Tom Woodel
Tom Woodel is the UX Lead at Exnaton, where he plays a pivotal role in shaping user-centric interfaces for the company's innovative energy solutions. His work focuses on designing seamless, intuitive experiences for the platform’s users, which include energy providers, energy communities and end users. At Exnaton, Tom ensures that the platform’s tools—ranging from dynamic electricity tariffs to community energy sharing—are easy to navigate and accessible, helping utilities and communities transition smoothly to renewable energy solutions. His design approach aligns with the company's mission of enabling sustainable energy management through smart technology. In recognition of his exemplary service in the classroom, Tom has been selected as a member of General Assembly’s Distinguished Faculty program.
IN CONVERSATION WITH Tom Woodel:
What is your favorite technical skill to work with on your own projects and why?
Prototyping, especially using tools like Figma. Prototyping hits the sweet spot between design and interaction—it's where I can bring static screens to life and explore the actual feel of a product before it’s built. The reason I love it so much is because it allows for rapid experimentation. I can test user flows, and interactions quickly without needing to code, which is a huge advantage when you're trying to validate ideas or communicate them to stakeholders and developers. Plus, as someone who teaches UX, I’ve seen how empowering it is for students to go from static wireframes to something they can actually click through—it changes their whole perception of what UX is about.
What is your favorite technical skill to teach to students and why?
Sketching, hands down. It’s one of the most underrated tools in a UX designer’s toolkit, but it’s also one of the most powerful—especially early in the design process. When I teach sketching, I see students loosen up, stop obsessing over pixels, and start thinking conceptually. It shifts their mindset from “making it look good” to “making it make sense.” What I love most is how sketching breaks down barriers in group work. Anyone—regardless of experience—can grab a marker and start ideating. It gets ideas out fast, encourages iteration, and invites collaboration. Plus, there’s no better way to explain an interaction or user flow in a workshop than with a quick sketch on a whiteboard. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s incredibly effective for problem-solving.
What is most important to you about teaching technical skills at General Assembly?
What’s most important to me about teaching technical skills at General Assembly is making sure students understand why we use them—not just how. Too often, technical skills get taught as a checklist: “Here’s how to use Figma,” “Here’s how to make a wireframe.” But tools change. What lasts is the thinking behind them. I care deeply about helping students connect each technical skill to a bigger design purpose—whether it’s improving usability, communicating ideas clearly, or validating assumptions through testing.
What advice do you have for anyone looking to learn technical skills to reach new career goals?
Don’t just learn tools—learn how to think like a UX designer. It’s tempting to dive straight into Figma or Framer or whatever’s trending on LinkedIn, but the real power in technical skills comes from understanding how and when to use them to solve problems. That means pairing tool knowledge with skills like user research, prioritization, storytelling, and critique.
What would you like to highlight about your experience in your technical domain outside of teaching?
Embracing the unknown! In my career, I’ve constantly found myself in situations where there wasn’t a clear path forward—ambiguous briefs, no design system, conflicting stakeholder input, or even working in domains I knew nothing about, like fintech or automation. And rather than panic, I’ve learned to lean into those moments with curiosity and structure. Technically, that’s meant experimenting with new tools, adapting workflows on the fly, and designing solutions without a clear precedent. I’ve had to figure out how to research problems that don’t yet have language around them, prototype ideas that haven’t been tested, and collaborate with teams that speak totally different technical dialects. That mindset—being comfortable with discomfort—is something I try to pass on to my students. The real skill isn’t knowing all the answers; it’s knowing how to move forward when you don’t. Because in tech, that’s almost always the case.
WHAT Tom’s] STUDENTS ARE SAYING...
”Tom is an amazing teacher- he is always available for one to one time and answering questions- he is very supportive”