Start from the jobs inside the studio's work
I didn't start from a list of subjects. I started from the roles a real client project needs: someone to make the call, someone to build the prototype, someone to make the advert, someone to test it, someone to find the users. Each role became a course idea, so every course maps to work the studio actually sells.
The rule for every course
- Learn on a live brief for a real client, and pitch the evidence to them.
- Fellows keep their portfolio rights and get credit.
- Feedback, prizes or paid work for everyone, so it's never free labour.
The shared spine
- All courses work on the same project in mixed teams.
- Each course leads its own part and backs up the rest.
- Everyone learns the basics: consent, data and the checks before moving on.
Two developed, five held back
| Course | The role it trains | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Director | Makes the advert and compares AI tools to do it | Pilot · case study 09c |
| UX Researcher | Finds out what users need and where a service fails them | Pilot · case study 09d |
| Venture Builder | Frames the brief, runs interviews and makes the go, change or stop call | Designed · held back |
| Product Designer | Builds the working prototype and checks what AI produced | Designed · held back |
| Channels and Ads | Designs the test: who sees the ad and how a sign-up is traced to it | Designed · held back |
| International Growth | Adapts the work for a second city or language | Designed · held back |
| A funded route | The same courses for young people out of work or study, with their own venture as the brief | Idea |
Each pilot needs a real client and a number to pass
Seven courses meant seven sets of tutors, briefs and pages, with no clients yet to brief from. On 4 November I cut the academy to the courses that already had a live brief, took the rest off the site, and set what each pilot has to show before another course is added.
09c · Creative Director course
Run as a student ad competition for a music venture: prototype the ad with AI, test it on real people, pitch the evidence.
Read the case →09d · UX Researcher course
Built from my own housing research. Fellows run paid, supervised reviews of student housing, starting with the Room Fit Review.
Read the case →A small team, paid per day
- A freelance Academy Lead for the pilot cohort, building modules from real briefs and running weekly sessions.
- Practitioner tutors per course, paid per session.
- A partnerships and outreach role for student events and universities.
- University co-delivery later, once there's casework to show.
Design wide, launch narrow
Then → Now
Then: five courses and several cities on the site. Now: two pilots, each with a live brief and the numbers that decide it set before launch.
Then → Now
Then: one academy page listing every course. Now: each pilot stands on its own, judged on its own numbers.