On 15th March I headed through to Edinburgh to attend the Apps for Good event. Apps for Good is a global organisation that encourages young people to learn technology skills to bring good to the world. This was exciting as it was the first Scottish event!
The pupils attending from schools around Scotland brought along posters illustrating their app ideas and some of them even had some live prototypes they had made!
The day started with some networking, having a look at the ideas and discussing with the creators. I was so inspired by all the good ideas and such enthusiasm from school kids, some of whom were still in primary school! After an introduction to the day by the Apps for Good team, the participants were split into groups and headed off to workshops lead by professionals from creative and digital companies based in Scotland.
I was asked to give a workshop on prototyping to some of the young entrepreneurs to help them develop their app ideas. I discussed why prototyping can be important and introduced some techniques such as rapid prototyping, wizard of oz prototyping and paper prototyping. As it required no prior knowledge and was quick to get started with, we had a go at paper prototyping! The group took their ideas and turned them into paper prototypes.
I then introduced the group to some common mobile UX considerations and design principles. We looked at limitations on screensize, OS design principles (iOS vs Android) and commonly used design features such as “burger navs”.
Now the group got to swap prototype and peer review each other’s designs against what they had learned about mobile UX.
After the workshops we headed back to the mains space, where the youngsters got a chance to discuss their ideas and answer questions from invited guests… who also got to vote for the winner. There were some really cool ideas such as “how to adult”, an app helping recently moved out teenagers deal with life as an adult… although at 28, I could still use this! I was also impressed with how many apps were designed to help those in need such as elderly or disabled people get help and be social. It’s great to see the youngsters trying to help others using technology.
Apps for Good is such a great idea! I was really happy to be asked to present a workshop and I hope they continue to bring their events to Scotland, maybe even in Glasgow next time!