all members of the team. Translate this opinion into real facts. Every member must be able to contribute. With a strongly joined team, you will be able to face any challenge!

Although for international students HackUPC is all there is, if you look closer, you’ll see that there’s something behind that: Hackers@UPC, the student society that organises it and which we all belong to. One of our objectives as a society is helping create a strong local community around the same mission that our hackathon has, encourage learning and building your ideas, and there’s no better way than planning activities that go beyond an autumn weekend and let the students of UPC and Barcelona learn about this world in other ways.

The first activities we started to promote were our talks and workshops about tech topics such as web development, programming languages, neural networks… and also a couple of introductory talks to hackathons, of course!

These meetings are held on Wednesdays, in the campus-wide free hour for student-led activities. They’re not regularly scheduled, as they depend on the availability of our speakers (members of our society and teachers), but usually take place throughout the whole school year.

HackNights came out of the wish to give UPC students an opportunity to taste what a hackathon is without having to wait for HackUPC or travel outside the country. They are a series of events held during the spring quarter, lasting for eight to ten hours during the night, and have no awards. Because of this, attendees don’t have any pressure to deliver a complete project at the end of the night and can focus on learning whatever technologies they wish or working on a long-form project throughout all the HackNights. Short talks introducing concepts such as Git or APIs are given, and, of course, there are some snacks so that hackers can replenish their energy.

The first one was a test run held in May 2018, that was liked enough to celebrate a new season of six episodes in 2019. HackNights certainly are the best way to experience the atmosphere of a hackathon without any of its compromises!

Barcelona has a strong startup culture, with some people even calling it the new Silicon Valley. HackStart is our way to introduce this world to UPC students: we bring some of the startups of the city to our campus, where they can pitch their company to the attendants. There’s then a session of networking over lunch so that everyone can learn more about the startups they’re interested in. In this way, we connect these companies with talented future engineers.

The first edition of HackStart was held last May and plans are to keep celebrating it every year.

HackPlay is our newest project, and it’s under construction! However, we can tell you what it will be: a series of talks focused on videogame design and development. We’re still working on the details, so stay tuned.

As you already know, HackUPC is our main event. We’re hackers at heart, and we don’t only organise ours but travel to any hackathon we can afford to. Although we promote many hackathons in our social media, our Slack is the place where anyone can ask if we’re going to any event this weekend and plan the trip: for example, search for the best way to go from the airport to the venue or book a hostel room together with other people. Most of us have already been to a lot of hackathons and already know how to do it, so it’s a good way to avoid feeling lost and keep homesickness away!

We’re also open to any suggestions from the community. For example, someone reached out to us earlier this year to ask if we were going to organise a hub for the Google Hash Code. We hadn’t planned to, but one of us said they could arrange it… and the rest is history!

Finally, we collaborate with other organisations to lend our knowledge and resources; some examples are BitsxLaMarató, a hackathon held last December to raise money for rare disease research, where we managed the logistics side, or Hackovid, organised by the Catalan government to find solutions for the COVID-19 pandemic, with us taking an advisory role and helping in the marketing.

As you can see, there’s always something to work on in Hackers@UPC. Most of these activities are held in the spring, as we’re just starting to prepare HackUPC and there’s enough time to focus on other things. This also allows us to keep giving to our local community the whole year, and not only during the main hackathon weekend. Our mission is to foster the hacker spirit among UPC students, and that’s something we can’t do in just two days: dreaming, hacking and shipping never stop!

Hackers@UPC has its own social media profiles. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or our website.

