We Learn Best When We Teach

Can better design make the world better? I truly believed so when I was growing up. As I was studying computer science back in the early 2000s, our professor invited Vint Cerf, one of the few Internet pioneers who helped design and build the TCP/IP protocol and other building blocks of the Internet.

I was listening to his speech from one of the first rows, and of course, I couldn’t resist asking a question when I had a chance. I asked something that everybody asks at some point: What skills would be important for a student to master in order for them to be successful in life. Vint kept his breath for a moment, and then answered looking straight at me: “You need to learn how to learn. And learn how to teach. Because that’s when you learn best.”

It might not sound like a big deal, but that answer has stayed with me for almost twenty years now. And throughout all these years, I’ve learned that the best way to truly understand something is to pull it apart, study it meticulously, bring it back together and teach it to others. So around five years ago, I decided to dedicate my time to teaching every year for one entire month.

This year is no exception. In fact, I couldn’t be more honored to be teaching in the University of Applied Science in Amsterdam (thanks, Vasilis!) and in the Projector Design School in Kyiv, Ukraine (thanks, friends!) this February. In fact, as I’m writing this editorial, I’ve just finished a 10-day course for product designers and product managers in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Students at work in a Smart Interface Design Patterns class at the Projector design school in Kyiv, Ukraine.

It’s always incredibly empowering to see how students are ignited when working on our little interface design projects together, and how their creativity breaks boundaries as we all learn and explore new uncharted territories — together. Tough constraints, little time, difficult challenges, remarkable solutions.

They learn, and I learn along with them, and get inspired to make something that has never existed on the web just yet. The results are often surprising, original, exciting and refreshing, and I would never trade this experience for anything else. And perhaps some of the things we discuss and explore together will help some students succeed in their careers, just like Vint’s words had helped me.

Of course, teaching isn’t for everybody, but perhaps all of us could seek local schools, universities and communities, and share something about what we care and value in life, in our work, with our families and in the world around us. Little changes often make for a significant impact. We just need to get started and do something.

I still believe that better design can make the world better, but it’s only through people who genuinely care about other people and their craft and want to make that world a bit better, that this change will happen. My aim is to do a little something every year that would help us all get there one day. Perhaps that could be one of your aims, too.