Training beginner designers

Over the past 12 years, I have often participated in educational processes; some of them were held under the patronage of the company, others I developed and conducted myself, but there were also sessions that I attended for money. For several years, I had a team of designers in charge, which meant that I was responsible for the training and development of my team members. Despite the fact that all of them, of course, were active participants, it was important to realize that learning is a process of transferring information and developing skills. Young team members do not suddenly acquire these skills. Instead, you need to constantly clarify the process in order to guide and train them.

There are many points to consider when talking about design training. My experience is related to the training of the internal team, so I will talk about this type of training and mentoring, but this applies to all types of design and development teams. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Your weekly or monthly meetings with your design team is the time when you have to figure out how current projects are progressing, and you also need to know what kind of help they need and what new things they want to know. I try to match the annual goals of the designers and the goals of development with the more short-term goals, imposing them in such a way that we can constantly form more complex opportunities and tasks.

But how to find out all this? A simple exercise can help. Concluding one of the projects, ask the designers to complete the following sentences:
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1. At the moment I can do ______.
2. I am still not sure (a) of ______.
3. I would like to learn ______.

You will find out that:

1. They have a new skill that needs to be worked out and injected into the workflow.
2. They are not sure about the task or technique, and you need to help them figure it out.
3. After completing this project, they understood what they were missing.

The second and third answers are what you should focus your training plan on.

Most people have the temptation to simply assign a new large task, and "let them figure it out." But this is effective only if people are motivated, and implies that they already have the necessary skills to perform this task. It doesn’t teach much, does it? Therefore, let's look at it in a slightly different light. Assigning a task means that you understand someone's current skills and tailored the task to match those skills. I see four levels of difficulty in this.

Imagine that our task is to develop a template library for a new web application that the company is working on. The goal of the development is that the designer learns how to create UIs based on components, code, and systems, and not just full PSD layouts.

FIRST LEVEL

“I want you to develop a template library for our new web application. It should be based on the corporate template library and built in Sketch. We need styles of types, buttons and menus, and all this needs to be fully completed before the end of the month. ”

This is the lowest level, since there is very little autonomy. All variables are controlled, from content to references and deadlines. This is a good option for a designer who needs to understand the basics.

SECOND LEVEL

“I want you to develop a template library for our new web application. It should be based on the corporate template library and built in Sketch. Make it to the end of the month.

Autonomy is still a bit, but fewer variables are controlled. The designer has the opportunity to decide which elements of the UI will be included in the template library. This level of complexity can be used when the designer already has the skills and needs experience in deciding what is important for the project.

THIRD LEVEL
“I want you to develop a template library for our new web application. It should be based on the corporate library of templates, and it should be done before the end of the month. ”

There is already much more freedom for independent design. As a lead designer, you still control important factors like deadline. The tool for creating a design, in this case Sketch, is no longer so important, since the designer himself already understands what is needed for the project, and can plan everything accordingly.

FOURTH LEVEL

“I want you to develop a template library for our new web application. Tell me if something is unclear. ”
Wow - almost complete freedom. The goals of the company are still defined, but the designer has the freedom to do what he sees fit for the project.

Whatever the designer indicates as a skill that he would like to learn, or a project in which he would like to try himself, you can use these difficulty levels to assign such a project. By suggesting a direction that takes into account gaps in knowledge, you will challenge them without making the task impossible.

So, you gave them a project that will help them develop new skills. They started work. Regular checks, especially during team meetings, give them the opportunity to share their successes, not only with you, but also with team members. In the end, as a senior designer, you need to make sure that they are able to complete the task and learn something new. By checking both controlled factors such as deadlines and project goals, and more creative factors such as tools and visual design, your check forms a tangible and achievable route to project execution. Everyone loves routes!

I'm trying to convince you to use a similar process to develop the skills of your younger team members. Taking care of the atmosphere in your team and the projects you launch means taking care of the training and development of your team members. This process begins with the collaboration of junior and senior designers to identify training needs. It continues with the assignment of work that strengthens, rather than breaks, the members of your team. And finally, since not many people can study on their own, you act as a mentor throughout the entire assignment. The process standardizes the transfer of information and techniques from a senior designer to a younger one in an understandable way, so that your team members acquire the skills they need to grow as designers.

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