This year, we did our recruiting in the winter, so that the new members of the team had as much time as possible to learn about HackUPC and the way we work. Now that the event is almost here, they’re ready to tell you a bit about themselves and the things they’ve been doing these months.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I’ve loved this world since my first hackathon, and I have always liked planning things. I had always wanted to apply for organiser and I never could because of different reasons, but this year I took the leap.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

Yes! I love attending hackathons. I didn’t have the best experience in my first one, but the second one was CopenHacks, and the atmosphere and the event itself made me a hackathon lover. Nowadays I go to every hackathon I can afford to go.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in the Logistics department. I’ve been preparing all the swag we’ll give out this year, and I’ve also contacted some companies that will sponsor us.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

There’s nothing specific, I’m excited for the whole event. See the projects of the hackers, meet people from abroad… I want to enjoy the weekend.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

In the last edition I was a volunteer and I liked everything, it was my first time at a hackathon. I realized I didn’t only want to help during the event but since the beginning, and that coupled with my curiosity about hackathon organizing I decided to apply.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I haven’t been able yet, but I wish to.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I am in HackerXperience. I have been working with the rest of the department in choosing the prizes, organizing the judging and its criteria, the activities for the hackers and possible hosting, and contacting them when we need more information.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

The whole event. I want to live it as an organiser and see how our work during the previous months comes together as a good experience for everybody.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I have wanted to be in the hackathon world since I started university and learned about them. I started as a volunteer in HackUPC and a hacker in other ones. One day I thought I could help more than during the event, so I applied to be an organiser.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I’ve been to many, in fact. I love the atmosphere and how any hacker can help you when you’re stuck. Hackathons are where I have learned the most — not only to code, but to cooperate.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in Webdev and we’ve been maintaining and improving parts of our infrastructures, such as the application system, the meals app, etc.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

Honestly, seeing which projects the hackers will create.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I didn’t have the best experience in my first hackathon, but I wanted to stay connected to this world, so I applied to be an organiser, and I am glad: being an organiser is a rewarding experience that has allowed me to see HackUPC from two different points of view.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I was at HackUPC 2018! As a hackathon I loved it, but things didn’t go great with my team. I think that having a good team is very important.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in Design and we’ve been in charge of every design decision in this edition: the theme, the web design and the swag. Come up with ideas, and drawing and drawing…

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I don’t know why, but I’m excited to see the hackers arrive to do the check-in. It’s when the fun will begin.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I knew about hackathons before starting university because my brother was an organiser of HackUPC. I decided to be a volunteer last year because of his enthusiasm and the fun he had, and I loved it, so I applied to be an organiser too.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I haven’t yet, but I really want to.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in the Webdev department, and I have been working on the front-end of the Mentors website of this edition.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I want to see hackers enjoying the event as they work in their projects and take part in the activities we have prepared.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I love hackathons and their community, but I don’t like the moment when the event ends and you have to go back home. It’s like the existential void inside you when your holidays finish. Being an organiser is a way to have the experience for the whole year, although seen from another perspective. Also, if you like something, it’s nice to help the people who make it possible so others can enjoy it too.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

Yes! My experience is tiring and fun. I love the evolution from being motivated, to thinking “why didn’t I stay at home, sleeping”, to the anxiety of not knowing if you’ll finish the project twenty minutes before the deadline, and finally showing your project when you don’t even remember your name. It’s addictive!

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in Sponsorship. I have been contacting lots of companies to know if they would like to be sponsors of the event. That means lots of emails with no answer, others who reject you, and sometimes new sponsors for HackUPC!

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I’m excited for not sleeping. Kidding! I want to see seven hundred students in front of their laptop, coding, worrying only about creating a great project.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I’ve been participating as a hacker since the first edition, and it’s one of the events that I’m most excited for every year. After this last edition I met some organisers who suggested that I should be one too. I liked the idea, and here I am!

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

Yes! I’ve been to some others besides HackUPC. I always say that they’re the best opportunities to learn and meet new people.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

The Game! I won’t say anything else ;)

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

The faces of the hackers who come for the first time, and the crazy ideas that will come out of this edition!

Why did you want to be an organiser?

