The designer’s watchlist
Good design takes practice. These free YouTube picks will help you build your eye, find your process, and share what you make.
Find your next watch7 videos · 5 channels · Pick one, then make something.
Featured watchWatch on YouTube Ridd with Greg Isenberg
Follow Michael Riddering through a real Figma design session. Best once you know the basic tools.
Try this with your briefDesign one screen, duplicate it, and try a different direction.
Start with the fundamentals. They show up in everything you make.
Watch on YouTube Jesse Showalter
Get a handle on contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity with practical interface examples.
Try this with your briefReview your design against all four principles. Improve the weakest one.
Watch on YouTube Flux Academy
An introduction to choosing and using type for the web. Useful for bringing more intention to your next layout.
Try this with your briefMake a type-only version of your brief using a heading, subheading, and body style.
Learn how to talk about your work and get useful feedback.
Watch on YouTube Femke
An approachable look at informal design critiques and getting feedback from other designers.
Try this with your briefShare a rough draft with a specific question about what you’re trying to improve.
Watch on YouTube Dive Club · Ridd & Gabe Valdivia
A longer conversation about shaping new products and telling the story behind the work.
Try this with your briefShow your finished design first, then explain one decision that helped you get there.
Turn a practice project into something you can share with confidence.
Watch on YouTube Dive Club · Michael Riddering
Ridd brings together portfolio advice from his interviews with designers. Start here when you’re ready to present your work.
Try this with your briefChoose one tip and use it to improve the opening of your practice-project case study.
Watch on YouTube Dive Club · Ridd & Perry Wang
Perry shares his portfolio and early-career journey, with lessons for junior designers looking for their first opportunities.
Try this with your briefPick one skill you want your portfolio to show. Practice it with your next brief.
Start here
You don’t need to solve everything. Just give yourself a good next step.
Choose who you’re designing for, what they need, and one thing you want to practice. A brief is a starting point: you can adjust it. Write down your assumptions so you know what still needs checking.
Try: “I’m designing a café menu for commuters. I want to make the options easy to scan.”
Pick a finish line before you open your design tool: one poster, a logo with two applications, or a short app flow. Give yourself a time limit you can actually keep. You can always build on it later.
Try: one menu, two rough directions, and an afternoon to choose and refine one.
Sketch a few different directions before polishing one. Ask someone what they notice first and what’s unclear. For an interface, give them a task and watch where they get stuck. Revise one specific thing based on what you learn.
Try: “Find a coffee and a snack for under $10.” Watch before explaining your design.
Save your early ideas, explain why you chose a direction, and show what changed after feedback. Label it as a self-initiated practice project. Be honest about what you tested and what you’d still want to learn; don’t invent client work or results.
Try: a short case study with the brief, your approach, the final design, and one lesson learned.
The next step is a blank canvas and a brief that sparks an idea.