Professor Richard
Bridging creative thinking with intentional design for young minds.
MENTORSHIP
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CURRICULUM PREPT
PROFESSOR RICHARD
Opportunity
While being an Associate Product Designer at Red Ventures, I was given the amazing opportunity to teach a semester class at my college, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Although many would hesitate to work a demanding side-hustle like this alongside with a full-time job, but I rose to the action simply because I have a passion to be a mentor.
As a recent alumni of this program, I strongly believe experience is everything. Getting comfortable in their pond can hold a student back from amazing potential. So when it came to teaching students that were a year, or two, younger than me, I brought in as much real world experience as I could. From deep-design research, to testing amongst the peers and get user feedback, to even pitching their products in front of real people that they don't know.
With the UX/UI class of Fall 2024, I got to teach 16 amazing students coming from different points of life and their careers. All of them were extremely talented with their creative thinking and have already developed a style that they're passionate about; for this class I cultivated their skills and challenge them with one thing: designing with purpose. Emphasizing the importance of designing intentionally - rather than for aesthetics. I consistently brought up the questions: "Who's it for?", "How would they use this?", "Do we really need that?" - constantly challenging their thinking as the "right" solution is never the clearest one. For this class, I developed a lesson plan that introduced UX/UI as a practice that allows us to really consider who we create for. Getting them to design products that they're passionate about, but really testing their knowledge on it.
How would a new student navigate a garage parking app? Is it intuitive to have them drive and use the app? How could we make that easier? I wanted to push them to really think; show their process as the continue to develop their own products. When it came to presenting final work, I brought in my teammates from Red Ventures to act as investors - where they get to pitch in front of real people, sell their product, and show them that this was built with the user in mind.
Thank You
Firstly, I want to thank my Bankrate team for allowing me to pursue a deep passion of mine. I know it was extremely questionable to do, but I'm so happy that I did. I was immediately able to apply my mentorship experience to my work at Red Ventures, being comfortable in presentations, asking those difficult questions, and of course understand the various perspectives people bring to the table.
Secondly, I want to thank my old mentors/professors who thought of me for this opportunity. They knew that I've already considered teaching as my path after retirement. Getting to experience it so early on is such a blessing and I look forward to the days where I can step in their shoes.
Lastly, thank you so much to my amazing class for being big dreamers, wonderful students, and for accepting a young-experienced lad as their mentor. To this day, they have graduated college - bringing their new ideas to the world; as far as I'm aware, several of them have landed amazing opportunities - some even in the product space (I'll take some credit there).
If any of my students are to stumble on this page, I'm sure you're doing your best out there. I'm proud of what you've accomplished and I'm excited to hear your stories! You know how to reach me ^^