My First Product Design Class -A story of a girl that wants to develop a career in tech — Product Design maybe?
I saw my colleague’s laptop screen and all I saw were strange words, no not words, I think letters, maybe a combination of alphabets and numbers with different colors. Actually, I’m not sure what I saw but let’s just say it was pretty confusing and fascinating. Ever seen a baby try out a new meal for the first time, could you remember their expression? That was me. I am the baby, the baby is me. I would later learn that what I saw on my colleague’s laptop screen was called code. Interesting. I have never been one to like Computer Science right from my primary school days and so when the buzz of tech careers was flying around, I automatically blocked my mind saying nahh, that’s not for me. I never knew there were many facets to the tech industry and a wide spectrum of careers that didn’t involve coding.
I pretty much started my career working in a tax technology firm as a research and creative strategist and I constantly work with graphic designers and software developers, from there I got to know that there is more to tech than coding. Part of my role involves me managing a mobile application (operational aspect and content development) and over time I identified areas to ensure our users had a better experience navigating through the application. I enjoyed this process when I saw the results of how the implementation of the changes I suggested solved problems or just generally made the lives of users easier and better — who likes stress, please?
Having worked for over 2 years as a creative strategist, I decided I wanted more for my career, I did my research on product design and what it entailed and started stalking product designers on LinkedIn. I connected with a few product designers and started conversations with those who had switched from a similar career to mine or from a background in the health sciences to the tech industry. I was convinced that I could do this, so when I saw my friend’s post about a design for Women scholarship program organised by Cowrywise, I jumped at it. Call it a sign maybe? My friend and I worked on my application together, seeing as she’s a badass graphics designer and I finally sent in my application. The 1-month timeline to hear back from Cowrywise elapsed and I took it as one of those things that I probably did not make it. You can imagine my surprise when I received an email that I had made it into the program on April 1, 2021. What a beautiful way to start the month 💃. I was told I would receive the next steps in the coming days. Days turned to weeks😔 and I constantly checked my email, junk, name it. I sent countless emails to the Cowrywise team asking when the program would commence. Silence, more emails to the team and more silence. Alas, these people have decided to take away the scholarship without communicating this to me. Oh well. Finally! I heaved a sigh of relief when I received the email of the commencement of the Product Design class. So here the journey begins!
My First Product Design Class
On April 24 2021, I paced up and down like a kid that’s excited to finally go to school. 9am finally arrived and I met my amazing tutor Dami Oludumila (aka Dumms) who has the most amazing energy and vibe. Add super intelligent and funny. A whole spec, right? Moving on, we were introduced to our second tutor Caleb Uzuegbunam who is a professor of design (jokes) but he is smart like that and loves telling us deep things about design such as the history of design, etc.
So, what exactly did I learn on my first day?
This was a four-hour class so I’d just be doing a summary of the key things I learnt. We were introduced to product design, starting with the history of how design came into being. Our tutor Caleb, let us know that Design is the intentional made real. Also, storytelling is very key as a designer.
Next up, was the study of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) which is basically how humans interact with computer systems/technology and how this interaction influences each other and the result(s) of the interaction. So let’s dive into HCI; the core goals of a HCI design are:
- Safety: When building a product, you have to ensure that it is secure for your user. For example: passwords, OTP. If you use a bank mobile application, they require you to input your password to login into the app, this is to ensure that no one else has access to your funds except you. That’s the security of the product.
- Utility: This entails providing the right functionality to enable the users do what they need to do with what you have designed. E.g the transfer button on a bank app.
- Effectiveness: The functionality you have provided is it enabling the user to do what they need to do? If you have a transfer button that is not functional then it doesn’t meet the specific need of the user.
- Efficiency: How quick can the user perform their task with the functionality you have provided. Does the transfer functionality work swiftly?
5. Usability: Does your user have to search and search for a specific feature you have implemented or can they navigate it easily. For example — can the user easily locate the transfer button to transfer funds?
6. Appeal: Is the design appealing? For example, if you look at the Cowrywise App are you compelled to use it? I know I am. It is visually appealing.
We also reviewed examples of bad designs and that had to be the highlight of my day. I had a pretty good laugh at some bad designs. See one below:
What’s wrong with this picture? EVERYTHING! To start with, my eyes actually hurt looking at it. Its super confusing, we need to fine whoever designed this. What were they thinking, lol.
In summary, I can say I had an amazing first day of the product design class and I learnt quite a lot. Looking forward to learning more!
Your upcoming Tech Sis,
Ure
