Design, like most things worth doing, is something you start practicing and never really stop.

If you want to be better at design, (or learn it in the first place) the only way to get there is to practice regularly. That's not as easy as it sounds, you can waste a lot of time by practicing badly. Making the most of your practice time means knowing what to practice and knowing if you're doing it right. That's where design lessons come in. Unlike YouTube or other video courses the focus here is learning by doing with real feedback. Unlike formal classes, the experience is personalized to your skill level, progress, and schedule.

What is it?

tldr; Design Lessons are structured practice guidance and feedback customized for you. Here's a handy diagram of how the process works:

If you're looking for a little more info than that, keep reading. I was inspired to start teaching Design Lessons after I started playing music again as an adult and took my first music lesson. What I saw almost immediately was how the structure of music lessons could be useful in learning design. The core activity in a lessons-style course is the practice - perform - evaluate loop that the student and the teacher move through together. This is why a model that works very well for the performing arts (and some of the fine visual arts, and also most exercise and sports training) can work so well for design and the commercial arts. For designers "perform" is presenting work, in a formal critique like setting. This is where your skills as a design get to be on full display. From this critique the instructor can gauge progress, identify stuff that needs more attention, and most importantly make it clear what you don't need to spend any more time practicing. That feedback comes along with a new set of exercises to spend the next week working on, at your own pace on your own schedule.

How does it work?

Ninety percent of the work is practicing, doing the work and prepping for the next meeting with your instructor. Once a week (or less frequently if that's the plan you choose) you have a 45 minute video call with your instructor where you review the work you've done in the previous week, dig into what is working and what isn't, get feedback and new execises to work on in the up coming week.

The only way to get better is to practice and the best way to practice is consistently and with purpose. The thing that makes lessons so powerful is they make the hardest part of regular, consistent practice easy. What is the hard part? Knowing what to practice. Knowing how long to practice. Knowing if you're doing it right. Having the external accountability that comes with having someone else expecting to see your work. Design Lessons take care of all of this for you, leaving you to focus on doing the work to meet your goal.

You never have to figure out what to practice or for how long. You get regular feedback to help you stay motivated and to understand the progress you're making. You have an incentive to practice because you are expected to show up every to session with something. You have an expert who is an email away to answer your questions if you get stuck or something doesn't make sense between sessions.

Who is teaching this?

While We Beasties is a two person and one cat design studio, there is currently only one instructor for design lessons (and occasionally a cat TA): Tony Santos. Tony has been working as a professional designer since 1999 when he started making websites for local businesses in his suburban southwestern Ohio town at his first company, Flying Monkey Web Design. Since then, he's learned quite a bit, received two degrees (in graphic design and human-centered design and engineering) and led design teams at some of the largest companies in the world including Apple, which was the largest company in the world by market value while he worked there. Tony has decades of experience in graphic design, interactive design, and UX/UI design that inform his critique and teaching style.

How much does it cost?

We start with a free 30-minute lesson to discuss your goals and come up with a plan to reach them. Lesson plans are offered on a sliding-scale basis.

Office Hours

If you're not sure about the whole Design Lessons thing just yet, or you just want someone quick feedback and to try this whole thing out, office hours are here for you. Office hours are a first-come-first-served 20 minute, once a quarter to look at whatever work you want. A really popular topic for office hours is a portfolio review, but as long as it is design related and doesn't violate any NDAs you've signed, you can bring whatever work you want for critique. Think of it as a try before you buy, but we aren't going to pressure you into buying anything.

Tony's current office hours schedule is: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10:00am - 12:00pm and 3:00pm-4:30pm PST. Sign up for an open spot.

FAQs

• How do I know which price I should pay?

  We're working on the honor system here. There is no background check to make sure you're telling the truth. However, it's gonna be pretty easy to figure out if you're pretending to be something you're not since each session is a one-on-one meeting. We have a limited number of slots for students and more people paying the full price means we can afford to offer more total spots including at the lower price tiers (we have to buy food and shelter too). That means if you're paying less than you know you can, you're taking a spot away from someone else who can't afford it. So just be honest and don't be a dick.
• What if I get a job while doing the lessons on a reduced price?

  That's awesome! First of all, you should celebrate. When you can afford it, please change to the "I'm employed full-time" tier to pay it forward to other people who are in the situation you just left. We won't do this automatically, we don't know your situation, but we have a limited number of slots for students. More people paying the full price means we can afford to offer more total spots, including at the lower price tiers (we have to buy food and shelter too). That means if you're paying less than you know you can, you're taking a spot away from someone else who can't afford it. So just be honest and don't be a dick.
• Can I use my lessons to collab on stuff I'm doing at work?

  No. For a lot of reasons: it's unethical to pass off the work of others as your own, you'd probably be violating your NDA if you told me everything we needed to know, and also your boss is welcome to hire We Beasties if they want design work from us.
• Can my lessons focus on my idea for a startup?

  Your lessons are focused on design and becoming a better designer. If you have a startup/side project idea that you want to use as a basis for things you practice in your lessons, we can absolutely do that. We won't be designing anything for you and all the feedback you get will be about your progress in your study of design, not how viable your ideas are.
• I'm going through some things, can I use my time to talk through it?

  No. We are not therapists or counselors. While we will certainly talk about a lot of stuff, including things that are going on in your life, if you need to talk to someone to deal with them, we strongly encourage you to find a qualified professional to talk to (which, again, is not us.)
• Why are you charging for mentorship?

  We aren't. This isn't a mentor-mentee relationship, it's a teacher-student relationship. While the lessons don't have a one-size fits all structure, they are still structured education. You'll be doing exercises outside of each lesson to bring back and gauge your progress. Our time together will be focused on improving your existing skills or learning new ones. That's very different than a mentorship.