A Guide to UX Design and Design Thinking for Kids

Why Design?

Teaching design concepts to kids is not just about teaching them how to make things look pretty. Design skills help to teach creative thinking, which is essential in today’s world. Any person can memorize the answer to a question and parrot it back, but innovation comes from creative minds that can see solutions that not everyone sees. Learning design is one step toward developing a creative mind. In addition, a creative endeavor is, in some ways, a puzzle. There’s a vision in your mind, and you’re trying to solve the puzzle of how to make it real and how to work around your skill and resource limitations. This level of focus improves a child’s problem-solving skills.

• Engaging Kids in Design-Based Learning
• Teaching Kids Design Thinking So They Can Solve the World’s Biggest Problems
• What the Design Process Can Teach Kids
• The Importance of Art in Child Development
• Teach UX Design to Sixth-Graders and You Will Be Amazed at the Outcomes

Design Career Choices

A little bit of design is included in every career, and many jobs focus entirely on design. For example, people who like wearing beautiful clothing could choose a career in fashion design. You can also design websites or newsletters or become a photographer or artist. But even if you choose not to pursue a career in design, learning design skills can be helpful for anyone’s future. Learning to create something, receive feedback on it, and then improve it is helpful for everyone, no matter the age. Everything in life could benefit from the ability to devise creative solutions, and what better way to boost your creativity than to learn design?

• Nine Types of Design Jobs for Creative People
• Art and Design Careers
• Why Design Should Be Taught in Schools
• Top Ten Degrees for Creative People
• Careers for People Who Are Creative
• I Want a Creative Career: What Are My Options?

Basics of Design

There are a lot of simple things to keep in mind when you’re starting to design something. One of the concepts that applies to every design is shape. Shape is exactly what it sounds like: the shape of what’s being designed. If you add shading, lighting, or perspective, you have something with form, a shape that’s in three dimensions. This is not just used to render 3-D objects but also to hint at depth. For example, two rectangles overlapping, with one darker and the other lighter, will give the impression of them being stacked on top of each other.

These basic elements can be combined in unique ways, which is the heart of design. For example, putting two elements that are drastically different together can increase the contrast in the piece, making it more visually interesting. Putting a lot of small elements on one side and one larger element on the other contributes to balance, making the flow easy on the eyes. Even the typefaces you use and where you place text have a place in design.

• Fundamentals of Design
• Four Things Every Designer Should Know About White Space
• Contrast and Repetition: Setting Elements Apart
• Principles of Design: Balance
• Dive Into Typography
• Typography Tips for a More Comfortable Read
• Importance of White Space in Design

UX vs UI

UI and UX are two different but related concepts. UI, or “user interface,” is what the user sees on a page or screen. This includes where buttons are located, how long paragraphs on the page are, and color schemes, among other things. These elements are essential to how a page looks and feels to the user and how it’s remembered. UX, or “user experience,” is about how a user interacts with the page or application. This is less about what the page looks like and more about how the page is used. A UX designer will decide how a website is navigated, and their goal is to make the navigation and use of the site as easy as possible. There is some overlap between these two forms of design, but they require different skills and ways of thinking.

• What Is UI Design, and What Is UX Design?
• What’s the Difference Between UX and UI Design?
• Five Tips to Teach Yourself UX Design
• Reasons You Should Learn UX Design
• Introduction to UI Design
• Five Essential UX Design Tips
• Complete Beginner’s Guide to How to Learn UI Design

Helping Kids to Learn Design Skills

If your child or student is interested in learning design, the Web is full of resources that can help them learn or even help you teach them the fundamentals. Some of the resources are in-class activities, but many are online courses designed for a child to take on their own time. This is a great way to encourage children to pursue design, by giving them the resources and touching base after the lessons to make sure they understand and help when needed.

• Kids Design Collaborative
• Principles of Design: Unity
• Design, Video Production, Photography, and Digital Music Camps
• Explaining UX Design to High-Schoolers