Think Like a Visual Designer
Sarah Doody
Lessons
Class Introduction
09:43 2Why Design Matters
09:34 3Design vs. Aesthetic
09:46 4Impact of Design
11:01 5The Design Process: Understand Your Audience
10:07 6The Design Process: Understand Your Content
12:22 7Design Principle: Alignment, Grids, and Spacing
14:30 8Design Principles: Contrast
06:13Design Principles: Repetition
08:25 10Design Principle: Hierarchy & Proximity
13:44 11Principle Scale and Balance
03:54 12Design Principles: Typography
08:32 13Design Principles: White Space
05:22 14Design Principles: Color
08:48 15Design Principles: Graphics, Icons, and Photos
05:56 16Design Principles: Layouts and Focal Points
04:08 17Design Principles: Color-Blind Accessibility in Design
02:32 18Example: Resume Design
26:18 19Example: Social Media Post Design
14:20 20Example: Presentation Design
23:55 21Example: Charts and Spreadsheets Design
16:02 22Example: Email Signature Design
14:18Class Description
Short on time? This class is available HERE as a Fast Class, exclusively for CreativeLive subscribers.
AFTER THIS CLASS YOU’LL BE ABLE TO:
- Consider your audience and content first in the design thinking process
- Understand universal design principles including information hierarchy, typography, alignment and more.
- Apply design principles to practical project examples including resumes, presentations, spreadsheets, social media posts, and email signatures.
- Approach problem-solving with the appropriate principles and vocabulary, whether as a designer, team member, or client.
ABOUT SARAH’S CLASS:
Great design is invisible.
Design is not about what a product looks like; it’s about understanding and outcomes. It has the power to communicate ideas, influence people, and impact your business. But too often, we put too much emphasis on how something looks. We let the message get stifled by colors, fonts, and layouts.
As attention spans shrink and increased screen time changes how we consume information, a design thinking approach has the potential to help us get customers, colleagues, and clients to understand our message and take action.
You don’t need to work at IDEO or Apple to design innovative solutions to complex problems. Nor do you need to go to MIT or Stanford’s d.school to learn design methodology. In this class, Sarah Doody leverages her 15-year background in user experience design to teach you how to go beyond aesthetic and truly think like a designer.
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR:
This class is for creatives of all levels: visual designers, entrepreneurs, those considering a career change to the design field, design team members, clients working with designers, and professionals looking to apply design thinking to yield standout work.
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:
Sarah Doody is a User Experience Design Consultant based in NYC. She helps companies and entrepreneurs assess product ideas, understand their customers, and design and launch products. For companies already in the market, she guides businesses to reach their goals through optimizing their User Experience (UX).
She’s the creator of The UX Notebook, an education company that helps you learn how to think like a UX designer though a popular weekly newsletter, online UX courses, and in person workshops and talks worldwide. Sarah’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Net Magazine, and UX Magazine. Some of her clients include WeWork, Domino Magazine, General Assembly, Government of Pennsylvania, TicTail, Blue Apron, and Vice.
Additional links:
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Free Bonus Material
Ratings and Reviews
Natalie Santana
I wish more people knew, appreciated, and respected the content Sarah covers in this course. Design is such a critical piece of the functionality of the tools we use every day but its often disregarded as "fluff" or just "aesthetic". Sarah does an outstanding job of establishing the importance and methodology of design for beginners. I would recommend this course to literally everyone.
Britt
Definitely recommend! This course is aimed towards people who don't make a living as a designer but are exposed to it in everyday life—even if they're unaware. Your resume? Design. Your social media posts? Design. Your spreadsheets? Yep, design. Sarah does an awesome job giving an overview about what design is and actionable things you can do to improve. The "live design" portion is awesome and it's where she re-designs/improves documents, mostly on the fly. She goes through her thought process so viewers can learn to think like a visual designer. I would definitely enroll in another class, especially if she chose to focus more in-depth on a few design principles for the entire class.
Jorge Martinez
Awesome Class! highly recommend.