Founding The Art of Visual Design

In March 2023, I left my full-time job to prove I could do two things:

1. Start a successful business on my own.
2. Build the best online visual design course.

Now, I'm proud to say that I accomplished both 😇! In Nov 2023, I launched a self-paced and interactive 2-course series called The Art of Visual Design (Elizabeth’s Version) powered by a learning platform I built from scratch.

By the numbers

1. 200+ students have enrolled since the launch in November 2023.
2. 1,500+ downloads on my digitally published resources: Elizabeth’s Portfolio Guide, Elizabeth’s Job Tracker, and Elizabeth’s Declassified Guide to Product Design.
3. Led design workshops with 100+ attendees including The Art of Typography and Elizabeth’s Case Study Workshop.
4. Grew an online audience from 0 to 30k followers across TikTok and Instagram.

Curriculum development

When I was developing the curriculum, my goal was to strike a balance between the practical and experimental. I divided learning visual design into three foundational areas:

1. Technique: How do you make your ideas come to life? Execution should not be a blocker to your ideas. If you have an idea in your head, you should be able to make it a reality efficiently.
2. Taste: How do you know when something is considered good taste according to the industry? How can you cultivate your own aesthetic? When something feels off, can you articulate what’s off about it?
3. Tactics: What are the design standards that industry professionals abide by? What is the most methodical way to create a type hierarchy? When your design doesn’t look good yet, what are strategies you can employ to improve it?

Read more about my curriculum development process in How to teach everything without being everywhere all at once.

Learning playgrounds

My teaching philosophy is centered around learning playgrounds, spaces intentionally designed to guide students in exploring various topics. When I build a playground, I try to balance structure while creating space for free play.

Figma practice worksheets

I believe that everyone should have a high level of proficiency with the design tools they are using! Because there are no prerequisites, I designed a series of 'Figma Camp' worksheets for students to complete along the way.

Live events

I use Figma to run all my live workshops. It gets a little chaotic sometimes, but it's so much fun! My aspiration is to mimic the energy of an IRL experience.

Breaking the rules

The 2nd course is called “What rules?” I wanted to create space for us to question the “rules” created by the design industry. When designing this course, I was very inspired by the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Emigre Magazine.

Can “ugly” be defined? What happens when instead of being constrained to one color in your design, you have to use five? What happens when you have to create a type hierarchy using Papyrus?

Teaching my process

I started a YouTube channel! One of my favorite videos is this video on how I find and use design inspiration in my own design work.

Some words from the students

My students come from all different backgrounds! Designers of all levels, product managers, founders, and design students are all members of the community.