Teaching a class
Look at me mom, I'm a teacher, just like you
I was a guest speaker at my alma mater – AGH University of Science and Technology – to teach a class about prototyping.
It was part of the Design Thinking Programme For Students – a set of 5 seminars, one for each stage of the Design Thinking Process, with different speakers for each one. Students had their own group projects that they’ve been working on during those seminars.
The topic of my presentation was stage 4 – prototyping. I explained why we make prototypes in the first place, both in digital and analog world. We talked about mockups, what they’re for, what’s the difference between low-fidelity and high-fidelity mockups and so on.
Paper prototyping
Naturally, every stunning UI starts as a sloppy set of rectangles on a peace of paper. That’s why – for the practical part of my class – we learned the magic of Paper Prototyping – and the importance of doing those ugly (yet beautiful), messy, hit-or-miss type drawings.
The point of my class was to show students that low-fidelity prototypes are crucial in the design process. They allow us to literally throw an idea out the window if it doesn’t work out and not feel bummed about it.
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We had two rules during the workshop session:
1. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - the prototypes were supposed to be simple, predictable and intuitive
2. Make it ugly please - no using colors in prototypes, focusing on layouts
I very much liked the experience of teaching a group of students. It felt kind of surreal, because I had finished college only a year before that. It was nice to give something back!
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Also – I can’t begin to describe how good it felt to give someone else homework for once 😅
Until next time, dear alma mater! 👋
Thank you for reading!
If you’re interested, check out my other projects too.
Also relax your face muscles, they're probably tense for no reason