App Design Summer Bootcamp | Mon 10 – Fri 14 August

A week-long digital product design bootcamp where teenagers (aged 13+) learn to research, prototype and pitch a real app idea, using the same methods as professional designers at Google, Apple, top design agencies and leading startups. Taught by a practicing designer with 10+ years of industry experience.

This is your chance to actually make it!

Over five days, you'll go from idea to fully clickable prototype. Something you can put in front of real people, present at college and at university admissions interviews or just show your friends and feel genuinely proud of.

You'll leave with a finished app prototype that you designed yourself, a polished presentation, and skills you can use immediately - in the classroom, at interviews and beyond.

This bootcamp is for teenagers (aged 13+) who:

• Are curious about tech, design or creative careers. No prior experience needed whatsoever
• Use apps every day and want to understand how they're actually made
• Would thrive in a hands-on, studio-style environment rather than a lecture room
• Have a big idea they've never known how to get out of their head, or are entrepreneurial in spirit!

If your young person lights up around creativity, technology or problem-solving, this is the week for them.

The programme covers the full design thinking process. The same methodology used by design teams at Google, Apple, top design agencies and startups worldwide:

• Design thinking methodology — empathise with real users, define the problem, ideate solutions, prototype and test
• User research — how to understand your user, how to interview people and turn what you hear into design decisions
• Wireframing and prototyping — using industry-standard tools including Figma, Miro and Canva
• Visual design fundamentals — core graphic/digital design skills including layout, typography and colour theory
• Collaborative design — working in small teams the way real design studios operate
• Presenting and pitching — building a slide deck, articulating your ideas and speaking confidently in front of an audience

The Friday showcase

Friday is the moment it all comes together. Students present their projects to the rest of the class, parents and siblings. To celebrate, we'll have pizza and drinks.

Parents, family and friends are warmly invited to join us on the friday, 6:00pm – 8:00pm.

Kimmy Thomson, Creative Director, Kim Sum Studio

Kimmy is a practising UX and Product Designer with over ten years of industry experience, having designed AI-powered products, interfaces for Harvard Medical School surgeons, and AR experiences for Europe's largest fitness trade show. She has conceived and run work experience programmes at Maccreanor Lavington Architects and RX Global, and has taught creative writing, critical reasoning and English language programmes in Hong Kong and Madrid.

Kimmy is Enhanced DBS checked and a teaching assistant will be present at all sessions.

Click on "Organiser" to learn more.

Cohort 3: Monday 10 – Friday 14 August 2026

Monday – Thursday: 9:00am – 1:00pm

Friday: 2:00pm – 6:00pm

Friday showcase: 6:00pm – 8:00pm (parents, family and friends welcome)

(For cohorts 1&3, please got to the individual event page or contact the organiser: [email protected]) Cohort 1: Monday 27 – Friday 31 July 2026

Cohort 2: Monday 3 – Friday 7 August 2026

Minimum 6 students required for each cohort to go ahead — full refund if a week doesn't run.

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Host or Publisher Kim Sum Studio