Meet DigiHub Designer Nina Prochniewska

Name: Nina Prochniewska
Age: 28
Nationality: Polish
Study programme: MA Design for People
Current title: Communication/UX/UI Designer

What is your educational and/or professional background?
I have graduated from the Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw where I studied Industrial Design. During the 4 year Bachelor I had a chance to do an exchange at Interactive / Media / Design at KABK in The Hague in The Netherlands. The exchange helped me to gain communication skills, as well as shape my human-centred focus that I have a chance to develop further during my Masters at DSKD. After graduating from the BA I had a chance to gain professional experience in Portugal and United Kingdom.

What is your role in DigiHub?
I work as a Communication Designer and Researcher with human-centered focus. I apply my skills and knowledge in finding best practices and suggestions for the companies to implement by putting human-perspective in the center of my creative work.

Tell us about a DigiHub project – current or completed.
I had a chance to work on 2 very different projects at DigiHub that I am currently finilising. The first one is for a sustainable, family business that wanted to find the way in transforming their brand communications. Together with a student from Design for Planet, we have implemented participatory engagement and user testing to gain feedback on current state of the communication and understanding of brand values.
The second one is a project for a robotic company, where I work on a case study with an external client in order to create a front end of a software from an UX perspective. The project has several touchpoints of exploration, from researching different stakeholders within the process to structures of automation of work.

What can businesses gain from working with DigiHub?
A fresh and unique perspective on exploration of own business, understanding their values and create products that can inspire engagement.

What have you gained?
A real-life experience working with clients on complex cases. The role gives me a chance to implement the knowledge and methods from my studies into a professional setting. It has been amazing to have an opportunity to work on diverse projects and network with clients.

What has surprised you the most about working in DigiHub?
The way I can apply my academic knowledge and experience into a professional,or even in some cases, commercial setting. Additionally, to my suprise I think that my presentational skills have improved tremendously, since I had to present and communicate the process to external stakeholders, who come from different backgrounds. It’s a massive plus!

What are you particularly interested in or inspired by at the moment?
Participatory design and co-creation. I love working with people and find it very interesting to discuss, research and engage different stakeholders in my process. It gives me an opportunity to gain new points of view on my work, which I have always found inspiring.

What role do you think design and designers will play in the future?
For me the strength of design lies not in a final prototype, but in the whole process of engaging stakeholders, drawing insights and opening the discussion to find best practices. As a future designer I aspire to become a good facilitator, who helps participators to identify possible changes and has a required skillset to act on them.  

About DigiHub
DigiHub is a one-of-a-kind digital design venture run by Design School Kolding. It matches student assistants and senior designers with small and medium sized businesses to develop new digital services and products based on technological insight as well as design thinking, craftmanship and creativity. This involves understanding the needs of target users, co-creating and testing concepts, developing user-friendly digital products and service prototypes, and introducing products and services to new markets.