How to run a Design Club online (1): Planning your project

The first of three posts where our fab mentor Bianca Hollis shares practical tips to run Design Club activities remotely

Bianca Hollis
Design Club
5 min readJul 9, 2020

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Eight-year-old student sits at a kitchen table ready to start online Design Club
I ran six video workshops with my eight-year-old niece during the Covid-19 lockdown

Like most people adapting to lockdown back in March 2020, I was keen to volunteer my time and skills for the benefit of others. Design Club — and a new Zoom account — presented the perfect channel for me to take one young person on an exciting journey of creative discovery.

Having already done some face to face Design Club mentoring, I knew I should do my best to pre-empt challenges, expect the unexpected and relish the opportunity to learn from the experience.

In this first of three blog posts, I’ll share my top ten tips for setting up and planning a series of online workshops. We focused on completing one project — to design an app — using a mix of Design Club worksheets.

(If you’d like some background on how a Design Club project works, including the stages of the design thinking process, see Design Club at home).

Before you start

1. Get an Enhanced DBS certificate

Design Club requires all mentors to have an up-to-date Enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate. This verifies that it’s safe for you to work with children. Many volunteers apply to become a STEM Ambassador. It’s free, and you undergo the DBS check and safeguarding induction as part of the application process.

2. Find someone you know

I began by running six one-hour sessions with my eight year old niece. Knowing the person you’re working with is by far the best way to grasp the challenges and opportunities that video workshops with children can bring. I guarantee it will enable you to deliver more effective and engaging sessions in the future.

3. Empathise with the parent/carer

I enjoy preparing activities and materials for a Design Club session: it’s part of designing the ‘experience’. One of the biggest challenges in running a session online is accepting you’re no longer in full control of logistics. Empathy for the parent/carer and an appreciation that they’re juggling conflicting priorities — all within an environment unlike yours — is key.

Start by giving the parent/carer a brief overview of what Design Club is and how it works. Most importantly, tell them some of the valuable concepts and skills their child can develop in the process, and the sense of accomplishment they will feel at the end. This will help them decide whether to proceed.

Establish the set-up

4. Assess the logistical feasibility

Determine upfront whether your student(s) will have the necessary kit at home to participate. Do whatever you can to make it as easy as possible for their parent/carer to:

  • Set up a video call for their child.
  • Print the relevant Design Club worksheets (or you can post them)
  • Source writing and drawing materials.
  • Give their child access to a mobile phone with the Marvel prototyping app installed (used for stages 4 and 5 in the process).
  • Provide a suitable and safe space to work, with minimal disruption.

A few days beforehand:

  • Find out which video app (Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp etc.) is most convenient for them. Create your own account if you have to (save them the hassle).
  • Conduct a test video call to make sure everything works as expected (connectivity, camera, audio and sharing your screen).
A previous young student creates a clickable mobile app prototype
A slide from the Design Club deck I used for the online workshops

5. Agree timings (but be flexible)

Agree a meeting time that works for everyone involved. We got into the routine of a 10am meeting every 2–4 days but varied it to fit around other commitments, particularly as one parent was a key worker.

Set expectations about the number and duration of sessions and stick to them. I ran through the entire project in 6 x 1 hour sessions (excluding a 30 minute ‘user test’ my niece did offline in her own time).

6. Send a welcome email with easy-to-print worksheets

Once you’ve agreed to run your first session it’s good to send a friendly and professional email. Great experiences start with a little anticipation and excitement. On a practical level, you must set everyone’s expectations and provide simple and clear instructions.

I suggest you:

  • Instruct them to print the worksheets single-sided and keep them in the order provided. This makes it easier for the child to find the right sheet during each online session.
  • List the essential materials they will need: printed Design Club worksheets (you determine which ones to use), coloured drawing and writing pens. Nice-to-haves are: spare paper, scissors and glue/Sellotape.
  • Provide a link to download the Marvel app onto their mobile phone. They will need an email address to set up an account, or you can share your own login details. Remind the parent/carer in the email (or nearer the time) that they are responsible for ensuring their child doesn’t access any unsuitable material during the session.

Consider your content

7. Create your own topical design challenges

Design thinking guides and empowers people to find workable solutions to real-world problems people are facing right now. Popular challenges focus on important subjects such as reducing waste, eating healthy food, developing good mental health strategies and more. The UK lockdown presented an opportunity to give my niece the time and space to talk about what was happening to her and the people around her.

I created three new design challenges:

How might we…

  • Help people spread kindness (not germs)?
  • Help people stay connected (and not feel lonely)?
  • Help a child (or parent) to homeschool?

8. Prepare some Design Club branded slides

Communicating new concepts and activities can be tricky over video. Having a slide deck not only makes it more professional and provides a joined-up experience, but makes communication easier. The ability to switch between you and some colourful branded visuals, gives the sessions structure. And gives you the ability to show examples or clarify which worksheet to use. I built on an existing deck from the Design Club Resource Hub.

Handy tip: Draw on the slides or highlight specific elements with boxes or arrows as you talk about them.

9. Prepare some example apps

Playing games or watching a video on a mobile phone are not the same as using an app designed to help the intended user in some way. It wasn’t until we got to the ideation stage that I realised I should have walked my niece through some examples to demonstrate what an app is and how it works. We ended up doing this on the fly — and I emphasised that the best apps focus on doing one thing really well.

10. Consider your camera background

In true Design Club spirit, why not add some colour and sparkle to the background behind you? It might be something as simple as a Design Club poster, or wearing your branded lanyard. Do you have a shelf behind you to display some inspired examples of good design, or objects with a story? These little touches will create a good impression and help encourage creativity.

Next up: Delivering the workshops

In my next blog I’ll share tips for actually delivering your series of workshops online, including pitfalls to avoid and ways to keep your sessions on track.

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Bianca Hollis
Design Club

Design Thinker, Design Club Mentor, and a huge fan of parkrun and the many health and wellbeing benefits it provides