Acorn Aspirations Hackathon

Hackathon overview

I was approached by Acorn Aspirations to be a mentor for their youth Hackathons. As mentor I worked with a group of five teenagers to research and synthesise their idea of a mobile app to help young people learn maths. The team conducted user research, testing, an interactive prototype and a coded prototype. I explained to the team the importance of guerrilla style user testing, analysing competitive apps and considerations for UI design. The prototype was presented to judging panel, the team I mentored came second place, winning a tour and lunch at Google HQ.

Role

Mentor

duration

1 Day, 10 hours.

Process

Research, interviewing, sketching, testing, prototyping in Marvel, building in Xcode and presentations. 

Brief

Design an app which allow young people to revise for exams.

User Interviews + Wireframing

To get started I suggested that they conduct short interviews with other participants to ask them how they like to learn and what apps they use to help them study. They discovered that young people found it difficult to revise for Maths using the current apps and websites. They also found out you people like learning through videos and quizzes. These themes were incorporated into their wireframes. 

Prototyping

From the paper prototype the team tested the designs with participants at the Hackathon. They began prototyping in Marvel App.

Xcode

The screens were then used to code a prototype in Xcode, by Joshua who is 14 years old, who taught himself to use it by watching Youtube!

Presentation

I worked with the team on their five minute presentations. They presented to a team of 12 judges from Google and SODA. The groups we judged on their teamwork through the project and pitch, the user experience, the opportunity to monetise  the app and the impact the app can have on young people today.

I had a fantastic time working with the young people to drive forward their ideas. It was amazing to see the coding skills from each group. All the young people involved gained an an insight into working as part of a multi-disciplinary team. 

The success of Acorn Aspirations is down to the hard work and enthusiasm of Elena Sinel, she greatly encourages of young people and especially girls in STEM industries.

The team I mentored won first place, which is a tour and lunch at Google's new HQ!