A student team from the Department of Cultural Creativity and Digital Media Design at Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, guided by professors Chengyi Xiao and Nianan Lin, participated in the 2024 German iF Student Design Competition. The team designed a foldable and portable privacy cloak named Toilet Cloak for use in outdoor toilets. This design won high praise from the iF Design Award, and the faculty and students were invited to receive the award in Milan, Italy. Among over 7000 submissions worldwide, only 76 outstanding works were awarded, showcasing an exceptional performance.

The German iF Student Design Award is among the most prestigious student design awards globally, attracting submissions from over 50 countries annually. The 2024 iF Student Design Award continued the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals theme, encouraging students to utilize design to address various unresolved global issues.

The team from the Department of Cultural Creativity at Lunghwa University focused on the current global issue of 3.6 billion people lacking safe sanitation facilities, with 494 million facing the challenge of open defecation due to poverty or inadequate hygiene conditions. This poses health and dignity risks, especially for women and children. Therefore, the team designed the foldable and portable toilet cloak to address this issue effectively. The project received favor from the judges and won the distinguished 2024 German iF Design Award.

The award-winning “Toilet Cloak” is made from recyclable and environmentally friendly fabrics and plastics, creating a foldable privacy cloak. It allows women and children to use it for privacy during toilet use while also protecting from wind and rain. The “Toilet Cloak” is convenient to use and easy to manufacture. Women can follow a simple manual and use readily available recycled materials, adding unique local patterns to produce and sell the product to travelers as an emergency toilet option, thus providing additional value and income opportunities for women.

Team members indicated that participating in the international design workshop organized by the department helped them learn to identify issues and complete the design process comprehensively, extending this to their project work over more than a year of continuous discussion and refinement, resulting in the final product.

Nianan Lin, in charge of the international design competition of the Department of Cultural Creativity, pointed out that the design workshop improved students’ design literacy and provided valuable competition experience. Chengyi Xiao, the project supervisor, stated that the team went through numerous failures and revisions, continuously verifying the feasibility of materials through design and proving through design that they could contribute to sustainable development.

Department chair Bifen Huang stated that participating in design competitions demonstrates comprehensive capabilities, requiring solid concepts and the ability to produce complete designs using appropriate tools. The department provides students abundant resources, competition subsidies, and incentives to encourage active participation. The school also offers comprehensive equipment, space, and resources, ensuring students’ whole learning and development, and winning the iF Student Design Award significantly affirms the department’s teaching methods and students’ learning achievements.