For many years, I worked at a high school in the Netherlands as an English teacher and mentor. And I loved my job! I had inspiring colleagues, a boss who gave me a lot of freedom and trust, and great relationships with lots of rowdy teenagers (yup, you read this right).

In February 2021, I decided to trade rainy, flat Netherlands for sunny Barcelona. I soon realized that finding a teaching job would be much harder here - it seems a lot of people had the same idea, and there were many more teachers than jobs available. After a while, I decided to transition into UX design. Part of me felt like I was throwing away all of the years of work I put into becoming a good teacher, but I soon realized that teaching and design have a lot in common. In fact, a good UX designer should think of their users as their students: the goal is to get them engaged and excited to learn!

Let me explain…

It all starts with empathy

A good teacher will try to understand their student’s world and build on a student’s former knowledge. They need to ground the lesson in what the students already understand. If they don’t understand, they’ll probably give up. For a teacher, it means their student is unengaged (and will probably start to act a fool). For a designer, it means people will abandon your product.

Create a positive environment

A good teacher will make their students feel welcome and comfortable, while also setting healthy boundaries. They know that building a positive relationship with their students makes them feel safe and open to new ideas. A good designer will find a way to connect to the user the moment they enter the (digital) space.

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Stupid Simple)

Unless you know your students (and they know you) really well, you should assume that they might not know what you’re talking about. (Even if you JUST said it the day before!). Explain it to them in clear, easy-to-understand language. And be prepared to do this over and over again. Also, make sure to explain why they should know this - what impact does it have on their lives?

Learn from your mistakes

Whether you’re teaching or designing (or doing pretty much anything else), it’s impossible to get it right all the time. Sometimes I would spend hours on a lesson that I was SURE my students would love, only to have one of the bold ones shout out ‘this is boring!’ The best teachers (and designers) are open to feedback and try to learn from their mistakes. In other words, theyre lifelong learners. 

When a student (or user) is open, engaged, and excited to learn, that’s when the magic happens!