Meet the Mentors — Multiverse
Uma and Ken from Multiverse ran an online design thinking course for apprentices, built with Design Club resources.
Tell us a bit about you
Uma Odedra: I’m a user experience researcher at Multiverse. I’m also really interested in design thinking — which is why we align really well with Design Club. I often end up running workshops in design thinking, crazy 8s, that sort of thing.
Ken Day: I’m a product designer at Multiverse, currently working on learner experience and the apprentice journey. I learned about design thinking at university and it went to the back of my brain. At work I started learning about Google design sprints and they reminded me of design thinking. I used to do front end development coaching with Codebar (helping under-represented people learn to code). Uma mentioned Design Club and I thought “great. I get to coach, but in design — which is what i actually do!” It’s great to share with others because you learn about yourself and how to improve. It’s also a great opportunity to work on your workshop and facilitation skills — finessing them.
Uma: we’re both already mentors — I mentor apprentices at Multiverse who need help with their career, usually career changers. Ken mentors actual designers who are just starting out.
How did you come to be running a Design Club project with apprentices at Multiverse?
Uma: I missed running the after school club with the kids [Uma ran a Design Club in west London before lockdown]. I found people at Multiverse were really interested in different parts of design thinking — running workshops, creative thinking etc. Last year I ran a few workshops at Multiverse and people liked them. I ran a design sprint with Ken and Joe, another product designer. It [the Design Club project] naturally fell into place — like serendipity. We had the same thought at the same time.
Ken: It was around January 2021. I was just starting off being a design mentor. And Uma told me there’s this thing called Design Club, which I thought was really cool. Design thinking is for everyone. It’s an excellent skill for kids to have. We thought maybe we can teach that to our apprentices. Uma pitched it to Joe and me and we thought it was a great idea.
We get 10 per cent personal development time. Also, Multiverse was looking at how we could upskill teams remotely. It was the first time I’d run anything like a design sprint remotely — a great opportunity. Multiverse didn’t need much convincing — it was a lot of win-wins: personal development for designers AND learn how to workshop remotely.
Uma: We didn’t really need to pitch it. At Multiverse, if you’ve got a good idea and there’s a clear benefit you have the space to make it into something.The idea worked really well with the Multiverse mindset.
How did the course work?
Uma: We ran a design thinking course made up of six sessions, 90 minutes each. We had one session per stage of design thinking and then a wrap-up. That last session was a kind of show and tell — a showcase — where everyone shared the outcomes of the course.
Ken: The wrap-up session was a really good opportunity for the designers to get feedback from real people on their designs, viability etc — both from you guys [Noam and I joined the call] and from Emma [Emma Van Dijkum — VP Product at Multiverse].
Uma: We had 12 students. We started off with 4 groups but one group dissolved — the group with two people struggled. They’ve got full time jobs as well as apprenticeships — and it was the middle of the pandemic. Some of these people are at the end of their apprenticeships so they were doing their end point assessments.
We ended up with 3 groups of 3, 2 and 5. They were doing a mix of apprenticeships in data, digital marketing, software engineering, leadership and project management. The youngest were in their early 20s and the eldest was around 50. I thought might be more difficult to teach older people but I realised it’s not actually age-related — it’s mindset related. People who want to learn are easier to teach, no matter what their age.
You delivered the project remotely. How did it work?
Ken: We used Miro for the workshopping. We’d spend time doing prep before each session, translating the Design Club material so it would work remotely, eg: empathy mapping. We’d create a canvas for that digitally on Miro, so teams could work collaboratively.
Uma: We used Zoom for the calls. The benefit of that was having breakout rooms to do quiet work.
Ken: We had some issues setting people up with Zoom. There were tech limitations. One person couldn’t get access Zoom from their company devices — some kind of security issue. If we did it again we’d let people know exactly what tech we’re using beforehand.
Uma: We had Google Slides for presentations. Ken and Joe used Figma a little. We’d design some of the digital assets on Figma and then import into slides.
