Course Overview
UI/UX design, Figma prototyping, and guided AI-enabled prototyping for secondary and junior college students. Students begin with user needs, personas, user flows, wireframes, visual systems, and interactive prototypes — then use Figma Make to explore how their designs can become working prototype concepts.
These are the same research, design, and prototyping practices used by product teams in industry, and they prepare students for design, computing, and engineering pathways in higher education. Projects scale with level: older students take on more complex briefs, with greater emphasis on clarity and user fit.
Human design judgement stays at the centre: students practise a guided prompt-and-evaluate cycle, comparing AI-generated outputs against their own intentions rather than accepting them wholesale. No design or coding experience is needed.
Lesson Outcomes
Frame digital product challenges around users, personas, needs, and constraints.
Create user journeys, low-fidelity wireframes, and screen flows before visual design.
Use Figma tools to design structured app screens and reusable interface patterns.
Apply visual-system principles including colour, typography, components, and interface states.
Build and test clickable Figma prototypes with real users.
Evaluate AI-generated design outputs critically using a guided prompt-and-evaluate cycle.
Details
Project
Each student creates and presents an interactive app prototype for a real user need — a portfolio piece for school showcases and competitions.
Requirements
Computer: A laptop, desktop, Chromebook, or school PLD running Windows 8.1+, macOS 11+, or a recent ChromeOS or Linux — 64-bit, with WebGL enabled and a stable internet connection. 8 GB RAM recommended. iPads are not suitable for screen design.
Software: Figma Design and FigJam on the free Figma Education plan, in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Nothing to install; our trainer sets up student accounts with the school in the first lesson. Figma Make is used in one guided lesson, with access provided by Tinkertanker at no extra cost. School IT should allow access to figma.com.
Hardware: None required.