Unihack x Centauri

Build something real in 2 days.

A 2 day hackathon for students to tackle real-world challenges across design, development, or both. Ship work that matters.

7th - 8th April 2026
Teams of 4 to 5
University students
3 tracks
Submit on Devpost

Submissions close 2:30pm on Day 2

About

Who is behind this

Two organisations with a shared belief: students learn best by building.

Unihack

A national student hackathon organisation that creates spaces for university students to collaborate, build, and showcase real projects. Unihack runs events designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and industry-ready skills.

Centauri Media

A creative agency focused on branding, digital strategy, and content production. Centauri Media brings real client challenges to the hackathon, giving participants the chance to work on genuine briefs with tangible outcomes.

Tracks

Choose your challenge

Three tracks, each tackling a different problem. Pick the one that matches your skillset or push yourself with the combined track.

Client briefs and existing branding assets are available in the shared drive. Review these before you start.

View Client Branding Packs
Design

Design Track

Problem Statement

Many brands struggle to communicate their identity clearly and stand out in a crowded market.

Challenge

Choose one of the provided clients and deliver a complete rebrand that improves clarity, positioning, and market appeal.

Your Solution Should Include

  • Redesigned logo
  • Cohesive colour palette
  • Defined typography system
  • One marketing campaign concept

You Must Explain

  • Your design decisions
  • How the rebrand improves visibility and communication
Development

Development Track

Problem Statement

Businesses lack intelligent, automated tools to streamline workflows, generate content, and evaluate their digital presence.

Challenge

Build an AI-powered solution addressing one of the following:

Option 1: AI Project Assistant

Build a conversational assistant that sits on top of existing project management tools and acts as an intelligent layer between teams and their workflows.

  • Integrates with Notion or Asana to read and write project data
  • Connects to Slack or WhatsApp as the primary communication interface
  • Can answer natural language queries like "what tasks are overdue" or "what did the team ship this week"
  • Capable of retrieving updates, creating new tasks, reassigning work, and setting deadlines
  • Should handle context across multiple projects and team members
Option 2: AI Content Generator

Create a tool that helps content creators and social media managers go from trend discovery to publish-ready content in minutes rather than hours.

  • Scrapes or pulls trending content data including keywords, hashtags, and viral formats
  • Generates video ideas, full scripts, captions, and suggested hooks
  • Tailored output for specific platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts
  • Adapts tone and format based on the target audience or niche
  • Bonus: include a scheduling or preview feature to visualise how content would appear on-platform
Option 3: Social Media Audit Tool

Build a tool that gives businesses a clear, actionable snapshot of how they are performing on social media compared to competitors in their area.

  • Scrapes or aggregates publicly available data for businesses in a specific location or industry
  • Analyses their social media presence across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
  • Flags specific issues such as inconsistent posting schedules, low engagement rates, weak follower growth, or missing platform presence
  • Generates a scored report or dashboard summarising strengths and weaknesses
  • Bonus: provide actionable recommendations for improvement based on the audit findings
Design + Development Recommended

Design + Development Track

Problem Statement

Businesses often suffer from weak branding and poorly designed digital experiences, leading to low engagement and conversion.

Challenge

Select a client and design and develop a modern digital presence.

Your Solution Should Include

  • Full brand redesign covering logo, colours, and typography
  • Functional website or prototype

Focus On

  • UX and UI design
  • Micro-interactions
  • User journeys

Include

  • SEO best practices
  • Clear calls-to-action

You Must Explain

  • Design choices
  • How the solution improves engagement and conversions
Tips

Advice to keep in mind

Small habits that separate good hackathon projects from great ones.

Spend the first hour understanding the problem space, the client, and their competitors. The best solutions come from deep understanding, not guesswork. Look at what exists, identify gaps, and let the research shape your direction.
You have limited build time across two days. It is better to deliver one polished feature than five half-finished ones. Define your MVP early, cut ruthlessly, and focus on shipping something complete and functional that you can demonstrate confidently.
Wireframe before you build. Whether you are designing or coding, having a visual plan saves hours of rework. Tools like Figma let you test ideas quickly without committing to code. Show your mockups to teammates early for feedback.
Judges remember narratives, not feature lists. Frame your project around the problem, your insight, and the impact. Walk them through the user journey and explain why your decisions matter. Make them feel the problem before you show the solution.
Allocate at least two hours at the end for your pitch. A strong demo can elevate an average project, and a weak pitch can sink a great one. Rehearse, time yourselves, assign speaking roles, and prepare for questions.
Tools

Recommended tools

Free resources to help you move fast and produce high-quality work.

Figma

Collaborative interface design tool for wireframing, prototyping, and visual design.

Visit →

Canva

Quick design tool for presentations, social media assets, and marketing materials.

Visit →

Claude

AI assistant for brainstorming, writing, coding, and working through complex problems.

Visit →

Coolors

Colour palette generator for creating and exploring cohesive colour schemes.

Visit →

Google Fonts

Free, open-source font library with hundreds of typefaces ready for web and print.

Visit →

Remove.bg

Instantly remove image backgrounds for cleaner visuals and composites.

Visit →