Redesign
Nora L. · former dental office manager
Making a clinic check-in take 40 seconds
Nora L. · former dental office manager
Cohort 14 · enrolment open
Leave with threecase studies,not a certificate.
The UX Portfolio Sprint is an 8-week live cohort for career-switchers. You work on real briefs, get line-by-line feedback from working designers every week, and finish with a portfolio hiring managers actually read.
Alumni now design products at teams like these
Orbitly
Peakform
Tilework
Harborpay
Fieldnote
Courses teach tools. Hiring managers hire judgement.
Most self-paced courses leave you with polished screens and no story. The Sprint is built around the thing portfolio reviewers look for first: how you made decisions, with evidence.
Three finished case studies
A redesign, a zero-to-one feature and a research-led project, each written up in the format reviewers skim in 90 seconds.
Feedback every week, not at the end
Your mentor marks up your work in Figma within 48 hours of each deadline, so mistakes get fixed while they are still small.
Real research with real users
You will run five recorded interviews and a usability test. We supply the recruiting scripts and the consent templates.
A mock hiring loop before you apply
Week 8 ends with a 45-minute portfolio presentation to a panel of two working design leads, plus written notes.
The 8-week plan
Every week ends with something you ship. Open a week to see the sessions and the deliverable.
Weeks 1–3 · Foundations and project one
- How design teams actually ship: briefs, constraints and trade-offs
- Reading a product: heuristics teardown of an app you use daily
- Setting up your Figma workspace and file conventions
You shipA one-page teardown of a familiar app with three ranked problems and evidence for each.
- Writing an interview guide that avoids leading questions
- Recruiting participants on a zero budget
- Affinity mapping and turning quotes into insights
You shipAn insight board from five recorded interviews, with a clear problem statement.
- Flows before screens: mapping the current journey
- Low-fidelity exploration: three directions, one decision
- Writing the "why" alongside every screen
You shipCase study one: a redesign with before/after flows and a rationale for each change.
Weeks 4–6 · Building from zero
- Type, spacing and colour as decisions, not decoration
- Components and auto layout that survive handoff
- Accessibility basics: contrast, focus, hit targets
You shipA small component library used across your project two screens.
- Framing an opportunity from a business goal
- Prototyping the riskiest part first
- Edge cases, empty states and error states
You shipA clickable prototype of a new feature with the key states covered.
- Planning a moderated usability test
- Severity ratings and what to fix first
- Showing iteration honestly in a case study
You shipCase study two, including test findings and the version that came after.
Weeks 7–8 · Portfolio and job search
- The 90-second skim: structure, headlines and visuals
- Finishing project three: the research-led study
- A 30-minute 1:1 portfolio review with your mentor
You shipCase study three and a live portfolio site on the platform of your choice.
- Presenting your work in 15 minutes
- Whiteboard challenge practice in pairs
- Résumé, LinkedIn and outreach templates
You shipA recorded portfolio presentation with written notes from two design leads.
What a cohort week looks like
Built for people with jobs. Plan on six to eight hours, most of it on your own schedule.
Mon
New brief drops
A short video lesson and the week's assignment land in your dashboard at 9am ET.
Tue
Live workshop
90 minutes with the lead instructor: teaching, live teardown and open Q&A.
Thu
Critique pod
Your pod of four presents work-in-progress to your mentor. Cameras on, honest notes.
Sun
Ship it
Submit by 11:59pm. Written Figma feedback arrives within 48 hours.
11 yrsdesigning consumer and fintech products
Taught by people who still ship
"I have hired 40-plus designers. The portfolios that got calls all told a clear story about a decision. That is what we teach."
Dana Whitfield leads product design at a mid-size fintech team and has run the Sprint since its first cohort in 2021. She teaches every Tuesday workshop herself, and personally reviews every final presentation.
13cohorts run
1,140alumni
9active mentors
Recent work from Cohort 13
Shared with permission. Every project started as a brief in week one.
Zero-to-one
Marco T. · former barista and sound tech
Shared grocery lists for roommates
Marco T. · former barista and sound techResearch-led
Jess K. · former leasing agent
Why first-time renters miss deposit deadlines
Jess K. · former leasing agentFrom people who were where you are
★★★★★
I had done two self-paced courses and still froze when someone asked "why did you choose that?" Eight weeks of Thursday critiques fixed that. My first interview after the Sprint went straight to a second round.
Priya S.Cohort 11 · now product designer at a health-tech startup
★★★★★
The weekly deadlines were exactly what I needed with a full-time job and two kids. Hard, but never pointless.
Ben A.Cohort 12 · former teacher
★★★★★
My mentor's Figma comments were better than any feedback I got in three years of agency work.
Amara O.Cohort 13 · graphic designer moving into UX
*Self-reported alumni survey, Cohorts 6–12 (n=412). Individual results vary and depend on effort, experience and local job market.
One cohort, three ways to join
Pay in full and save, or split it into three monthly payments at no extra interest.
Self-guided
The full curriculum and live workshops, without mentor feedback.
$590 once
One payment. Lifetime access to recordings.
- All 8 weeks of lessons and briefs
- Tuesday live workshops
- Alumni community access
- Mentor feedback and critique pods
- Mock hiring loop
Most students pick this
Mentored
The full Sprint, with a mentor and pod reviewing every deliverable.
$1,490 once
One payment. Includes everything in Self-guided.
- Everything in Self-guided
- Weekly written Figma feedback
- Thursday critique pod (4 students)
- 30-minute 1:1 portfolio review
- Mock hiring loop with two design leads
Mentored + Job Search
For people ready to apply the week the cohort ends.
$2,190 once
One payment. Includes everything in Mentored.
- Everything in Mentored
- Six extra 1:1 coaching calls after week 8
- Résumé and LinkedIn rewrite
- Two more mock interviews
- Introductions to our hiring partner list
Two-week refund window. Attend the first two weeks; if it is not for you, email us before day 14 for a full refund. No forms, no calls.
Reserve your seat in Cohort 14
A $100 deposit holds your place and comes off your tuition. Nothing is charged until you confirm on the call.
- Send this formTakes two minutes. Tell us where you are starting from.
- 15-minute fit callAn advisor checks the Sprint suits your goals and schedule.
- Get your pre-workA short welcome kit lands a week before kick-off.
Questions before you commit
Still unsure? Call (555) 014-8820 or email hello@launchpad-academy.example.
No. About half of each cohort has never opened Figma. Week 1 includes a tool primer, and your mentor adjusts feedback to where you are starting from.
Every call is recorded and posted within a few hours. Most students miss one or two sessions; critique pods can be rescheduled with 24 hours' notice.
Plan on six to eight hours a week: three hours of live calls and the rest on your project. Weeks 3 and 6 tend to run heavier.
We cannot promise that, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can promise is a portfolio built the way hiring managers review them, and honest feedback on whether it is ready.
Three equal monthly payments, the first at enrolment. There is no interest or credit check; the plan simply costs a little more than paying in full.
Yes. We can issue an invoice to your company and send a learning-budget letter describing the curriculum and outcomes.
The next cohort starts in a few days.
Ten seats left at the time this page loaded. Doors close when they are gone.