Meet the Mentor — Rachel
Designer and mentor. Rachel loves making things and encouraging creativity in others.
Tell us a bit about you
I’m a product designer at an education-technology company, Firefly Learning. I design experiences that help students learn better, in the way that suits them best, preparing them to enjoy a lifetime of learning. I love this because I get to make things every day and encourage others to be creative.
Why did you start a design club?
I see from my day to day work that students respond to technology so naturally. When they become designers, engineers, or entrepreneurs in the future, I want to make sure they have practiced thinking about using the incredible new tech that comes along to solve problems for real people. Aside from that, I was curious to see what creative ideas the students would imagine!
What advice would you give to someone starting a design club?
While teaching younger people looks quite different from what I do as a product designer, it’s not that scary, and it’s not that different! It’s good practice to be able to simplify your process down to a few basic steps, explain concepts in layman terms and describe why you might use design to help solve problems.
What’s the best thing that happened at your club?
The students have started calling me “Miss”! The first time this happened it helped my confidence massively. Suddenly I realised I was respected within the group and that they saw me as an authority on the subject of design. I worried less and found I engaged with the students better, knowing that I was well positioned to encourage their creative thinking.
