Gain practical design knowledge to improve the visual quality of your work – from websites to presentations, social media posts, and more.
Course Summary
Have questions about the course?
About this Course
In today’s digital world, effective design is not just an advantage—it’s a necessity. Good design can propel business success, enhancing engagement and conversion, while poor design can detract from your brand and hinder your objectives.
Design 101 demystifies the essential principles of visual/ graphic design, making them accessible to everyone, not just professional designers. Whether you're creating marketing materials in Canva, building emails in Mailchimp, or sharpening your presentations in Powerpoint, this course equips you with the fundamental concepts and practices needed to elevate your visual work and create impactful designs. Through hands-on projects, expert mentor feedback, and peer group sessions, you'll learn to effectively use essential design elements and principles to create, evaluate, and communicate your design ideas confidently. This course is perfect for anyone involved in visual design work who wants to improve the impact and effectiveness of their deliverables.
HYBRID COURSEFORMAT
Complete lessons on your own time each week and then meet live weekly in sessions led by our expert mentors.
HANDS-ON PROJECTSAND EXERCISES
Students will put their learnings into practice through the completion of weekly projects.
COHORT DISCUSSIONS AND CRITIQUES
Attend live, mentor-led group sessions to discuss lesson concepts and share feedback on project work.
SELF-PACEDLEARNING
Async lessons will teach core concepts, with project work allowing students to apply these concepts in a practical way.
MENTORFEEDBACK
Receive personalized written feedback on your project work from your expert mentor.
Who It’s For
FOR NON-DESIGNERS WHO CREATE & MANAGE VISUALS
Design 101 is ideal for marketers, content creators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners—really, anyone who uses design in their daily work but doesn’t do design full time. Whether you're creating social media posts, marketing materials, or brand communications – or collaborating with a designer to do so – Design 101 will help you understand (and apply) design fundamentals to make your visuals more compelling, effective, and polished.
While no prior design knowledge is necessary, this course does not focus on teaching specific design tools. Instead, students are encouraged to use the design tool of their choice to complete project work. The emphasis is on applying universal design principles across various tools, rather than mastering the specifics of any single tool.
Have questions around whether this course is for you? Contact our admissions team.
Create Stronger Visuals by Applying Core Design Skills
YOU WILL LEARN
Learn the principles around color, line, typography, and more – then apply what you learned to design more effectively
By applying principles related to typography and hierarchy, this student turned a hard-to-read site into a clean homepage
One student uses the design principles they've learned to create a travel webpage
Mentor-Led Peer Group Sessions
Each week students meet in scheduled peer group sessions, led by one of our experienced design mentors. You'll discuss the week's lessons, review project work, and ask any questions. These sessions are also a great opportunity to meet peers across a range of industries.
Course Curriculum
Introduction to Design Elements and Principles
Discover the foundational elements of design and how they combine to create effective visuals. Learn to evaluate and provide feedback on design, applying principles to generate and sketch ideas.
Mastering Color and Typography
Dive into color theory and typography. Create your own color palettes and typographic systems, understanding how these elements influence the mood and clarity of your designs.
Effective Imagery and Iconography
Explore how to select and integrate images and icons into your designs strategically. Learn the role of imagery in visual communication and how to establish a cohesive visual identity.
Layout Techniques and Composition
Learn organizational principles to build cohesive designs. Study different grid systems and visual hierarchy to enhance the layout and composition of your digital projects.
Showcase Your Work
Earn a certificate of completion when you complete Design 101 with Designlab, and display it proudly on LinkedIn, your website, or wherever you choose.
Our Students, Alumni, and Mentors Work at Top Companies Around the World
Frequently Asked Questions
Anyone interested in learning the basics of design is welcome to take this course! You do not need any previous design experience to take Design 101.
This course is for people who do not have a design background or title, but find themselves needing to understand design best practices in their work.
This course is NOT intended to help someone become a practicing designer, but rather will help improve your visual communication skills for the design work that you are doing in your role. If you’re looking to become a full-time UX designer we recommend our UX Academy Foundations course.
If you are interested in becoming a UX/UI designer you should take our UX Academy Foundations course which is the prerequisite for UX Academy.
Design 101 is not intended for anyone who is interested in becoming a professional designer.
If you’re not sure which course is the right fit for you, please reach out to our admissions team.
Good memory! Some years ago we did have a course called Design 101, but that course eventually turned into what is now UX Academy Foundations, our intro course for those wishing to transition to a career in UX/ UI design. This new Design 101 has been created specifically for non designers who still find themselves having to do design work in their role.
Yes. Students who successfully complete the Design 101 course will receive a certificate that can be shared on Linkedin.
Peer Group Sessions are regularly scheduled meetings where you connect with other students in the course to discuss the course work. These are facilitated by a professional designer who has expert-level experience in the topic of the course. The Peer Group Sessions for this course will be held weekly for 60 minutes each.
After you enroll in the course, you’ll be emailed a link to confirm the course details and select your peer group time. You’ll be able to choose from the following peer group times:
- Wednesdays at 12pm ET (9am PT)
- Wednesdays at 6pm ET (3pm PT)
- Thursdays at 12pm ET (9am PT)
- Fridays at 12pm ET (9am PT)
You’ll meet with your peer group on the same day and at the same time each week of the course.
We’re offering a special discount of $100 off of $499 for any students who enroll in the first cohort of this course. To receive this discount you need do nothing. It will automatically be applied at checkout. 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.
Students should expect to spend 3 - 5 hours per week on coursework including time for self-paced lessons, practice projects, and peer group sessions. The following milestones will exist each week:
- Monday: New content is released.
- Wednesday, Thursday or Friday: Participants will meet with their mentor and peer group
- 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.
You can also unlock the next unit early by completing all lessons and project work ahead of the end-of-week deadline.
You’ll have some flexibility on when you complete coursework, but you should plan to complete all of the lessons, how-to guides, and exercises in that unit before your peer group session each week.
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.
Also, to help you with requesting reimbursement, feel free to copy / paste / edit the below email text:
Hi {Manager Name},
I’m writing to you about a course called Design 101 that I’d love to enroll in using my learning & development budget. The course is on Designlab, a platform that’s trained thousands of designers who work at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google. The course is specifically geared towards people who are not designers and is intended to teach me how to:
- Apply fundamental design concepts
- Effectively use color and typography
- Practice applying design to real-world projects
- Evaluate and communicate about design work
The course format was specifically set up with working professionals in mind and is a mix of asynchronous lessons, hands-on project work, and weekly peer group sessions facilitated by an expert in design. The course costs $499 USD, and you can check out the course details here.
Thanks,
{Your Name}
We’re happy to work with a team or company. For information on multi-seat discounts for 5+ students, custom trainings, and more contact our admissions team.
Design 101 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.
Uplevel Your design game
Enroll in Design 101 today and reserve your seat, or speak with our Admissions team to get answers to any questions you might have.