I had heard of HackUPC before going to university so I decided to be a volunteer in the last edition. I couldn’t stay for the whole event, but the time I was there was enough to know that I wanted to be in the organising team, both because of the atmosphere and because it looked like an opportunity to learn lots of things.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I have never been to another hackathon but I’d love to.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in Sponsorship and I’ve been in contact with businesses to see if they would like to work with us. I’ve also been working in an sponsor guide.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I’m very excited to live the event as an organiser. If I had to choose a single thing I want to see, it would be the projects that the hackers will create.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

A friend from university told me that HackUPC was looking for organisers. I had been in some hackathons and I liked the learning atmostphere they create. Being an organiser was attractive to me because of the opportunity to create a website that lots of people would see; it would be a great challenge, even if it went beyond my capabilities, but I’d learn a lot.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

Of course! I’ve been to GreatUniHack, HackUPC, LauzHack and business hackathons. This year I will go to some more. In each of them I have learnt interesting things: working as a team, new technologies, develop ideas, sell products, search for information… I’ve enjoyed them all and it’s a great experience for anyone who enjoys tech. Every second is worth it, both the agonizing and the euphoric ones.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in Webdev but I work closely with the Design team. My role in HackUPC is developing an attractive, usable and maintainable landing page. I’m also in charge of the Live and Maps pages, and I try to help in the rest of tasks of the department. Front-end is my job!

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I really want to take a walk around the classrooms and help newbies in web development. When I started, having the help of experienced people was great, and now it’s my turn to give back to the community.

Why did you want to be an organiser?

Because of the atmosphere at the event. I really enjoyed the last two editions as a volunteer, and wanting to live the experience as an insider was the motivation to apply.

Have you ever been to other hackathons? How was your experience?

I haven’t participated in any hackathon yet.

Which department are you in? Which tasks have you carried out?

I’m in the Logistics department, and I’ve been in charge of contacting food services and some companies for possible partnerships.

What are you most excited about HackUPC 2019?

I want to live the hackathon from another point of view, I want to be in the slideshare show, see seven hundred people asking for pizza, the sleepy faces in front of the laptops, wearing the swag… and a thousand other things!

HackUPC 2019 is almost here and, as you can see, we’ve worked a lot to make it possible. We’re all very excited to meet you all this Friday, ready to enjoy the weekend and create great things. See you there!

A bit of history

Before the current design, our brand was heavily based in pixel art. David, who was the director of the Design department then, says that pixel art was chosen because he was comfortable using this art style, so it would be easy to develop a proposal that he was satisfied with, and also because of its relation with technology: the first videogames, hardware screens… a reminder of where the hacker community came from.

The first edition of HackUPC had a pixel Macintosh as its logo, while a secondary motif was Conway’s game of life (check the background of the web!). The next two editions were seasonally themed: having the names Fall 2016 and Winter 2017, it’s only fitting that their logos were a fallen leaf and a snowflake; both in pixel art, of course!

Why did we decide to change our brand? Elena, who led the Design team for the two past editions, can answer this:

Obviously, we didn’t know how far HackUPC would go when it started. Design tasks, then, were limited to building an impressive website and some cool swag, paired with a new logo.

As we were growing a lot, I thought it was a good moment to establish an image for HackUPC that we could keep creating versions of without losing recognition. The first edition had a PC, the second used winter and the third autumn, but what could we do for our fourth one? We decided to find a new, more lasting brand for HackUPC, trying to portray everything that we already were and freeing us from the constraints of pixel design.

Who are we?

When the Design team for HackUPC Fall 2017 started to work, they decided to run an internal poll to ask the team what HackUPC inspired in their minds. Which words sprang to our head? What did we think when we heard the name? Many ideas appeared in this process, such as inclusivity, learning, empowering, experience, amazing, familiar or Barcelona. Some of these things were to be expressed through the new design, if possible in any way.

(The poll also included a question asking which animal could be the mascot of HackUPC. If you came to HackUPC 2018, you may have obtained some cute bee stickers.)

The first step, as usual, was brainstorming concepts that could be used to build the whole brand. These were some examples:

One of the most discussed ideas was using Barcelona as a symbol: the city, its coat of arms, the buildings or the beach.

