Share your competition work/entry here, in this post! 
I have participated in many design competitions…it is a good opportunity for me to work & explore into little unknown areas.
Because of the competitive nature, You tend to develop good professional skill sets & design thinking for that area.
I have rarely won any competition…I know!!! it is subjective…
Here is one concept that I would like to share with you…suggestions & comments are welcome.
Title: ecoin
In the present scenario, it is easier to do big money transactions by means of debit/credit card, cheque or online banking (sometimes with cash). But when it comes to small amounts, we have to search inside the wallet couple of times to give the exact change/amount.
In day-to-day life, we come across many situations such as: Buying vegetables etc in the market, Buying at small shop, Paying for taxi, bus or auto, as well as eating outside etc…We try to give exact change, so as to avoid few situations where surplus money is being paid.
ecoin is a digital representation of small amounts or coins. The semantic values are derived from existing coins & their graphics. This small electronic device has small LCD display, few buttons & infrared controls (transmitter & receiver like remote control). It runs on coin sized Lithium battery. The LCD display shows balance or transfer or received amount with currency name. The buttons on this device helps the user to select the exact amount.
In a small amount payment scenario, the amount receiver & sender, both should have this device. The sender presses the balance button to start & check the available amount in his device. He will then press& hold the increment button to reach desired value. The value increases or decrease in the multiple of least valuable amount (ex. 25 paise), the sender can adjust the amount by clicking increment or decrement button. The receiver starts his device by pressing balance button. Both, the receiver & sender align their devices (IR part) & then sender presses the transfer button. The receiver can check the received amount on the LCD screen while sender can check the remaining amount on his device.
This device can be topped-up/recharged at small shops. These shops will have similar ecoin or ecoin box (big IR unit). The user has to pay the desired amount in cash to shop owner to charge their device. Similarly, the user can collect the cash from the shop by transferring funds from their ecoins to shop owner.
Other options available in ecoin are wallet friendly ecoin, keychain ecoin & waterproof ecoin. These devices can be developed for different currency for respective countries.
Thus, ecoin is a green substitute for small amount transactions, reducing usage of metal & subsequent coins-manufacturing process.
anyone ?
I also don’t like pocket change but I think your idea is flawed in many ways. You still need a wallet to hold your card and you probably need as much space to hold this thing as pocket change would. The fact that the amounts held in the device are handles by the device through IR and not through a centralized system would make it quite easy to hack. Inputting the value you wish to transfer seems to take as long as pocket change would. Another thing to consider is human interaction with coins, tipping someone becomes kind of awkward as he has to whip out his ecoin and continue to interact with you while he’s seeing the amount you’re transferring. Actually, it’s the ‘green substitute’ part that made me write this. Sorry if I sound harsh, that wasn’t my intention.
Thanks for your views…
In any case, You need a wallet for keeping different things including cards…(debit, credit)…etc.
With respect to IR, I am looking for other interaction options that will allow smooth, secure transactions between two users.
Why not just NFC with phone? I probably missed something… TLDR. I know there’s something about just using it for small change, but why limit to that? NFC takes care of large and small. Plus I’d lose a coin like that easily.
Let’s say if you are using NFC system for your transactions & you are still carrying coins in your wallet, then this product will replace them.
otherwise this will be parallel product with others…(co-existence system)
Basically, this product is designed to do small transactions without getting connected to your mobile or bank accounts.
This will carry a minimum amount that generally required for day-to-day small transactions. (check the first image.)