Over the past couple of months, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to completely overhaul our Help Center.
Today, we’re pleased to announce that the new experience is live! (You can read about our process, and the 5 lessons we took from it, in this in-depth case study.)
Whether you’re a current or prospective Designlab student, UX Academy graduate, Career Coach, or mentor, the Help Center is now the one-stop shop for answers to all your questions.
Studying something new can be daunting, and we want our whole community to feel supported and valued at every stage of their journey with us. We also want you to feel comfortable coming to us with questions, concerns, and feedback.
In this post, we share the key values behind our approach to support, because it’s ultimately these values that have driven the project forward. We’ve also curated some cool articles from the new Help Center. Read on—we’d love to hear your views!
Designlab’s support values
Empathy
We recognize that when you reach out to our support team, you may be facing a problem or challenge, whether it’s in your work or with our product. It’s our job to show empathy and respect, listen seriously to your feedback, and work with you to resolve the problem.
Speed
You have a legitimate expectation that we will address your enquiries and feedback quickly. This revamp of the Help Center is largely about improving our speed of response across the board. We’re making this happen by enabling you to access more answers to common questions through published articles in the Help Center, and by freeing up our support team to respond more quickly to more personalized, detailed, or specific enquiries. It’s our job to get the information you need to you as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Empowerment
As an educator, we are in the business of helping you to grow, and often even to switch careers and ultimately change your life for the better. We recognize that being on this journey—particularly when combining study with other work—can be stressful and tiring. It’s our job to help you along this road, and never to become a blocker.
Fairness
Designlab is a community of students and mentors. Our courses are accompanied by conditions and codes of conduct, which are in place to assure the experience of every Designlab student. It’s our job to enforce these policies where necessary, and to do so non-judgmentally and with clarity of communication.
Humanity
Online interactions—particularly when they’re between companies and customers—can end up being impersonal, or even dehumanizing. We recognize the value in flexibility, and in seeking to resolve problems wherever possible in a way that makes sense to you and meets your needs as an individual. It’s our job to treat you warmly and conversationally—as a person, and not as just a “number” or a “ticket”.
Check out these Help Center articles!
If you’re not yet a Designlab student, but think you might be interested in taking a course, check out these resources:
- How do Designlab's short courses work? What is the format?
- Who are the short course mentors? How are they vetted?
- How much time do the courses take? Can I take two at once?
- What equipment and software do I need?
If you’re a current Designlab short course student, you can access course FAQs, and even get extra help with the coursework:
- What does it mean to iterate and create different versions?
- I'm having trouble understanding grids.
- I don't get how to choose and pair fonts.
- I'm struggling with color theory.
If you’re a current UX Academy student, you can find info about every aspect of your course experience:
- Can I request a specific mentor?
- What am I supposed to talk about with my mentor? How does a session work?
- What can I do to practice and improve my presentation skills?
- Do you have any tips on time management?
And if you’re a mentor or career coach, take a look at these articles:
- How do I apply to be a mentor?
- What is the application process like for mentors? How long will it take?
- What is my time commitment per student?
- How should I assess the quality of my student's work?
There’s lots more to explore, so why not head over to the Help Center and have a look around? We’d love to get your feedback on the new experience—so please take our one-question survey if you’ve any comments to share!
The design process behind this relaunch
If you want to see all the behind the scenes brainstorming on how we created our brand new help center, and learn for yourself how to design and organize your very own support tool, check out our in-depth case study—complete with the 5 lessons we took away from the process.
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