Some concepts were further developed beyond the first drafts:

However, Barcelona wasn’t completely gone from the Design team minds:

Barcelona is the key

This last design, although it wasn’t fruitful, brought a new idea: using the Eixample’s grid, easily recognizable, as the main element. It was already May and things couldn’t wait much more, so the Design team hurried up to develop this new concept.

Finally, the idea of drawing the squares with dots and lines won. The logo represented at once computers (being reminiscent of circuitry), Barcelona (in the shape of its parts) and some of the values we wanted to communicate: for example, working in a team (four parts which make one) or inclusivity (everyone is connected). However, it still needed some more work…

Finally, the result was the logo we have been using for almost two years now:

It doesn’t end here

The next summer, we took the opportunity to update the brand of Hackers@UPC, the organisation behind HackUPC, to follow the same design that the hackathon had had for some months by then. We also created logos for our other activities in the local community: the tech talks and HackNights, a series of nighttime hackathons during the spring term. This last May we also organised HackStart, a networking event to put in contact students from UPC with startups from Barcelona, and of course it joined the family with its own logo.

The new logo wasn’t the end of the road for the Design team, of course. They also had to create a proposal for the website and social media. However, the main obstacle, the renovation of the HackUPC brand, was completed, and everything that came later was easier. Right now, they’re hard at work finding the best look for all the swag that hackers will get when they arrive at UPC this October, so let them create! 🎨

Once you’ve written your application

When you click Submit on your application, it’s put in the queue of applications under review. We don’t need all of the information to review it (for example, your T-shirt size won’t make a difference in accepting you or not), so we only see a summarised version:

We read every sentence you write carefully, because it’s the only chance we have to get to know you before the event. That’s why it’s important to put a bit of love in your application: we wouldn’t want to misjudge you!

We also check the links you’ve provided. Although it’s not mandatory to add your Github or Devpost profile, it helps us to see the hackathons you’ve been to, the projects you’ve created, and the way you write code. If your profiles are almost empty, don’t worry; you won’t be penalised just because you haven’t coded enough yet.

After checking everything, we assign two different grades to your application. The first one rates your technical skills, that is, how prepared you are from a technical point of view to participate in HackUPC. This includes, among others, the languages you know, the complexity of your previous projects or any internships you may have done. The second grade rates your personal skills. This includes both the impression you have left on the reviewer with your application, and other factors that make us think “this hacker would be a great member of the HackUPC community”.

Once the application is graded, all that’s left to do is click the Send vote button, and that’s it! Another application to evaluate is shown to us, and the process begins anew.

The whole team works in rating applications, as we receive a lot of them and they all need to be reviewed. Every one of us rates them in a slightly different way (we have guidelines, but it’s not an exact science), so, when calculating the average, the scores from each reviewer are normalised to avoid any bias. When we have received enough applications to send a batch of invites, the top N applications are chosen (N depends on the batch), and these hackers receive an invitation for HackUPC.

What’s next?

The application process doesn’t exactly finish here, though. Some people have to get a visa to travel to Spain, so we help them writing invitation letters if the process requires it, and travel reimbursement isn’t paid until after the event. However, most of the work is actually reviewing everything you write, and it’s something that we all take on in addition to our usual tasks.

Looks good. Could I use it?

Of course! This is part of MyHackUPC, which is built on HackAssistant, a tool to manage hacker applications developed (mostly) by our Webdev team. You can check the code here and read about its HackCU implementation here.

If you’re interested in seeing how other hackathons manage this process, we suggest that you read PennApps’s article. It’s been the inspiration to write this one!

Although advertising the event is our main job, we have many other related tasks. We are in charge of managing the social media accounts (that’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), planning which contents will be posted and updating any data, such as the profile photos or the linked URLs. Each post is discussed in the team, with the occasional input of the directors, until everyone agrees that it’s good enough to upload. Instagram posts are also discussed with Design, as they monitor every aspect of it to ensure that our profile looks beautiful. And, of course, we’re also the writers of these Medium posts.

