DesignerUp

I'm a senior visual designer / graphic designer / art director. In Spring of 2021, I was looking for a way to freshen up my digital design skills (after 10+ years freelance), as well as gain exposure to the basics of UI/UX design to enhance my visual design focus. I found the DesignerUp Bootcamp through a post on Medium and was really drawn to the async nature of the course (at that time, this seemed to be less common) as well as Elizabeth's unique perspective as a self-coined 'mindful designer.' I took the course over four months (setting one day of the week aside from my freelance work as my 'course day') and really appreciated the flexible, yet organized structure of the course. For me and my goals, it was the perfect intro into product design — a comprehensive overview—and I continue to use elements of the teachings in my day-to-day visual design work. Elizabeth is a gifted instructor, who is outstanding at wrangling vast, potentially-overwhelming concepts into discrete, actionable lessons. I learned a lot in the course—design theory, intro to UX research, current design terminology, sources for design and UI/UX resources, etc. However, the thing that resonated most for me was the continual theme of mindfulness, purpose and seeking joy in creation.