Boost Your Strategic Impact

Strategic Business Acumen for Designers is for mid-level designers (whether you’re working in-house, freelancing, or at an agency) who are already successfully creating design work with proficiency. This course focuses on helping you take your design career to the next level, by demystifying business strategy and helping you connect your design work to the larger context and goals of the business you’re operating in. This course moves at a fast pace, and students are expected to create presentations in tools like Canva or Figma, share strategic decks, and present their work over Loom recordings and live.

Yes. Given that the first cohort of this course spans the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be a break the week of November 24-30. The course will then pickup as normal the week of December 1st.

Yes. Students who successfully complete Strategic Business Acumen for Designers will unlock a certificate that they can display on LinkedIn and other platforms as a credential.

Unique to the advanced courses Designlab offers, Peer Group Sessions are regularly scheduled meetings facilitated by a professional product designer with expert-level experience in the course topic. In these sessions students come together to discuss the lessons, project work, and any questions.

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The Peer Group Sessions in Strategic Business Acumen for Designers meet weekly for 90 minutes.

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After you enroll in the course, you’ll select your peer group time. Typically, peer groups are held several days throughout the week at 12pm ET (9am PT) and 6pm ET (3pm PT).

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None of the above times work for your schedule? Contact our admissions team by scheduling a call or emailing at advanced.admissions@designlab.com and we'll try to find something to accommodate.

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This course will feature three bonus guest speakers, including Jacalin Ding, the course instructor. Guest speakers will share their experiences connecting design with business impact, and be available for Q&A with students. Sessions will be held on Weeks 2, 3, and 4 of the course — with times TBA. Students may attend these sessions live or receive a recording to watch asynchronously.

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We currently offer discounts for veterans. We also offer a payment plan that allows you to pay half up front and half at the end of the course. To learn more, contact our admissions team.

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If you're interested in bundling this course with other advanced courses, you can save $200 for 2 courses, $375 for 3 courses, or $600 for 4 courses. To get started selecting your course bundle, go here.

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Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours per week on course work including time for self-paced lessons, practice projects, and peer group sessions. The following milestones will exist each week:

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• Sunday: New content is released.
• Wednesday or Thursday: Participants will meet with their mentor and peer group.
• Various TBA Times: Participants will attend an optional guest speaker lecture and Q&A.
• 48 hours after meeting with your peer group you should submit your project work on the platform.
• 48 hours after submitting your project work you’ll receive feedback on your work from your mentor.

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You can also unlock the next unit early by completing all lessons and project work ahead of the deadline.

You’ll have some flexibility on when you complete coursework, but you should plan to have watched the recording of the video lecture and completed exercises before meeting with your peer group. 

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Absolutely! Many of our students’ tuition is sponsored by their employer. If you have any questions about how to do this when you’re enrolling for the course, please reach out via our Help Center contact form for more information or contact our admissions team.

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Also, to help you with requesting reimbursement, feel free to copy / paste / edit the below email text:

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Hi {Manager Name},

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I’m writing to you about a course called Strategic Business Acumen for Designers that I’d love to enroll in using my learning & development budget. The course is on Designlab, a platform that’s trained thousands of UX / UI / Product Designers who work at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google. The course is designed to teach me how to:

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• Connect design decisions to business goals
• Analyze markets and identify opportunities
• Articulate design value to stakeholders
• Communicate the business impact of design decisions effectively
• Understand various business models and their implications for design
• Apply strategic frameworks to design work
• Consider multiple business factors when setting design priorities

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The course format was specifically set up with working designers in mind and is a mix of asynchronous lessons, hands-on project work, and weekly peer group sessions facilitated by an expert in business and design. The course costs $1299 USD, and you can check out the course details here.

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Thanks,

{Your Name}

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We’re happy to work with a team or company. To chat through options, including multi-seat discounts, customs training, and more, book a call with our team.

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Strategic Business Acumen for Designers is backed by The Designlab Happiness Promise. After you've fully participated in the course, if you're not satisfied, you can get your money back. Read more here.

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