We kept in touch with participants between sessions using Multiverse’s community hub. We used the hub to share resources between sessions but it didn’t work that well because people were getting so many emails already. They already have full time jobs AND apprenticeships and then on top of that, more emails!
What advice would you give to someone starting a club or delivering design activities remotely?
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Ken — you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We used Design Club resources and Marvel App. Definitely lift from any design thinking resources you can find to prep your workshops.
Because design thinking is about learning then doing, we’d spend time prepping slides then pitch our sections to each other to see how they worked.
We found one way to mix it up and help with engagement — for example, to help explain a design concept — is to use other resources, rather than just us. It’s good to have YouTube videos, eg: Jakob Nielson and Dom Norman (NNG) explain design thinking well.
Uma: We used NNG, IDEO, Idean’s Cards for Humanity, Stanford d.school, as well as our own [work] portfolios.
Build in contingencies
Uma: Time management online is difficult, so we built in contingencies. For each session, we asked “if we lose time, what will our strategy be?” So often, we ended up using that contingency. For example, for doing creative thinking we didn’t allocate enough time. We had 90 minutes to introduce the topic, share an expert video, give examples, then set up to go and talk about it. The students would take a lot of time discussing the concepts because they were so excited: they needed more time to actually do what they needed to do. Teams were spending an extra 90 minutes during the week to do group work. We had take-home tasks but why were meant to be maximum 30 minutes and no more. We didn’t expect students to want to put in that extra time.
Play to your strengths as a team
Uma: We had a retro after the final session. Students really benefitted from the fact that Ken, Joe and I were so different, and the insights we brought in. We divided ourselves up and played to our strengths. I’d ask Ken to share stuff I’d seen him do that he was good at. Students saw our combined knowledge and experience as massively beneficial.
It’s good to spend time thinking about what you’re actually going to deliver and how to bring your own strength into it.
Find ways to keep people engaged
Ken: We kept thinking about how to engage people. The sessions were at the end of the day and people were fatigued. Have a nice chat with everyone to begin with and don’t just jump straight in. Whenever we explained a new concepts, e.g. user journey mapping, we’d collaborate on an example. We’d say, “let’s do this one together”, and ask different people for input. That way we made sure they understood. Uma, Joe and I jumped in and out of the breakout rooms to provide help.
Use repetition
Uma: At the start of each session, we’d say what we were going to do, and at the end, we’d say what we’d done. We used a lot of repetition. Always let them know what part of the design journey they’re on.
What’s the best thing that happened during your Design Club project?
Help with careers
Uma: One of the students got a new job as a product manager. He applied and used stuff from our course during the interview process. Another used the prototype app they’d created as part of their portfolio.
Solving complex problems
Uma: All of the teams were trying to solve really complex problems. They were all trying to save the world using design thinking! For example, one team looked at how to stop young offenders from re-offending. They used statistics showing why repeat offences happen. The app helped users avoid being triggered by negative emotions, offering mindfulness or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques, or access to helplines. For ideation, the team looked at comparable solutions: they looked at physical support through job centres and rehabilitation programmes, eg: a job centre for prisoners in Norway. I was really interested to see that solution develop further.
The 3 design challenges were:
- Help young offenders safeguard themselves from re-offending.
- Help people make more informed choices around nutrition
- Help people understand and reduce their carbon footprint
Personal development
Uma: We [the mentors] got a lot of it. We enjoyed it — we benefitted too. From a relationship perspective, I feel closer to Ken and Joe because we worked together and collaborated. It helped with team-building. Often in our jobs, we only focus on one area. Running this course helped remind us what else we know.
Ken: Throughout the course, I was comparing and getting feedback on my online facilitation skills. It went really well — I felt more confident and capable. It’s an environment where there’s less risk — where you can learn skills and progress. You always want to deliver a good experience, but trying to do that on the job is stressful.
Uma: That’s a really great selling point for adults who want to take part in Design Club. It’s a great way to explore — without too much pressure!
Thanks to Uma and Ken for talking to us. If you’d like to know more about using Design Club resources in your workplace, pop us an email.
