In this live full-day, in-person workshop, you'll learn how to craft and apply effective design principles that guide teams in making better design decisions. We'll explore how to define principles that foster clarity, consistency, and innovation, ensuring your team aligns around a shared design philosophy.
You'll leave with practical techniques for writing, validating, and integrating principles into your workflow. Whether you're working on a product team, a design system, or your own practice, you'll walk out with a clear method.
What changes after this workshop
Design critiques become more focused. Your team stops arguing in circles and starts referencing shared language.
Decision speed increases. Principles act as guardrails, so fewer decisions need to escalate.
New team members ramp up faster. They have a clear foundation to learn from and build on.
Your design system gains conceptual coherence, not just component consistency.
Stakeholder alignment improves. Everyone references the same North Star.
What you leave with
A draft set of design principles, written and refined during the workshop
A principle-writing rubric you can use for future iterations
Real examples of how your principles apply to your own product
A rollout plan for introducing principles to the broader team
Critique prompts to use principles in design reviews
A certificate of completion for each participant
Choose this workshop if
Your team debates what "good design" means and rarely reaches consensus
You're building or evolving a design system and need conceptual guardrails
You want to onboard new designers faster with a clear foundation
You need shared language that crosses product, design, and engineering
It’s not a fit if
You're looking for a ready-made principle set to copy. We help you build your own.
Your team doesn't have the authority to actually adopt the principles afterward.
You need deep user research methods. Check out our Empathy workshop instead.
Agenda
Kick-off
Introduction to Design Principles
Case Studies
Session 1
Case Study Deep-Dive
Keywording & Heuristics
"Should Be" Mapping
Regrouping Keywords
Session 2
Recapping Session 1
Revisit Case Studies
The Chosen Ones
Formulating Principles
Your Principles, Your Practice
Wrap-Up
Q&A
Facilitator
With well over a decade of experience, Paul has been a steadfast advocate for design that genuinely cares about the human experience — collaborating with the likes of Unity, GetYourGuide, Shopify, and Coinbase, and helping designers of all levels create work that resonates.
What people say
“Within two weeks, our critique sessions changed completely. We stopped arguing about taste and started referencing our principles. That shift alone was worth the investment.”
Allison Lee, Head of Design, Series B SaaS
Pricing
Before you pay a dime, we schedule a 30-minute intro call to understand your team and tailor the day — so the price below is a starting point, not a surprise.
Location
Up to 8 participantsfrom $2,999
Up to 16 participants · scale discountfrom $4,299
Prices cover the full day; travel is added once you pick a region.
We spend 30 minutes learning about your team's challenges, goals, and context. We'll recommend the right workshop, answer your questions, and explain how we tailor the content. No pitch, no pressure. If it's not a fit, we'll tell you.
After the intro call, we adjust the case studies, exercises, and examples to match your product, team size, and specific challenges. You'll receive a customized agenda before we lock in dates. The workshop feels like it was built for you, because it was.
Very little. We'll send a short pre-workshop questionnaire to gather context. On the day, you just need a room, a whiteboard or sticky notes, and your team. We bring everything else.
Most workshops work best with a mix of designers, product managers, and design leadership. Some teams also include engineers, researchers, or key stakeholders. We'll help you figure out the right group during the intro call.
Yes, but the format changes. For groups larger than 16, we split into parallel tracks with multiple facilitators or run consecutive sessions. Pricing adjusts accordingly. Let's discuss your specific situation on the intro call.
We strongly recommend in-person workshops. The hands-on exercises and group dynamics work best when everyone's in the same room. That said, we've run hybrid sessions for distributed teams. Reach out if you'd like to explore options.
The travel fee covers flights, accommodation, and local transport for the facilitator. We keep it simple: one flat fee based on your region. No surprise expenses, no receipts to review.
We invoice after you confirm the workshop date. Payment is due before the workshop takes place. We accept wire transfers and can accommodate most payment terms. If you need a PO or have procurement requirements, just let us know.
We don't allow full recordings, since much of the value comes from open discussion and participation. We can provide session summaries, key takeaways, and all the templates and frameworks used during the workshop.
Yes. If your company requires an NDA before the intro call or workshop, send it over. We're happy to sign reasonable confidentiality agreements.
Cancellations more than 14 days before the workshop receive a full refund. Between 7 and 14 days, we offer a 50% refund or full credit toward a future date. Less than 7 days, we don't offer refunds, but we'll work with you to reschedule if possible.
Yes. Each workshop participant receives a digital certificate. For a small additional fee, we provide sealed, card stock physical certificates.
Ready? Let’s set up a 30-minute intro call and tailor the workshop to your team.
