Lesson 2 of 7 · 14 min
Set up your studio
Goal:Get your three tools ready and know which job each one does.
Three tools, three jobs. Your journal ties them together.
- 1 · Think
ChatGPT
Plans, research, ideas
- 2 · Explore
Claude Design
Layouts, options, decks
- 3 · Refine
Figma
Craft it by hand
- 4 · Log
Journal
What you asked and decided
Figma
Your canvas. Where you refine, organize and hand off work.
Steps
- 1Create a free account.
- 2In a cohort? We verify you for the Education plan, so sign up with the email you applied with.
- 3Make a new design file called "Studio".
ChatGPT
Your thinking partner. Research plans, ideas, critique and writing.
Steps
- 1Sign in.
- 2Create a project called "Design studio" so your chats stay together.
Claude and Claude Design
Your explorer. Layouts, mockups and decks fast, and it can follow a design system.
Steps
- 1Sign in to Claude.
- 2Create a project called "Design studio".
- 3Claude Design needs a paid plan and is a research preview. Optional in this unit.
Figma looks busy the first time you open it, but every file has the same five areas. Learn them once and every tutorial makes sense. Click around this simplified Figma window and find all five.
Click each part of the Figma window to find all five.
0 of 5 foundYour first ten minutes in Figma
- Make a new design file and name it "Unit 1".
- Press F, then drag on the canvas: you've made a frame.
- Press T, click inside the frame and type a headline.
- With the text selected, change its size and font in the right panel.
- Press Shift + 1 to zoom so everything fits.
Now check you know which tool to reach for.
Which tool would you reach for first?
Draft ten questions for a user interview.
See three layout directions for a landing page.
Fix the spacing on the version you picked.
Turn your screens into a component set.
Get honest critique on why a layout feels busy.