Another important task we carry out is working as public relations of HackUPC. We receive every question and request that hackers send to us, either by mail or through social media (or even Slack), and try to answer them as soon as possible, giving all the necessary information. Usually, we don’t know how to answer all your questions, so we have to ask the corresponding departments about the details. This means that the closer the event is, the more we know about it; we’re a bit of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to understanding how everything works. We are helped by the directors in this task.

We also reach out to other universities in Spain to promote the event. Hackathon culture is still young here and not many people outside of Barcelona know about us, so letting other people know about HackUPC lets students learn what a hackathon is and, we hope, encourages them to start their own hackathons in their universities (a shout-out to HackEPS and HackUAB!).

Once the weekend approaches (so, this week, actually!), we reach out to TV and press to see if they can cover the event. It depends on their availability and the quantity of news that day, but, if they’re able to come, we also welcome them to the venue and help them obtain the information they need.

During the event itself, we’re in charge of letting hackers know how’s the schedule going, by writing messages in the #announcements channel in Slack. We also help covering the opening and closing ceremonies, with a livestream and posting on Twitter.

We’re Cori, Gorka, and Víctor, and we’ve been very glad to answer every question that you have asked us during these months!

Cori’s favourite thing about Marketing: “What I like most about working in Marketing is that we can show our passion for HackUPC.”

Cori’s favourite social media site: “Instagram is my favorite social network because we can show how HackUPC is in a visual way.”

Why is Gorka an organiser?: “I’ve been an organiser since May 2017. I was a hacker in the first two HackUPC editions and I wanted to help create this cool event, and a friend who was already in encouraged me to apply as organiser.”

Gorka’s favourite thing about Marketing: “I love writing and pitching ideas, and Marketing allows me to do this with everything we post.”

Gorka’s favourite social media site: “Medium lets me express myself writing longer things than a tweet, and that’s quite nice!”

A funny moment: “In the last edition, we had to lay a carpet on the gym floor for the opening and closing ceremonies. Maria and me unrolled it rolling on the floor and laughing a lot in the process.”

Why is Víctor an organiser?: “I’ve been involved in HackUPC since the first edition, but I became an organizer on the second one. The first edition of HackUPC caused a great positive impact on me, and I decided that I wanted to create that same impact on other people.”

Víctor’s favourite thing about Marketing: “Being in touch with hackers and feeling their passion and hype! It’s contagious!”

Víctor’s favourite social media site: “I love Twitter! I think it’s amazing what people can express and show in such a small piece of text. Sky is the limit for creativity!”

A funny moment: “There are a lot of memorable moments of HackUPC, it’s so difficult to choose one! I remember in the second edition, doing an Slideshare karaoke, a Microsoft employee came out and, in the middle of his presentation, the Windows computer showed a blue screen and rebooted. His face was hilarious! Also, in the same Slideshare karaoke, a guy came out to defend a presentation about Taylor Swift, and the whole place ended up singing Shake it off.”

During these months, you’ve got to know every one of us, and the work we do for the event, through a screen. We hope that we’ve been able to help you, and that all our work has been (and will be) useful. We’re very eager to see you all tomorrow in HackUPC!

Meet the team is a series of posts that tries to show the kind of people who are behind a big event like HackUPC and the work that’s required to bring it to life. You can read the rest here: Logistics, Sponsorship and Finance, HackerXperience, New faces, Staff, Webdev, Directors

In HackUPC, exactly the same happens. Directors (we have two of them) lead the organisation, coordinating the whole team and taking the final decisions when there are different options to follow. They’re also in charge of managing some of the most important things, such as negotiating with the university for the venue and the dates, and giving the opening and closing talks. It is a stressful position, and, to the date, none of the directors have repeated, but they’re always there to advise the ones who are carrying the torch now.

This year, our directors are Marina and Fèlix. Both of them worked together in Staff in the last edition, so they already had a clear understanding of how the event works, and have been involved in the organisation for more than one edition. Now’s their turn to tell you about their experience.

Why did you want to be organisers of HackUPC?

