Design 101: Product And Web Design Course For Beginners

No design experience required

Learn with a design tool of your choice

Next course begins

November 3rd

Only 23 days left to enroll

Course duration

4 weeks

10-15 hours per week

Average review

Course Report & SwitchUp

Why People Choose Our Courses

Ready to kick-start your creativity? In this 4-week online course built for beginners, you’ll master the basics and take your skills to the next level.

Learn the Design Process

From ideation to handoff, work through a flow similar to what you’d find in an actual studio or company. You’ll bring your ideas to life as either a fully fledged webpage or app by the end of the course.

4 Mentor Sessions

Spend a total of 4 hours with a vetted professional designer who’ll review your work and give you personalized feedback. No more asking what if’s—get your questions answered directly.

16 Hands-on Projects

Learn by doing and hone your skills through 16 hands on projects. A fantastic way to kickstart your portfolio.

Certificate of Completion

Proudly display your new skills through a custom landing page certificate you can feature online that showcases your project work.

Learn Design Fundamentals

Hone your skills in areas like sketching, color theory, typography, hierarchy, and imagery.

$150 UX Academy Credit

Earn a $150 credit towards UX Academy if you decide to move on to our flagship course. What’s better than learning design? Learning design for free!

Learn the Design Process

From ideation to handoff, work through a flow similar to what you’d find in an actual studio or company. You’ll bring your ideas to life as either a fully fledged webpage or app by the end of the course.

4 Mentor Sessions

Spend a total of 4 hours with a vetted professional designer who’ll review your work and give you personalized feedback. No more asking what if’s—get your questions answered directly.

16 Hands-on Projects

Learn by doing and hone your skills through 16 hands on projects. A fantastic way to kickstart your portfolio.

Certificate of Completion

Proudly display your new skills through a custom landing page certificate you can feature online that showcases your project work.

Learn Design Fundamentals

Hone your skills in areas like sketching, color theory, typography, hierarchy, and imagery.

$150 UX Academy Credit

Earn a $150 credit towards UX Academy if you decide to move on to our flagship course. What’s better than learning design? Learning design for free!

Expert Mentors

Learn everything you need to know from the expert designers whom we’ve vetted to join our mentoring community.

See the full list

What You’ll Learn Through Design 101

After 4 weeks you’ll be able to sketch your ideas, wireframe, apply style with color, type, and imagery–and have a finished product at your fingertips!

Week 1

Learning to See Design

Start to see like a designer by learning what good design is. Take a walk through design history and learn the principles of what makes something beautiful and functional.

Ideating and Sketching

Select your course project and start generating ideas! You’ll start by sketching your ideas and building a brand through logo creation.

Week 2

Color Theory

Learn how to apply color to a product by creating mood boards and constructing color palettes.

Typography

Understand how to choose between different typefaces and learn how fonts are paired together. Start to pick type options for your own project.

Imagery

Learn how to select photographs and icons for your product and build your very own asset library.

Week 3

Layout and Composition

Learn how apps & websites use grids and practice designing with one.

Designing the Details

Learn common UI patterns and then implement them in your work! You’ll start to assemble your final project through wireframing.

Week 4

Going Hi-Fi

Take your wireframes to final version status by adding assets, color, and type.

Design Teams and Handoff

Once you’ve created a final version, learn what it’s like to present your work and hand it off to a team of developers.

Student Success Stories

Explore our students’ backgrounds and see what they thought about the course.

Cella & Qa'id 1 Angel & Ajay 2 Kathryne & Denoja 3

Cella

Current Role: Developer

Design Experience: Beginner

“I truly believe that learning design makes you a better developer.”

I'm a developer, but have always been interested in design. My interest in UX had grown in the past year and I truly believe that learning design makes you a better developer.

I was initially interested in taking a Designlab course to give me an introduction to design, but the most exciting part was being paired with an incredible mentor. Qa’id’s insight gave me so many ideas of how to better collaborate with my team, while the course taught me how to speak their language. I highly recommend Designlab to anyone who wants to be an aspiring designer or developers who want to become better collaborators!

Qa’id Mentor

Current Role: Product Designer

Design Experience: 9+ years

“Working with students like Cella is exactly why I’m happy to be a Designlab mentor”

Cella was like most of us as we start our design careers: inspired, excited, and ready to go in all directions.

As she progressed through the coursework and refined her skills, I was happy to be there to give my suggestions, perspectives, and anecdotes, which seemed to help Cella focus her energy on the areas of design that resonated most with her. Working with students like Cella is exactly why I'm happy to be a Designlab mentor.

Angel

Current Role: Marketing

Design Experience: Beginner

“I started to become more involved in design at my firm, so I wanted to learn more”

I’m a marketer working in the finance Industry, mainly focusing on content strategy and campaign management. I started to become more involved in design at my firm, so I wanted to learn more.

Design 101 was a well-structured course that gave me a solid overview of the fundamentals of design, providing a good balance between analytical and visual skill development. I found the interactive nature of the course very helpful. Even though it’s online, I was able to have quality interactions with my mentor, who offered invaluable training and insight about the UX design industry.

