Teaching UX Design at General Assembly

What I learned

Teaching UX Design at General Assembly was an incredibly rewarding experience. I had the opportunity to guide aspiring designers through the fundamentals of user experience, from research and ideation to prototyping and testing. While I spent a lot of time teaching the core UX process, I also gained valuable insights about what truly helps junior designers grow. Here are three key lessons I took away from the experience:

1. Design Thinking vs. Real-World Constraints

The UX process we teach in the classroom is structured and idealistic—it follows a clear progression from research to testing. However, in real-world design work, things are rarely so neat. Business objectives, technical limitations, and time constraints often force designers to adapt. The challenge for junior designers is learning how to balance an ideal UX process with practical execution.

It’s one thing to know best practices; it’s another to understand when and how to bend them to meet real-world needs. The best way to learn this is through hands-on experience—working on projects that involve actual constraints and collaboration with developers, product managers, and stakeholders.

2. Feedback is Important, but Knowing Who to Trust is Crucial

Designers are constantly receiving feedback—from teammates, stakeholders, and even users. While it’s easy to fall into the habit of implementing every piece of feedback, it’s more important to learn how to evaluate it critically. One of the biggest struggles I saw among junior designers was the tendency to default to whatever a stakeholder suggested, especially those who were hesitant to advocate for their own ideas.

I realized that the best way to break this habit was through deliberate practice in giving feedback. When designers learn to articulate thoughtful critiques of others' work, they simultaneously develop a stronger ability to assess and filter the feedback they receive. It’s not about rejecting input—it’s about making informed design decisions with confidence.

3. The Power of Story in Articulating Design Solutions

I saw many talented designers with brilliant ideas struggle to gain traction—not because their designs were flawed, but because their explanations were. The ability to communicate the ‘why’ behind a design is just as important as the design itself. Without a strong narrative, even the best ideas can fall flat.

Teaching UX reinforced for me that storytelling is a critical skill. A compelling design presentation doesn’t just list out features—it weaves a narrative that connects the problem, the research, and the solution. Designers who can master this skill not only gain buy-in more easily but also build trust as strategic thinkers, not just executors of wireframes.

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