Marina: I loved the idea of being part of a big family working together for a purpose. Creating HackUPC is an amazing challenge!

Fèlix: In my first hackathon (HackUPC Winter 2016) I had a lot of fun and I just wanted to help to create this kind of event at my university. They weren’t so common in Catalonia and Spain, and I felt like it was a great opportunity to create a hackathon/hacker community in the area.

How long have you been organisers?

Marina: I’ve been part of the organiser team for a year and a half, since HackUPC Fall 2017. Before that, I was a volunteer just during the events for a year.

Fèlix: Around two years and a half, since HackUPC Fall 2016. This will be my fourth hackathon as an organiser.

Which have been your favourite moments here?

Marina: My favourite moment in every edition of HackUPC (as a volunteer or organiser) is always the end of the weekend. It’s when I realize that all the work done has made hackers feel comfortable, happy and hyped for a new edition to arrive. I really feel proud of us and amazed by what we can achieve with effort.

Fèlix: One of my favourite moments was during the opening ceremony of HackUPC Winter 2017. I was recording it with my phone. One of the sponsors exceeded the time in their speech and the responsible of Sponsorship down in the seats started waving a red paper to tell them that they were out of time, but they continued talking. Then, one of the presenters started walking slowly to the stage to kick them out. Finally, they stopped talking. I stopped recording the general view and started focusing on the people involved in this scene.

What differences have you seen between attending a hackathon as a hacker and organising it?

Marina: When you are a hacker you enjoy being with your friends having a great time and collecting swag, but you only think about the details if the food is good, if ceremonies are cooler than you expected or if activities and talks were of your interest. When you are organising it, every little choice matters, you have to think about the interests of hundreds of people! During the event, there isn’t a minute that your mind isn’t working, because everything has to be achieved the best way possible, and resting is quite difficult.

Fèlix: It is very different, the first is like being the client and the other, being the seller. As an organiser your work happens basically before and also during the event, you also have to think like a hacker to know what to do and what is worthy to work on.

You are a director of the hackathon. What is exactly your job?

Marina: Our job is to have in mind every deadline for each step needed to be followed until the hackathon and going to meetings about the university management for the weekend of the event.
We have to inform each department of their deadlines and try to ensure that no one feels apart during the 8 months that we are organising it. Also, we carry out lots of intern meetings, in little groups for concrete tasks and generals meetings to have all the team always informed about what’s happening or what is needed.

Fèlix: The directors have to delegate work, sync the departments and drive the whole team to the general goal. I usually compare it with the conductor of an orchestra: they don’t play any instrument but knows when each instrument has to play, what has to be played, and how it has to sound all along with the rest of the band. They’re responsible for the music as a group but not individually nor instrument by instrument. The conductor must know when the violins must play loud, quiet, fast, slow, alone or all along with the cellos or a bunch more instruments and musicians.
n any event like this (the same happens with movies) the director has to manage the whole team and make it work together smoothly. They must know when to shut different departments or other organisers up, and when to listen to them. They must know how to delegate the work all along the team. They must know how to sync all the departments.
One thing that a lot of people think that a director should do is a lot of work of different departments, and that’s a horrible mistake. Imagine an orchestra conductor going down and starting to play an instrument. The orchestra will lose the guide that makes them complete the whole musical work.
Last but not least, I would say the most important thing a director has to do is managing to get the best team they could. If all the members of the team are better than yourself, success is ensured.

As directors of the edition, how do you feel about having this degree of responsibility?

Marina: At first I felt nervous, I felt I wasn’t prepared for it. HackUPC is always wonderful and having the opportunity to take this challenge scared me but it also caught my attention. Now, after all the work done by our amazing team, I feel strong, supported and confident to give hackers the best hackathon we’ve been able to prepare with all our love.

Felix: I don’t feel afraid. At the beginning, I thought I would be very afraid and insecure, but I feel confident. The trust I put in the team might be a very important reason why.

Is being directors different from what you expected?

Marina: Being honest, no, it’s exactly what I expected. I might not have imagined that it would take as much time as I have been spending on it, although it is true that this last month before the event is being as stressful as I thought.

