How to run a Design Club online (2): Delivering the workshops

Take children through a design project in a few short video workshops. Design Club mentor Bianca Hollis shares her tips on running a successful session using Zoom

My niece’s screen during a Zoom session: I’m sharing my screen with her so she can see the slides

I’ve been looking at how Design Club mentors can use video technology to run online sessions. Virtual sessions offer an alternative when after school and weekend clubs are paused. You can take young students on an exciting journey through a design project in a few short video workshops.

In my last post, I wrote about planning your project. I’ve been working with my niece, aged 8. Our project was to design a helpful mobile app, using a mix of Design Club worksheets. We agreed to use Zoom to deliver the sessions.

Over six sessions, my niece created an app called ‘Kind cooperating’. It helps the user — her mum — to send a ready-made or personalised e-card to brighten someone’s day during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this second post, I’ll share my tips and advice on pitfalls to avoid when you’re delivering the video workshops.

1. Start with a warm-up

Most of us struggle to mentally transition from our personal life to work or learning. And homes during lockdown can be full of distractions. Start each session with a warm-up to help bring your student(s) away from whatever they’ve been doing to focus on your session. I’ve been using the following starter activities, but you can create your own.

• ‘Check-in’ drawing: You and your student(s) spend 2 minutes drawing how you’re feeling right now, then take 2 minutes each to present your picture to the camera and talk about it.
• Design is all around us: You and your student(s) spend 3 minutes finding one object in the house you like and one you dislike. Then discuss why, how it makes you feel, and the different qualities of the design, for example: the packaging, usefulness, aroma, feel, etc.
• Staying in touch: Ask your student(s) how they’re managing to keep in touch with their school friends. How is it different to seeing them at school? What are they most looking forward to when they next meet in person? This was particularly relevant during lockdown.
• Re-cap on the last session: It’s always a good idea to ask them to try and recall what we did last time and use this to lead into the next activity.

2. Set a timer for each activity and stay in view of the camera

My niece imagined her user’s day using the Map out a typical day worksheet

Online workshops are a good opportunity to set time limits on activities and give children space and freedom to think for themselves. I explained each task with the help of my slides, and asked my niece if she had any questions. Then I set a timer and left her to it while I remained in view.

It was clear when she looked up once in a while, or asked a question, that she appreciated knowing I was there. While she worked on the design activity, I would continue other work.

As mentors, we’re keen to share knowledge. It’s often tempting to immediately answer questions — but I learned to be patient. When appropriate, turn raised questions back to the child. This makes a much more rewarding experience. Some of the most enjoyable moments were when my niece was deep in thought and then solved a problem by herself.

3. Encourage them to share work in progress using the camera

She understood her user better by filling out the Build an empathy map worksheet

The biggest challenge was not being able to see my niece’s work in progress (because of the camera view). It was difficult to give real-time feedback or guidance when it might have been helpful.

Make sure you factor in feedback at the end of each task and ask them to hold their work up to the camera, then discuss it together. I found this tricky to begin with because the worksheet wasn’t always in view, but she soon got the hang of it.

4. Beware different iOS and Android versions of Marvel App

She created screens using the Sketch your app worksheet. We then photographed the screens and created a prototype using Marvel App

Design Club projects use Marvel App for the prototyping stage. I realised during the workshop that my niece was using a completely different interface. This made my instructions very confusing. If one of you is using an Android device and the other an iPhone, make sure you know how both versions work. Persevere and you’ll soon see the child’s face light up when they start to see their mobile app come to life!

5. Help your student design like a pro

My niece designed and made a seamless user journey that switched from digital to paper screens (and back again) to simulate the part where the user could draw or write their own content. She also made small but efficient improvements by covering up unwanted elements with stuck-down paper.

Whatever your profession, the design process will provide opportunities for you to share valuable knowledge and skills with your student. As my niece’s ideas progressed, I naturally stumbled upon moments to share some key design and UX principles, such as:

• Sufficient colour contrast for text make it easier for people with low vision or colour blindness to read it.
• Consistent button positions and screen layouts make it easier for the user to learn and pre-empt how to interact with the app.
• Masking ‘mistakes’ with paper and glue instead of re-making an entire screen saves time.
• End the user journey on a high: ensure the user’s last step leaves them with a positive feeling.
• Switch to paper screens when the prototyping software doesn’t support the simulation of complex interactions such as drawing or typing text.

The last point really impressed me. This eight-year-old quickly grasped the concept of rapid prototyping to create of an imperfect but coherent user journey using the materials she had available.

And finally — Part 3: My reflections

In the third and final blog I’ll reflect on the output from the workshops and share my takeaways, plus a few ideas for future sessions.