A team of design students from the University of Dundee has taken their project – a storymaking machine – to Microsoft’s world HQ.

The Dundee students, drawn from the University’s interdisciplinary courses in Innovative Product Design & Interactive Media Design, are the UK’s sole representatives in the Microsoft Design Expo 2008, being held in Redmond, just outside Seattle.

They are participating alongside designs schools from the US, China, India, Mexico, and the Netherlands in the annual challenge set by the computing giant. This is the first time that the University of Dundee has been invited to participate in the Expo.

The brief set by Microsoft this year was in the area of learning and education, encouraging design solutions that improve the daily life of a wide variety of users.

The Dundee team of Natalie Montgomery, Lee Murray, Neil Dawson and Joanna Montgomery have responded to the challenge

by developing their Storymaker/Storyteller machine, which enables users to combine pictures and commentary to create stories.

The students have designed and built a working prototype which they will take to the USA this weekend.