Fèlix: Just refer to my previous answer.

Which are your responsibilities regarding departments?

Marina: As deadlines are really important to prepare an event like this, our job regarding departments is to remind each department about all the necessary tasks that have to be carried out, and check that they’ve been done.

Which is your role when departments decide different things?

Fèlix: If the team itself does not “auto-balance”, then we have to analyze the situation and choose what’s best for the hackers, sponsors, and organisers (in this order).

What are you most hyped for in this new edition?

Marina: As we have decided to prepare just one hackathon per year, I really want to show hackers, mentors and sponsors what we can achieve with more time and to demonstrate them why we thought that this is a win-win for all.

Fèlix: A lot of hackers, a lot of sponsors, a lot of activities, a lot of new ideas and a lot of attitude.

Finally, tell us a funny moment in the hackathons you have already organised.

Marina: I think that the funniest moment was during HackUPC Fall 2017. After moving all the mattresses during the evening and having put together the hacking rooms, our exhaustion was turning to craziness… and I got on a cart and started racing with my volunteer friends.

Fèlix: In the last edition, some volunteers and I were picking the garbage and throwing it into the big trash cans. It wasn’t a fun job to do, so we made it funny. We took the cart and started running with it. The venue is on a hill so the speed we gained was pretty high. Now, thinking about it I can see that it was very dangerous…

Meet the team is a series of posts that tries to show the kind of people who are behind a big event like HackUPC and the work that’s required to bring it to life. You can read the rest here: Logistics, Sponsorship and Finance, HackerXperience, New faces, Staff, Webdev, Marketing

Of course not! There’s more work to do than that, equally important and maybe overlooked. One of these things is the design and image of the event (and everything related!). This goes from the looks of the web and the social media profiles, to the order of the sponsors on the back of the T-Shirt, including the decoration in the venue and the stickers that we give. The Design department works hard so that everything has a strong and unified brand, making you think “Ah, that’s from HackUPC” when you see something made by them.

Work on design starts pretty soon, around April, because most of the components of the brand must be ready when applications open. And, if a major redesign is made (like last year), maybe even earlier! Fortunately, they don’t have as much work to do during the event, and they deserve it. Elena, David and Alba will tell you their way of working in this event.

Why did you want to be organisers of HackUPC?

Elena: I don’t really remember. I know that at that moment it looked like a novel idea and that it was really interesting to be able to belong to a community which fosters the passion in your trade.

How long have you been organisers?

Elena: This is my third edition, so, more than a year and a half.

Which have been your favourite moments here?

Elena: The small stories that arise during the hackathon, mostly with organisers that couldn’t be in person at the venue. These moments in the big mechanism of being an organiser of this type of event stay in your memories and make you want to continue being a part of the team.

Alba: My favourite moment in HackUPC was the check-in of the last edition. It was very exciting to welcome all the hackers!

What differences have you seen between attending a hackathon as a hacker and organising it?

Elena: The energy. The purpose is similar because as a hacker you want to build something with your community, just like the organiser. The difference is the hours spent to make it run good, and to have that you need to spend a lot of energy during the week of the hackathon. And then, you realise that that’s more comforting than being a hacker, in my point of view.

David: Completely different, when you organise you’re focused on verifying that everything is going well, not only during the hackathon but also months before. As a hacker, you’re focused on enjoying the event and developing your own projects.

You are in the Design department. What is exactly your job?

Elena: Our job in Design is mainly creating the new brand for the edition. Once designed, we use it to generate content for social media, web design, merchandising (T-shirts, stickers, bags…) and venue decoration (we’re making a photocall for this edition!).

Alba: We all in the department work on everything, but I’m focused on creating content for social media. Beyond that, I will be recording and taking pictures during the event.

David: The good thing about Design is that we’re everywhere: in the web design, in the swag (from the T-shirts to the stickers), in the decoration, in the social media… The objective is having everything that HackUPC creates in the same brand universe.

