What working with kids has taught me about being a designer…
By: Ritika Periwal
Tags: Design Thinking, Collaboration, Empathy, Design Mindset, Service Design

What working with kids has taught me

1. Design is serious business. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun

Before I’m accused of trivialising the design profession, I should add that knowledge and research are important aspects of design, however, I feel curiosity, exploration, collaboration and other fundamental design behaviours can be nurtured through fun activities. At the heart of it all, it’s about being creative and shouldn’t creativity be fun?

The kids I teach aren’t there to ‘learn’ on a Saturday afternoon, they do that 5 days of the week. They don’t care about answering briefs and they don’t know all the right words, but they do have a LOT of ideas and the most infectious energy. So, while the academic approach works for adults, it loses engagement when it comes to kids. Conversations, games, competitions are all things that kids find fun and can help teach core design values.

How might we change our methodology to be flexible to our audience’s needs?

2. Improvisation is a lost art

Sometimes, even after imagining all possibilities of how a situation might play out, things might not go your way. As long as you know what you set out to achieve, don’t underestimate your ability to ‘wing it’. When put in a situation where you know your original plan won’t work and little beady eyes are staring up at you in anticipation of an unforgettable Saturday afternoon, I surprised myself with what I was able to concoct in just a few seconds. Responding to needs in real time might just be what the doctor ordered and if not, it will allow you to fail faster and get to your goal quicker.

Side note: Improvising can be scary, but it helps to have a feeling of safety and an environment of no judgement from the other mentors.

How might we build confidence to improvise and learn through failure?

3. Sophisticated language is overrated

At the end of one of the workshops, I asked my group what they learnt that day. A little boy of 8 years quipped — I learnt how to help others… The simplicity and the accuracy of this statement cannot be overlooked. In the simplest way he was able to capture the essence of what design is.

More questions like what it means to be a designer, what kind of jobs designers do and what is ‘empathy’ came up through the course of our sessions. My script wasn’t going to work here and it forced me to reflect and answer questions in a simpler way. I realised that we often get so used to certain terminologies that we forget that we might be excluding certain groups from the conversation completely.

How might we simplify design ‘language’ so that it’s more inclusive?

4. Listen to what your audience isn’t telling you

Kids don’t always articulate what they’re thinking, but they can show you through their actions. Just like amateur poker players, kids always have tells. Watch out for the hidden signals in the form of sighs and groans. Notice when they’re grouchy, restless or overly quiet. Map out behaviour and energy patterns so you can use them as feedback on your sessions. The more you get a grip on the non-verbal cues of your audience, the better you will get at adapting to their needs.

How might we consider non-verbal feedback into design iterations?

5. Let go of perfection

I am in a perpetual state of trying to make sense of the world. Going into a session with the expectation that the kids will do as I expected them to, is limiting myself to certain possibilities. I was trying to make sense of their ideas where I should’ve let them explore new areas where — perhaps — I wasn’t as comfortable. I learnt my lesson. I told the perfectionist in me to take a break, let go of some control and embrace ambiguity a bit more. There’s a lot more to learn when you let kids be kids because if you allow them, they will stretch your imagination.

How might we embrace ambiguity to build creative confidence?

6. Design is inherently collaborative — as are human beings

Thinking you can do ‘everything’ is setting yourself up for failure. Take all the help you can get — especially from those that can keep the energy of the room up. Kids play off different personalities and moods, sometimes it helps to break the monotony and have cheerleaders around who can engage them and are curious about their lives. These people are not designers and they don’t know the design process, but they understand children and their needs — observing them and leveraging their strengths helped elevate my delivery of the workshops.

How might we leverage other’s ability to elevate engagement and delivery to our audiences?