How this course works
You don't become a designer by reading. You become one by making many small decisions, seeing what they do, and getting a little better each week. The guides are built around that loop.
What you'll find in every guide
| Part of a chapter | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Core idea | The one sentence to remember. If you forget everything else, keep this. |
| Diagrams and pictures | Drawn do and don't comparisons, annotated screens and objects. Most ideas are easier to see than to read. |
| Live demos | Flip between Without and With, drag sliders, type into forms. Feel the difference instead of taking it on trust. |
| In the wild | Real products that use (or break) the idea, so you can go and look. |
| Common mistakes | What goes wrong, why it happens, and the fix. |
| Check yourself | Scenario questions. They test whether you can use the idea, not whether you remember it. |
| Exercise | A timed task with a clear "done" and a three-level rubric to judge yourself honestly. |
| Checklists | Run them against your own product. Ticks are saved in your browser. |
| Wrap-up | Takeaways, an "I can…" self-assessment, a two-week practice assignment and what to read next. |
For the solo creator
Everything here assumes you are the researcher, designer, engineer, writer and support desk. There are no stakeholder workshops or hand-off documents. Where the classic advice assumes a team, the guides say what to do instead when it's just you.