Altschool

Altschool is a 12-month immersive program aimed at transforming aspiring designers into product design professionals. The course covered everything from research, design fundamentals, wire-framing, to high-fidelity design and prototyping. I was a student and the team lead for two circles (Circle 57 and Circle 14) where I guided fellow students on design principles and execution. We worked on projects that tested our skills and challenged us to grow.

At Altschool, we followed a design thinking approach to problem-solving and design. The five stages of design thinking were central to every project we worked on:

Empathize: We learned to understand the people through research, surveys, and interviews.
Define: We learned to define problems based on data and research.
Ideate: We learned to brainstorm and sketch ideas to solve the defined problem, while considering the users’ pain points and needs.
Prototype: We learned to translate ideas into wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes.
Test: We learned to test prototypes with users, gather feedback, and refine the designs based on results.

Tools used

Figma
Notion
Adobe Illustrator

Roles

UI Design
UX Research
Team Lead

Project 1: Koati

Problem

Learning new skills on your own can be hard, especially without a roadmap. This causes problems for autodidacts and anyone trying to learn skills on their own. Without guidance, they tend to have knowledge gaps in their learning.

Solution

I designed Koati (coined from the Yoruba words Ko & ati which means “Learn & how”) to provide autodidacts with learning support by using AI and LLMs to help self-learners create personalized learning guides or curriculums for any skill or topic they want to learn.

Project 2: All in 1 Student Portal

Problem

Students at AltSchool Africa struggle with using multiple platforms:

AltPortal for administration,
AltLMS for learning content,
Slack for communication,
Live classes held separately.

This fragmentation leads to inefficiency, missed information, and a disjointed experience. There is a need for a unified solution that consolidates these functionalities into one platform to improve productivity and the student experience.

Solution

I designed an all-in-one student portal that integrates coursework, communication, and live classes into a single platform. The portal streamlines tasks, centralizes notifications, and provides a seamless user experience across web and mobile, improving student productivity by reducing the need for multiple tools.

Learnings

I learned about the history of Design and how to use Design Principles.

I was able to understand the fundamentals of design by starting my learning with the history of design and principles like Hierarchy, Balance, Contrast, Movement, etc.

I learned about prototyping and how to prototype in Figma

I learned the importance of testing hypotheses with prototypes as an easy and cost-effective way to validate ideas without committing to development, deepening my understanding through coursework.

I learned about responsiveness in design and how to design responsive interfaces.

Using YouTube as a case study, I learned what responsive design is. I learned the importance of designing single interfaces that can be used across multiple screen sizes in an increasingly digital world.

I learned how to use design systems and about scalability in design

I learned the importance of having reusable components when designing large projects. Coursework allowed me to create design systems to ensure consistency and speed when designing projects.