Ajay Mentor

Current Role: Lead UX Designer

Design Experience: 9+ years

“Angel always exceeded my expectations in terms of design deliverables and process”

Angel is by far one of the brightest students I’ve mentored! From Day 1 of the course, I was very impressed by her analytical approach (coming from her studies in business) towards each design assignment.

Every assignment was attempted in a very structured way, with relevant questions being asked before attempting the solution. She even tried multiple options every time we mutually agreed on the scope of enhancements. Angel always exceeded my expectations in terms of design deliverables and process. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors!

Kathryne

Current Role: Visual Merchandiser

Design Experience: Beginner

“I wanted to take this course to see if design was the right path for me”

I was looking to make a career change, so I wanted to take this course to see if design was the right path for me. I travel a lot for work, so it was great that the course was so flexible. My favourite part was being able to fit work in on lunch or on my commute. I also loved mentorship, where I got access to a plethora of different resources and useful tools. It would have taken me months to find all of that on my own!

Denoja Mentor

Current Role: Creative Director

Design Experience: 10+ years

“It was amazing to see the progress she made during the course”

I really enjoyed working with Kathryne on Design 101. She asked a lot of thoughtful and thorough questions, and was really invested in learning the course material. It was amazing to see the progress she made during the course, coming from her very first project to the final one. Her final project definitely reflected all the hard work she had put in!

Rave Reviews for Designlab

Ranked 4.8 out of 5

On Course Report

30,000+

Mentor sessions
in the last year

Rated 4.8 out of 5

On SwitchUp

Course Project Preview

Take a look at an actual course project from one of our past students. With our platform, students and mentors are able to comment directly on specific sections of the project for feedback.

Qa’id Mentor

Status Approved

Sooo good! I think you've got a great design here. Clear, direct, balanced. Since your CTAs are the most important behavioral triggers in this design, I think they could use a bit more emphasis. The contrast of the color you've chosen for those buttons is harmonious with the overall design and manages to capture attention—nicely done.

Cella

Process

As you can see, the color palette I ended up going with is completely different than the pastel style tile that I thought could work. I had a hard time making the colors work with the illustrations I used due to them also being lighter in color as well. In the end, I ended up choosing colors more in line with my initial style tile that are a bit bolder.

Feedback

You mentioned red being a color I should be careful with, does it work okay here?

Read about Cella's work

Cella

Process

As you can see, the color palette I ended up going with is completely different than the pastel style tile that I thought could work. I had a hard time making the colors work with the illustrations I used due to them also being lighter in color as well. In the end, I ended up choosing colors more in line with my initial style tile that are a bit bolder.

Feedback

You mentioned red being a color I should be careful with, does it work okay here?

Read mentor feedback

Qa’id

Status Approved

Sooo good! I think you've got a great design here. Clear, direct, balanced. Since your CTAs are the most important behavioral triggers in this design, I think they could use a bit more emphasis. The contrast of the color you've chosen for those buttons is harmonious with the overall design and manages to capture attention—nicely done.

Get the syllabus to see the rest of the course

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I’m Ready To Enroll

Pay nothing today—we won’t charge you until the first day of the course.

No design or software experience required

We'll help you get started with the industry's latest tools.

Flexible course length and deadlines

Early morning, late at night, on the weekends—it’s up to you.

Created for working
professionals

Perfect for adding new skills, or starting a career change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know Sketch (or Figma, Adobe XD) beforehand?

Not at all! This course is for complete design beginners, so we'll provide tutorials to help you get started with your tool of choice. You'll also practice that tool throughout the course as you work on different projects.

Does a mentor get assigned to me or can I pick a mentor?

We do our best to match mentors and students based on timezone and availability, but if you have a request we’re happy to try and accommodate it!

How are mentor sessions scheduled?

Mentor sessions are flexible—you schedule them yourself based on your mentor's posted timeslots. You can also reach out to your mentor to figure out the best time that works for both of you!

Do you offer any discounts?

We currently offer discounts for existing students, and veterans. We also offer a payment plan that allows you to pay half up front and half at the end of the course. We’ve also had past students’ employers sponsor their course tuition.

What is the course pacing?

Each week students have a set of curriculum & projects that they can work through at their own pace. Expect to spend 10-15 hours a week to complete everything along with your weekly mentor call. Night owls or early birds, it doesn’t matter, just as long as you finish your work on a weekly basis.

What if I can’t start the course on launch day?

Since the course is self paced and flexible in nature—when you decide to start your first week’s curriculum is up to you!

What if I don’t like the course?

You can drop the course at anytime and we’ll refund you completely! We have a 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked.

Can I use my company’s L&D budget for this course?

Absolutely! If you have any questions about how to do this when you’re enrolling for the course, please reach out via our Help Center contact form for more information.

What if I’m a part of a team that wants to take this course?

We’re happy to work with a team or company and optimize the course to teach several students at once. Depending on how many students there are, we’re happy to offer additional discounts. Please reach out via our Help Center contact form for more information.

See more questions

Pricing $399 $499 for four weeks

I’m Ready To Enroll

Limited spots available this month

You won’t be charged anything today—only on the first day of the course. If you decide to continue on with UX Academy, you’ll receive a $150 credit.