What do you like about working in Design?

Elena: It is an excuse to work on your hobby and learn with total freedom. I have moments of creativity while I study a technical degree.

Alba: It encourages me to keep learning about design and new tools to create.

David: Creating and imagining things without many limits. It is an excuse to “waste time” on what I like and learn about this world, which I love.

Your designs are the face of HackUPC. How do you feel about taking this responsibility?

Elena: In my first edition it didn’t look like a big responsibility, it was more like being part of a group of friends who I was helping. In the next edition, where I took a more leading role, after seeing our design come true I thought “wow, this is really cool and we can go even farther”. In this edition, more than a responsibility, I like to take it as a challenge, “what can we do to stand out from the previous edition”.

David: Actually, not as much as I thought before being here. I’ve always thought that it would be really cool to see designs made by me in events, brands, etc., but it would also be a lot of pressure. But after contributing to the design, I’ve realized that it hasn’t really been a big responsibility for me; it has been more like a group of people creating and discussing about design and doing it the best they can.

What is your favourite part of the creative process?

Elena: I love the part where lots of ideas appear in my head; some of them crazy, but made possible thanks to HackUPC.

Alba: My favourite part is at the start, when we don’t have a clear idea. We try different concepts and everyone contributes something different.

David: Just as Alba says, how the whole team can combine their ideas to reach a great middle point in the concepts. There’s bits of everyone in every design and that’s really beautiful.

In the last edition, we changed our image and lots of ideas were proposed before choosing the current one. What discarded proposals did you also like?

Elena: I don’t really know. I think that the discarded proposals didn’t convince at a team level, including myself, so if the current design is the one we chose it’s because it perfectly fit what we were looking for.

Do you feel proud of the current design?

Elena: Yes. I believe we put a lot of love in this design, as we knew that for the HackUPC organisers, from the founders to the new people, the image is very important; so, I’m proud that the design has been well-received. We tried to make it as inclusive as possible, avoiding stereotypes and acknowledging the city where HackUPC is possible.

Alba: We have worked a lot in the design for this edition and I’m very happy with the results.

David: Of course, after a hard work it was the best option, it combines everything we want to show in this edition.

Finally, tell us a funny moment in the hackathons you have already organised.

Elena: Two editions ago, Ana was working as a volunteer, and at 3 AM we received a message on Slack from Gerard, asking Ana to bring milk to the coffee machines. However, Gerard was in Boulder, Colorado. We call him “omnipresent” now.

Related to design, but with a different function, is photography. Edgar, our photographer, roams around the venue during all the event to capture everything interesting that may happen. These pictures are then used in our social media (especially Instagram), to illustrate these articles, and, of course, they are uploaded for everyone to see. To learn more about this kind of task, we have asked him some questions.

How many pictures are taken during the event?

Edgar: Well… a loooooot. Hundreds and hundreds. Maybe a thousand, although most of them aren’t seen by anyone.

What is the process after taking a picture? (selection, edition…)

Edgar: First of all, it has to be a good picture — i.e., focus on the important subject, then exposure (sometimes, when I want to capture a particular moment, I have to be fast and maybe I can’t adjust the parameters so that the picture looks good once taken). Then, it has to be true, to look like what I’m seeing with my eyes, both in colour and in the lights and shadows. When I edit the pictures, if there’s something that I could have done better, I retouch the picture with Lightroom so that it shows what we can see.

What do you look for in your pictures?

Edgar: What I look for in my pictures is to recreate and immortalise the essence of HackUPC, a familiar event, good vibes, fun moments (stressful moments, too), a community where everyone has their place and is respected.

The Design department is still working, even if the hackathon is only two weeks away. There’s still things to do! And remember: even if it’s just the bathroom sign, they have thought about it.

Meet the team is a series of posts that tries to show the kind of people who are behind a big event like HackUPC and the work that’s required to bring it to life. You can read the rest here: Logistics, Sponsorship and Finance, HackerXperience, New faces, Staff, Webdev, Directors, Marketing