Hi, I'm Caitlin - a user experience designer and recent Digital Design graduate from Ulster University, Belfast. As a designer, I strive to create digital journeys that are not only innovative but human-centred. Developing my final year project 'Idiotikz' has let me explore how design can be used as a tool for positive social change!
Outside of design, I love adventures in the outdoors - from hiking and camping to kayaking with my friends!
Idiotikz is a digital classroom platform designed to spark curiosity, boost confidence, and make learning about politics and the world exciting! With dedicated student and teacher portals, Idiotikz provides schools with an interactive, flexible way to explore everything from weird historical tales to real-world systems — through games, virtual adventures, collaborative challenges, and more!
Right now, young people in Northern Ireland are being left out of political life. In 2024, fewer than half of 18 to 19-year-olds were registered to vote — compared to 95% of over-65s. In the last decade, the number of first-time voters dropped by more than half. That gap in engagement means the issues facing this generation are often the least represented.
We want to change that. Because education should go beyond the basics — helping young people understand the institutions, processes, and powers that shape their lives. Giving them the tools to ask better questions, think more critically, and step into the future with confidence!
It started with a big question: civic engagement is declining, and young people’s voices are being left out - so how can we make politics exciting and accessible for kids? To answer this, I completed comprehensive user research including interviews and surveys with both teachers and students; gaining a greater understanding of what both groups currently think about politics and classroom learning as a whole.
Based on these first-hand findings, I moved into competitor analysis — looking closely at platforms mentioned by participants as well as those uncovered through my own research. This helped me identify gaps, missed opportunities, and potential features that could set Idiotikz apart. From there, I progressed into product development: producing user flows and low-fidelity wireframes that were tested and iterated on with real users to ensure the platform was intuitive, engaging, and met the needs of both teachers and students.
Once confident in the overall experience, I turned my attention to developing a bold brand identity — one that would reflect the platform’s energy and purpose. This visual direction fed directly into the high-fidelity prototypes and helped shape a conceptual launch strategy, outlining how Idiotikz could be introduced into schools and start making an impact from day one.
Introducing Idiotikz — a digital classroom platform designed to spark curiosity, boost confidence, and make learning about politics and the world exciting! With dedicated student and teacher portals, Idiotikz provides schools with an interactive, flexible way to explore everything from weird historical tales to real-world systems — through games, virtual adventures, collaborative challenges and more.
Working on Idiotikz has completely reshaped how I think about education, design, and the role creativity can play in helping young people feel seen and heard. What started as a response to a worrying gap in political engagement quickly grew into something bigger — a space where curiosity, critical thinking, and play come together to make complex systems feel accessible and even fun.
This project challenged me to balance real-world research with bold, imaginative thinking — and it’s one I’m incredibly proud of. If Idiotikz can help even a few students feel more confident asking questions about the world around them, then it’s already doing its job!
