Cohort 03 — Applications open

Design isn't the file you ship.
It's the thinking behind it.

A 12-week live masterclass for designers who already know their way around Figma but want to think — and work — like a product designer. Real briefs, real critique, and a portfolio built to get you hired.

Apply for Cohort 3 → See the curriculum
Format12 weeks
Cohort size24 seats
StructureLive, not self-paced
StartsSep 14, 2026
Week 04 / Home Dashboard100%
24px gap
1Hierarchy — start here
Dara — reviewing
94%Cohort completion rate — most self-paced courses hover near 10%
3.2×Average portfolio callback rate reported by alumni after graduating
24Designers per cohort — small enough for feedback that's actually specific
12Weeks from first brief to demo day, live and on the record
The Gap

You can use Figma. That was never the hard part.

Most self-taught and junior designers plateau at the same wall: real tool fluency, but no framework for the decisions underneath it. Tutorials teach you to reproduce screens. They don't teach you to reason about them.

01 — Redline

You can operate Figma. You can't yet defend a decision.

You know the shortcuts, the auto-layout, the components. Ask why a layout works and the answer is usually "it looked right."

02 — Redline

Your portfolio has pretty screens and no problem behind them.

Hiring managers skim for the thinking, not the polish. Without a clear problem, even strong visuals read as decoration.

03 — Redline

You copy patterns because you don't know why they work.

Reference libraries are useful until they're a crutch. Borrowed patterns fall apart the moment your product doesn't fit the mold.

04 — Redline

Feedback feels random, because you've never had a real critique.

Comments on a Figma file aren't critique. You've never sat in a room where someone walked you through exactly why something isn't working.

Cohort 3 is built to close exactly that gap — not with more tutorials, but with real briefs, weekly critique, and a mentor who tells you what's actually wrong with your work, every week, for twelve weeks.

Curriculum — 12 Weeks

From first brief to demo day.

Three phases, twelve modules. Each week builds directly on the last — by week nine you're not learning technique anymore, you're applying it under real constraints.

Phase 01 — Foundations · Weeks 1–4
  • Frame an ambiguous brief into a problem statement you can actually design against
  • Apply jobs-to-be-done thinking to separate what users say from what they need
  • Build the habit of asking "what problem is this solving" before opening Figma
  • Plan and run five user interviews without leading the witness
  • Synthesize raw notes into themes using affinity mapping, live in critique
  • Turn research into a point of view you can defend to a room
  • Map a multi-surface product's structure before touching visual design
  • Design flows that account for errors, empty states, and edge cases up front
  • Present a flow diagram that a PM and an engineer both understand immediately
  • Build a component with every state it needs — not just the happy path
  • Think in systems: what changes everywhere when one token changes
  • Audit an existing product for interaction inconsistencies
Phase 02 — Craft & Judgment · Weeks 5–8
  • Set type and spacing on a real scale, not by eye
  • Hit AA contrast and legibility standards without being told to fix it after the fact
  • Rebuild a weak screen using nothing but stronger fundamentals
  • Prototype a flow that reads clearly without narration
  • Use motion to communicate hierarchy and state, not to decorate
  • Know when a static mockup is enough and when it isn't
  • Use AI to generate and stress-test variations faster than you could alone
  • Speed up research synthesis and content drafts without outsourcing judgment
  • Build a personal workflow you can defend in an interview, not just a set of prompts
  • Give critique that's specific and actionable, not just "looks good"
  • Receive hard feedback without getting defensive about your own work
  • Run a critique session the way a senior designer would lead one
Built into every cohort

AI is treated as a design partner, not a shortcut.

Week 7 isn't a prompt-engineering side quest — it's woven through the rest of the program. You'll learn where AI genuinely speeds up research, iteration, and critique, and where it quietly erodes your own judgment if you let it. By demo day, it's just part of how you work.

Phase 03 — Portfolio & Launch · Weeks 9–12
  • Structure a case study around decisions, not deliverables
  • Cut the process narration down to what a hiring manager will actually read
  • Write a case study that survives a 90-second skim
  • Prepare a handoff-ready file an engineer can build from without guessing
  • Speak the language of constraints, tokens, and technical trade-offs
  • Defend a design decision in a room with engineering pushback
  • Present a case study out loud in under five minutes
  • Handle "why" questions on the spot, live, in front of the cohort
  • Run a mock design interview with mentor feedback on the recording
  • Ship a capstone project end-to-end against a partner-style brief
  • Present live to a panel that includes mentors, alumni, and guest hiring managers
  • Leave with three finished, portfolio-ready case studies — not drafts
Format

Structured like a real design team.

Not a video library. A working studio with a schedule, a mentor, and people whose work you'll know by name.

Twice weekly

Live sessions

Live workshops and studio time with your mentor and cohort. Every session is recorded if you have to miss one.

Every week

Weekly critique

Your work goes on the wall every week. Real feedback, delivered live — not comments left on a file overnight.

Biweekly

1:1 mentorship

A senior product designer assigned to you for all twelve weeks, not a rotating cast of TAs.

24 designers

Small cohort

Capped intentionally, so critique time is real and your mentor actually knows your work.

Between sessions

Always-on community

A working studio, not a group chat: async feedback, resource sharing, and accountability all week long.

Week 12 onward

Lifetime alumni access

Keep your cohort, your mentor relationships, and the community long after demo day.

What You'll Ship

Three projects. One portfolio that gets replies.

