I chose to study at Loughborough University because the course had a great reputation in industry. Additionally, the campus felt welcoming, and Loughborough Design and its facilities were superior to any other I had visited.
There is an abundance of academics based in Loughborough Design who are willing to advise you on your projects. In my final year, I worked on assignments spanning across sustainable design, medical design and design for behaviour change and was able to go to experts in each of these fields with questions.
Loughborough taught me the core skills any designer needs in their tool kit; user research, insight synthesis, prototyping, user testing, storytelling, and a fail-fast-learn-fast mentality. You also get good at working towards deadlines and juggling multiple projects at once.
I am now a Designer in the IBM Garage: a small consulting division that work on client innovation challenges, leveraging a human-centred, Lean Start-up approach. Day-to-day I facilitate workshops with clients where we uncover their current pain points and guide them to think about their objectives and consider their biggest risks. Then, as part of a wider team, I create Minimum Viable Products – often mobile and web apps.
Whilst I enrolled on an Industrial Design degree, the User Experience (UX) module I took in second year, and my placement year, opened my eyes to other areas of design. By final year, when students are given more freedom and can choose or even create their own briefs, I aligned my projects to my interest in transforming not only products, but experiences, systems, and processes.
As well as equipping me with the skills to tackle a design challenge from the beginning to the end of a project, Loughborough Design enabled me to grow my industry network during the Degree Show and New Designers Exhibition.
The course also enabled me to achieve personal accolades. I entered my university work into several competitions including the UX UK Awards and RSA Student Design Awards, where I was recognised by designers from Philips Design, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Toyota, 100% Design and Kenwood Limited.