How to train your designer 🐉

Welcome back. As we close out 2024, everyone's asking the same questions:

• "Will AI replace designers?"
• "Should I pivot careers?"
• "What skills do I need for 2025?"

But only one of those questions is actually within our control—how we choose to educate ourselves.

Today, we're talking about something that matters more than ever: continuous learning in a new era of rapid change.

—Tommy (@DesignerTom)

The Wireframe:

• Why the future belongs to perpetual learners
• The "Just-in-Time Learning" framework
• Brutally honest course recommendations for 2025

How to Train Your Designer 🐉

Remember when Flash developers ruled the web? Or when knowing Photoshop was enough to land you a design job? The design field has always evolved—and it's about to evolve again.

As Dann Petty points out, back in 2005, designers were split into two camps: web designers and multimedia designers. The distinction: whether you knew Flash.

Before that, it was product designers versus industrial designers arguing about CAD software. Now companies like ElevenLabs are dropping titles altogether—you're either Design @ Company or Engineering @ Company.

Adaptability always wins. And 2025 will belong to those who master the art of learning itself.

Let's dive in.

The Just-in-Time Learning Framework

Here's the truth about learning in design: It's less about what you know and more about how quickly you can learn when you need to. I call this "Just-in-Time Learning," and it's transformed how I approach skill development.

Think about it like this: Remember cramming for exams in school? How much of that knowledge stuck? Now think about a time you learned something to solve an immediate problem. Big difference, right?

Here's how to implement Just-in-Time Learning:

1. Identify immediate needs Focus on skills that solve current problemsSkip the "nice to haves" for nowKeep a backlog of future learning topics
2. Break down learning goals Divide large objectives into weekly chunksSet concrete milestonesCreate accountability checkpoints
3. Apply knowledge immediately Find a real project to apply new skillsMove between learning and doingDocument what works and what doesn't

The Stigma Around Paid Learning

Let's address the elephant in the room: the skepticism around paid courses.

I see comments like "why pay when you can learn for free?" constantly on places like Reddit.

Here's my spicy take: Why should your employer invest in upskilling you if you won't even invest in yourself?

There are three types of courses out there:

1. Repackaged fundamentals (80% of courses)
2. Existing knowledge + new applications (15%)
3. Genuine innovations in approach (5%)

My criteria for evaluating courses:

1. Instructor expertise: Are they practitioners who've shipped real work?
2. Immediate application: Can I use this tomorrow?
3. Problem-solving focus: Does it address specific challenges?
4. Format fit: Self-paced or cohort-based? (Hint: Cohort completion rates are significantly higher)

Together with Framer

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Course Recommendations for 2025

Let's talk about the courses that are actually worth your time and money. Here's what I'm recommending for 2025:

Coding for Designers

• Wes Bos taught me to code. If you want to dive deep into JavaScript, his self-paced courses are your best bet.
• Meng To has the most interesting catalog for designers who want to build their ideas (check out his episode on Dive Club).
• Mariana Castilho and Derek Briggs from Pierre and Clerk have a fantastic UI Engineering 101 kicking off January 13th on Maven.

Tool Mastery

• Rive is a piping hot interaction and animation design tool—learn it at School of Motion.
• Framer is my favorite web design tool, and they've invested heavily in Framer University.
• I talked it to death last week, but Ridd's Advanced Figma Academy 2.0 is still the best for mastering Figma.
• MidJourney is getting serious about product design workflows (see Pentagram's recent case study). No one teaches it better than Nick St. Pierre on Maven.

Visual Design

• For beginners, I always recommend ShiftNudge by Matt D. Smith. I haven't taken it myself, but I've heard from too many heavy hitters that he's one of the best—expensive, but worth it.
• For something more affordable and equally hands-on, Benten Woodring kicks off his Next Level Web Design cohort on January 6th.

Design Strategy

• I'm obsessed with this topic—so much that I created Making UX Decisions, a course about connecting business goals to daily design decisions.
• But if you want something more instructor-hands-on, Ryan Scott (former Design Lead at Airbnb) is kicking off his PM Masterclass for Designers. I can't recommend Ryan enough—this is the education that will future-proof your career.
• If you find yourself promoted into Senior and Staff roles, take Staff Designer: Influence & Lead as an Individual Contributor by Catt Small (formerly Etsy, Asana) starting February 3rd.
• Is your company mulling over AI features for 2025? Maheen Sohail's (formerly Meta, EA) Becoming an AI Product Designer kicks off February 3rd.

Getting More Work

• Freelancing is on the rise and more lucrative than ever. If you've been in-house for a while, check out Bay Area design director Sarah Jutras's Designing Your Freelance Business starting January 13th.
• On the job hunt? I highly recommend Master Your Product and UX Research Job Search by Lena Kul (formerly Miro) kicking off January 12th.

A note on formats: I LOVE self-paced courses—it's how my brain works. But be warned: self-paced completion rates are abysmal. Cohort-based learning has exploded for two reasons:

1. Accountability
2. Direct access to instructors through Q&As and breakout rooms.

This is why I'm such a big fan of what Maven has enabled for design education.

No one has a more vested interest in your success than you do. Start acting like it, stop bargain-binning your livelihood.

With 14 years of experience, I'm still diving into a handful of these courses early next year. Join those of us choosing to level up.

See you next week,

Tommy

Thanks for reading! What's your favorite design course? Hit reply and let me know.

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