Every project ships with a written case study, ready to publish the day you finish — not a draft you'll "get to later."

Weeks 1–6
01

A constrained product brief

Take a real, messy problem from raw research through to a shippable flow — the same arc as an actual product cycle, compressed into six weeks.

Weeks 6–9
02

A systems brief

Design and document a component system built for a multi-surface product — the skill that separates junior from mid-level.

Weeks 9–12
03

The capstone

A partner-style brief with ambiguous scope, real stakeholders in the room, and a deadline — the closest thing to an actual job you'll find in a course.

Fit Check

Be honest with yourself before you apply.

This program works because it isn't for everyone. Twenty minutes of honesty here saves both of us twelve weeks.

This is for you if

  • You've taught yourself the basics of Figma and UI design
  • You have some design work already, even if it's rough
  • You want structure and a mentor, not another self-paced course to abandon
  • You can commit 10–15 hours a week for twelve weeks
  • You want to work in-house at a product company, not just freelance

This isn't for you if

  • You've never opened a design tool and want to "try design out"
  • You want a passive, self-paced course with no live commitment
  • You're looking to learn to code, not design
  • You want a guaranteed job placement — we teach the craft, you do the applying
  • You can't attend live sessions, held 9am–1pm PT, twice a week
Taught By

Dara Whitfield

Staff Product Designer & Mentor

Hi. I'm Dara. I've spent twelve years designing products — the first three at a seed-stage fintech startup where I did a little of everything, the next five at a mid-size B2B SaaS company where I learned what "product thinking" actually means under real constraints, and the last four as a staff designer at a consumer product used by millions.

For the last three years I've mentored the designers who come after me — first informally, then through two cohorts of this exact program. I don't teach tool tutorials. I teach the judgment behind the tool: how to frame a problem, defend a decision, and take critique without flinching.

I built Cohort 3 around the one thing I wished someone had done for me earlier: told me, specifically and often, what wasn't working — and why.

Cohort 1 & 2

What actually changes in twelve weeks.

PNPriya N.

"I'd been stuck in tutorial hell for a year. This was the first time someone told me exactly why my work wasn't working — and how to fix it."

→ First product design offer, 9 weeks after finishing
MTMarcus T.

"The weekly critique alone was worth it. I've never had feedback that specific, that consistently, anywhere else."

→ Promoted to mid-level designer
ERElena R.

"I came in knowing Figma. I left knowing how to defend a decision in a room full of PMs who disagreed with me."

→ Now designing at a 40-person startup
JKJonah K.

"The AI workflow module changed how fast I can explore ideas — without it ever feeling like the AI was doing the thinking for me."

→ Freelance to full-time in-house
SOSade O.

"Twelve weeks felt long in week one and way too short by week ten. I shipped more real work than in two years on my own."

→ Built a 3-case-study portfolio from zero
TVTomás V.

"Small cohort meant my mentor actually knew my work by name. That's rare to find at this price."

→ Career-switched from marketing to product design
Cohort 3 — Pricing

One price. Nothing tiered, nothing upsold.

Full Program
$2,400one-time, or split
or 4 monthly payments of $600 — no interest, no fees
  • 12 weeks of live instruction, twice weekly
  • Weekly group critique with your full cohort
  • 6 biweekly 1:1 sessions with your assigned mentor
  • Full curriculum + recordings, lifetime access
  • 3 portfolio-ready case studies, written and designed
  • Certificate of completion, shareable on LinkedIn
  • Lifetime access to the alumni community
Apply for Cohort 3 →
Guarantee

Attend the first two weeks. If it's not right for you, get a full refund — no questions asked.

Seats

Capped at 24 designers per cohort so critique stays real. Cohort 3 starts September 14, 2026.

Applications

Close August 29, 2026, or sooner if seats fill before then. A short written application, no portfolio required to apply.

Questions

Before you apply.

If you've spent some time self-teaching — Figma, a bootcamp, a few personal projects — yes. This program is built for people with a foundation who need structure and judgment, not people opening a design tool for the first time. If that's you, look at our beginner-track resources first and apply to a future cohort once you have something to bring to critique.

Plan on 10–15 hours: two live sessions (3 hours total), one critique, and the rest independent project work. Weeks with a project deadline run closer to 15; quieter weeks closer to 10.

Every session is recorded. That said, live critique participation is where most of the value lives, so we ask you to plan around the schedule: sessions run 9am–1pm PT, twice a week, for the full twelve weeks.

No program can honestly guarantee that, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we guarantee is the work: three finished, portfolio-ready case studies, interview practice under real questions, and a mentor who knows your work well enough to write you a real recommendation. The applying is on you.

Figma — the free tier is fine. Nothing else is required. Any AI tools used in the Week 7 module are optional and covered in the curriculum.

Yes — 4 monthly payments of $600, no interest or fees. You can switch between one-time and installment at checkout.

Refunds aren't available past day 14, since your seat holds a spot another applicant could have taken. In documented emergencies, we'll work with you to transfer your seat to a future cohort instead.

A self-paced course is a library. This is a studio: a live cohort, a mentor who knows your name and your work, weekly deadlines, and critique you can't skip past. The structure is the product as much as the content is.

Cohort 03 — Sep 14, 2026

24 seats. One decision.

Applications close August 29, 2026 — or sooner if the cohort fills first. Takes about ten minutes, no portfolio required to apply.

Apply for Cohort 3 → Read the FAQ