By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres describes mentoring a design intern with no prior design background, who is learning interaction design over a summer. Her approach blends reading (Don Norman's and Alan Cooper's books), iterative sketching on whiteboards and paper, a structured review of popular mobile apps, and feedback loops that push the intern to revise her work. The progression moves from low-fidelity sketches toward higher-fidelity designs ready for user testing. The essay is a lightweight, personal account, but it offers a practical template for onboarding junior designers and PMs through reading, critique, and hands-on testing.
01Key takeaways
- Hire for curiosity and attitude; domain expertise can be taught.
- Start new designers with foundational books that connect to their existing background.
- Have learners iterate repeatedly on rough sketches before moving to polished tools.
- Structured audits of successful products build pattern recognition and inform better design choices.
- Get early designs in front of real users quickly, even when they are still rough.
02Key sections
- Hiring a Designer Without a Design Background
- The intern came from linguistics and cognitive science and had never heard of interaction design. Her attitude and a homework sketch of a job-browsing app showed promise.
- Reading as a Foundation
- Torres started the intern with Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things, chosen for its link to cognitive science, followed by Alan Cooper's book on design thinking.
- Iterating Through Critique
- Feedback on the initial design was followed by repeated rounds of revision, with ideas captured on whiteboards and paper before any digital tools were used.
- Studying Existing Apps
- The intern audited popular mobile apps and produced a detailed style guide with screenshots and conclusions, then revised her design using those insights.
- Moving Toward User Testing
- Designs advanced toward higher fidelity in OmniGraffle, with plans to test them with real users at a coffee shop using an existing app for reference.
03From the post
“I'm working with a design intern this summer. It's a lot of fun. She doesn't have a design background. She's right out of college, a dual major in Linguistics and Brain and Cognitive Science. She didn't even know what interaction design was before she saw”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.