The first lesson I teach every year
Every year, on the first day of the professional digital design course, I do not open Figma. I do not discuss wireframes. I will not show any slides. In addition, I handed everyone a piece of paper and a pen.
Then, I asked them to draw, from memory, in as much detail as they could, the app or website they used most. The home screen of their phone. Instagram. Their bank app. Google Maps. Whatever lives at the center of their digital day.
The MVP mindset
The most challenging aspect of my teaching is not design. It is letting go. However, the hardest room to teach is not a classroom. It is a boardroom. In the Digital Product Design workshop I facilitate, there is always a moment, usually around hour three, when someone realizes that their favorite feature is not essential. That is nice. Users might enjoy this. But that, without it, the product still works.