Winter cohort · Applications open
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Next intake
Winter cohorts begin the week of 12 January. Applications close 5 January.
school@example.comEvery instructor works on real products during the day and teaches two evenings a week. We name them by role here; on a call you meet the person who leads your course.
The pin-up wall
Where most of the teaching actually happens
The same instructor stays with your cohort for the whole course. The visiting critic and the studio instructor move between courses, so you meet at least three of the five.
01
In practice since 2011
Leads product design for a small software company and runs Foundations. Sets the brief, chairs every Thursday crit and does the one-to-one portfolio reviews.
Teaches
Product Design Foundations
Ask about
02
In practice since 2012
Designs mobile products for a transport company. Runs Interaction and Prototyping, and is strict about what happens when things go wrong: empty states, slow networks, undo.
Teaches
Interaction and Prototyping
Ask about
03
In practice since 2010
Runs research for a health product team. Teaches interviewing, synthesis and how to make a team change its mind without a slide deck of quotes.
Teaches
Research for Product Designers
Ask about
04
In practice since 2014
A design systems specialist who hosts the Saturday studios across all three courses, drops into breakout rooms and keeps the hands-on hours moving.
Teaches
Saturday studios, all courses
Ask about
05
In practice since 1998
A design director who joins the final crits of every course and asks the questions a hiring panel would. Gives each learner one written page of notes.
Teaches
Final crits, all courses
Ask about
Lectures are short and recorded. The live hours are spent making, showing and changing work, guided by four habits every instructor keeps.
We mark progress, not polish.
House rule since the first cohort
01
Work goes on the wall before it is ready. A rough sketch on Tuesday is worth more than a polished screen on Thursday night.
02
Feedback says what a choice does for the person using it. “I like it” and “I don’t” are not allowed in crit.
03
Every Friday you get a written note from an instructor: what worked, what did not, and one thing to try.
04
Each crit ends with a single commitment. Next week starts by checking whether you kept it.
Three hours, every Saturday of the course. It is the part learners mention first when they finish, and the part instructors protect hardest.
09:50
Cameras on, coffee in hand. The studio instructor checks everyone can share paper on camera.
10:00
Ten minutes, one prompt, no erasers. Everyone holds up a page.
10:15
One sentence each: what you are making today and where you are stuck.
10:30
Ninety minutes of making. Instructors move between small breakout rooms.
12:00
Everyone shares the morning’s work for three minutes and hears two responses.
12:40
You write the single change you will make before Tuesday.
13:00
The room closes. Written notes from the instructor arrive by the evening.
If one of these slips, tell the school office and we fix it the same week. That is the whole complaints policy.
school@example.comEvery pin-up gets a written response from an instructor by the end of Friday.
The instructor who interviews you is the one who teaches you.
Recordings of crit are never shared outside your cohort, and are deleted after the term.
Wednesdays at 12:30 CET, open to anyone enrolled in any course.
No portfolio needed for Foundations. Tell us what you make now and what you want to make next.
Step 01 · 15 minutes
Five questions about your work and what you hope to change. No essays.
Step 02 · within 5 days
With the instructor who leads your course, to check the fit both ways.
Step 03 · two weeks before
Pay the deposit, meet your cohort online and start a light reading week.