Visual Taste & Design Systems

Hello! There is a gap nobody really talks about — the distance between what classic design courses teach and what the industry actually expects from a designer: critical thinking, a working understanding of engineering constraints, and the ability to build a system that genuinely scales.

This program exists to close that gap. It is built for designers who already know their tools and are now looking for structure, rationale, and a shared language with the engineering team.

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Mentorship Milestones

Mentorship is not a one-way street; it's a collection of insights built over years of mutual conversations and shared growth with amazing designers. Here is what we have accomplished together:

• 13,185 Minutes of 1-on-1 discussions and deep dives
• 174 Sessions of reviews, mentoring, and professional guidance
• Mentees from 6 Countries across the globe

“The greatest reward on this journey is watching designers gain clarity and reach their full career potential.”

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What You Walk Away With

Finishing this program means more than completing a course. You leave with an engineered package that stands as proof of your professional standard:

Your final package: A production-ready Figma library, calibrated with design tokens and variables that map cleanly onto front-end architecture, plus a complete design handoff specification and 4 case studies published on Dribbble.

Completing this program means you are ready to step into serious product environments, speak the same language as developers, and genuinely raise the bar of your portfolio.

Tools & Working Environment

To mirror a real product workflow, every interaction and assignment runs on the same stack a product team would use:

• Design & systems engineering: Figma, with a focus on Variables and Dev Mode
• Project management & deadlines: A dedicated Trello board for daily assignment delivery
• Communication & critique: The cohort platform, for daily video drops and mentor feedback

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Program Format & Structure

• Lesson format: Each day's material arrives as a focused, pre-recorded video (15 minutes maximum), so you get maximum signal in minimum time.
• Deadline discipline: Every lesson ends with a practical assignment. The cut-off for submitting it to the Trello board is midnight the same day.
• Conditional unlocking: Miss a deadline and the next day's lesson stays locked. This is deliberate — it simulates the professional discipline of a real product team.
• Emergency extension tickets: Every participant gets 2 tickets for a pre-arranged 12-hour deadline extension, so genuine emergencies don't derail your progress.
• Definition of done: An assignment passes when it is documented, well organized, and answers the brief precisely. Rushed work with no proper layer structure is sent back for a rebuild.

Recommended Daily Rhythm

1. Watch the lesson

   Before 4:00 PM

   Work through the day's focused lesson video and unpack the brief.

2. Design and build the assignment

   4:00 – 6:00 PM

   Execute the daily assignment following product engineering principles.

3. Live critique window

   6:00 – 7:00 PM

   Come online on the cohort platform — I'm available for direct answers and technical critique of your work.

4. Final submission

   By midnight

   Deliver the finished assignment to the Trello board to keep tomorrow's lesson unlocked.

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Program Timeline

1. Weeks 1–2

   Calibration & Critical Analysis

   Sharpening visual taste against current benchmarks, plus reverse-engineering and teardowns of high-caliber digital products.

2. Weeks 3–4

   Systems & Technical Framing

   Working with reference design systems and implementing grids and component structures that align with front-end frameworks.

3. Weeks 5–6

   Token Engineering & Handoff

   Building a complete set of variables and design tokens in Figma, designing advanced components, and running a real handoff protocol with engineering.

4. Week 7

   Product Survival & Hiring Strategy

   Navigating development deadlocks, defending design decisions in stakeholder meetings, structuring your portfolio, and mock technical interviews.

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Curriculum Overview

The program is engineered as 8 strategic chapters and 36 daily assignments:

• Chapter 1: Visual Thinking & Taste Development (7 lessons)
  • Goal: Building aesthetic judgment calibrated to current global benchmarks.
• Chapter 2: Critical Thinking & Design Rationale (4 lessons)
  • Goal: Teardowns of well-built products and a working methodology for diagnosing bad design.
• Chapter 3: Applying Design Systems (3 lessons)
  • Goal: Navigation principles, edge-case handling, and the practical use of reference systems.
• Chapter 4: Aligning Design with Engineering (2 lessons)
  • Goal: Understanding front-end architecture and frameworks well enough to avoid implementation deadlocks.
• Chapter 5: Building a Code-Aligned Design System (6 lessons)
  • Goal: Token architecture and engineering base and advanced components in Figma.
• Chapter 6: Managing Constraints & Working with Developers (6 lessons)
  • Goal: Surviving real-world conditions, documenting decisions in specs, and finding a shared language with engineers.
• Chapter 7: Presenting, Defending & Thinking Strategically (5 lessons)
  • Goal: The psychology of design reviews, handling subjective feedback, and persuading stakeholders with evidence.
• Chapter 8: Structured Portfolio & Hiring Strategy (3 lessons)
  • Goal: Packaging your work into a product-driven resume, mock technical interviews, and contract basics.

A full breakdown of all 36 lessons is documented in the complete program catalog.

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Personal Branding & Publishing Protocol

Four key assignments are marked with a star (★) and engineered to produce more than classwork — each one becomes a polished, substantive Dribbble shot.

• Publishing requirement: Once feedback is applied and the work is approved, you publish the visual output of these 4 assignments to your own Dribbble account.
• Networking protocol: Use the dedicated #StructureDesignCourse hashtag so cohort designers stay connected and discoverable.
• Presentation assets: A system of layout templates and guidelines is provided in the opening days, so your time goes into the work rather than into building artboards.
• Focus on the design itself: These templates ship as standard Dribbble artboards (1600×1200 and 800×600 px) with neutral palettes, high-quality paper textures, and minimal grids — so your full attention stays on the quality of the work.

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Feedback, Assessment & Certification

Your progress is monitored continuously rather than judged once at the end:

• Async video critique: Each daily assignment gets a recorded teardown on the Trello board, walking through weaknesses in your layers, grids, and tokens.
• Sync days: Beyond daily support, every phase closes with an interactive session on product thinking and how you handle technical constraints.
• Continuous assessment: Your final result is based on consistency across all 36 daily assignments — there is no single end-of-course jury.
• Certification threshold: An average of 70 out of 100 across submitted assignments.
• Recovery path: If your average falls short, you can rebuild weaker assignments against my written feedback and raise your grade.

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Scope & Expectations

To ensure complete clarity and alignment before enrolling, here are a few honest boundaries:

What is my role here?

I provide the structure, the path, and expert critique — but the final output comes from your own sustained practice. This program does not include direct referrals or guaranteed job placement. What it does give you is a structured portfolio and the ability to defend your design decisions technically.

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What Mentees Say

Feedback from designers I've worked with along the way.

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Book an Enrollment Call

Each cohort has limited capacity. Before enrolling we have a short 30-minute conversation to make sure your current level and available time genuinely fit this program.

Booking Steps:

1. Choose a Time: Pick your preferred date and time slot from the calendar.
2. Initial Form: Share your portfolio link and a short note on where you are right now.
3. Confirmation: Once finalized, your meeting link will be sent to you automatically.