Designing Stories

Learn how to persuade stakeholders at all levels by telling compelling stories that inspire action. In this introductory workshop, you'll learn how to:

Apply simple frameworks for clear and compelling communication

Apply simple frameworks for clear and compelling communication

Craft stories more likely to get buy-in from key stakeholders

Craft stories more likely to get buy-in from key stakeholders

Make your stories stand out from the noise and inspire action

Make your stories stand out from the noise and inspire action

Apply Now

Writing great, sticky stories can be really intimidating and hard, and this course provides several easy and applicable frameworks for crafting simple and compelling narratives that I could use daily. It upped my game from writing clearer, action oriented emails and slack messages, to crafting focused and effective presentations.
Product Designer,
Figma
Daily and bite-sized. Interactive and focused. Personal with community support. Designing Stories had just the right structure for me to dive in every day with a new way to approach storytelling and I was able to apply what I learned immediately.
Senior Product Designer, Amazon
Effective communication is so important for designers day to day. Designing Stories provides you with easily digestible frameworks that drive high impact when implemented. The examples are directly tied to our practice, instructors are extremely knowledgeable, and the interactivity of the course is fun.
Director of Design, SmartRecruiters
Designing Stories provided concrete frameworks that make the often “handwavy” craft of storytelling accessible. As a collection, it’s a great primer for storytelling as a designer, with immediately actionable learnings I could apply in my day-to-day work.
Product Design Manager,
Yelp
Designing Stories is a fun, digestible collection of activities any designer can use at any level, at any career stage, and in any industry, to communicate more effectively and learn how to influence and persuade other people through storytelling to achieve any goal.
Senior Product Designer,
Higharc
These lessons are quick hits of design goodness. The information is engaging, concise and enlightening. It’s just enough information to learn something and apply it without being overwhelmed.
Senior Product Designer, Superhuman

Writing great, sticky stories can be really intimidating and hard, and this course provides several easy and applicable frameworks for crafting simple and compelling narratives that I could use daily. It upped my game from writing clearer, action oriented emails and slack messages, to crafting focused and effective presentations.
Product Designer,
Figma
Daily and bite-sized. Interactive and focused. Personal with community support. Designing Stories had just the right structure for me to dive in every day with a new way to approach storytelling and I was able to apply what I learned immediately.
Senior Product Designer, Amazon
Effective communication is so important for designers day to day. Designing Stories provides you with easily digestible frameworks that drive high impact when implemented. The examples are directly tied to our practice, instructors are extremely knowledgeable, and the interactivity of the course is fun.
Director of Design, SmartRecruiters
Designing Stories provided concrete frameworks that make the often “handwavy” craft of storytelling accessible. As a collection, it’s a great primer for storytelling as a designer, with immediately actionable learnings I could apply in my day-to-day work.
Product Design Manager,
Yelp
Designing Stories is a fun, digestible collection of activities any designer can use at any level, at any career stage, and in any industry, to communicate more effectively and learn how to influence and persuade other people through storytelling to achieve any goal.
Senior Product Designer,
Higharc
These lessons are quick hits of design goodness. The information is engaging, concise and enlightening. It’s just enough information to learn something and apply it without being overwhelmed.
Senior Product Designer, Superhuman

Writing great, sticky stories can be really intimidating and hard, and this course provides several easy and applicable frameworks for crafting simple and compelling narratives that I could use daily. It upped my game from writing clearer, action oriented emails and slack messages, to crafting focused and effective presentations.
Product Designer,
Figma
Daily and bite-sized. Interactive and focused. Personal with community support. Designing Stories had just the right structure for me to dive in every day with a new way to approach storytelling and I was able to apply what I learned immediately.
Senior Product Designer, Amazon
Effective communication is so important for designers day to day. Designing Stories provides you with easily digestible frameworks that drive high impact when implemented. The examples are directly tied to our practice, instructors are extremely knowledgeable, and the interactivity of the course is fun.
Director of Design, SmartRecruiters
Designing Stories provided concrete frameworks that make the often “handwavy” craft of storytelling accessible. As a collection, it’s a great primer for storytelling as a designer, with immediately actionable learnings I could apply in my day-to-day work.
Product Design Manager,
Yelp
Designing Stories is a fun, digestible collection of activities any designer can use at any level, at any career stage, and in any industry, to communicate more effectively and learn how to influence and persuade other people through storytelling to achieve any goal.
Senior Product Designer,
Higharc
These lessons are quick hits of design goodness. The information is engaging, concise and enlightening. It’s just enough information to learn something and apply it without being overwhelmed.
Senior Product Designer, Superhuman

What You'll Learn

The Secret Shapes of Powerful Stories

What makes a story *good* and how can I tell my own? In our first course, we’ll explore the shapes underlying stories we all know and love, then we’ll learn an easy-to-remember framework we can use to design stories at work.

Make Your Message Stick

A few messages are remembered and retold, but most fall flat and fail to get any attention at all. What separates the signal from the noise? In this next course we’ll learn a simple but effective framework that will make any message more memorable.

Motivate and Move Every Stakeholder

When designing stories to persuade & influence others, it isn’t just about what you say — but also who you’re saying it to. In this next course we’ll identify 4 kinds of stakeholders so that you can adapt your message for maximum impact.

Crafting Clear and Concise Communication

Whether or not you’re telling a story, if you want to be heard, motivate others and have an impact, you have to communicate clearly. In this next course, learn a simple framework to make what you are writing (or saying) instantly clear to your audience.

Designing Stories that Inspire Action

How do we design stories that are not only engaging, but also have the power to persuade and influence others? In our final course, learn a 4-part checklist to help you tell stories that stand out from the noise, go viral, and inspire action.

How You’ll Learn

In one week you'll complete five interactive courses with a cohort of designer peers.

Each course is asynchronous, takes about 25 mins and includes actionable frameworks and tactics that you can immediately practice and apply.

This is NOT a live, lecture-based, Zoom workshop. It is a unique learning experience designed to be accessible and efficient. Learning while working is very challenging but this format makes it easy to level-up during your work week 25 minutes at a time.

Five interactive, asynch courses taken over five days

Private Slack channel for discussion and feedback

Summary artifacts
for reference and application

The threads were short, digestible and memorable. I could squeeze them in on most workdays and I really enjoyed the async conversational format. I already use my phone in my work breaks and so this course met me there.

Staff Product Designer,Shopify
Love this format! I never would have thought an interactive experience would work for self-directed learning, but it worked really well for me. I think part of it has to do with keeping me engaged in a “conversation”, versus clicking through a bunch of slides. Loved it!

Product Designer,
Google
These courses were short and impactful which is key. I love learning, but time is so hard to make for things these days, so this really was great.
Sr. Principal Experience Designer,
Autodesk
I loved this format! Easy to grasp content, easy to fit into my workday because is so quick and straight-forward.
Product Designer,
Dropbox
I love how I can easily set the pace as my responses determine the content that follows. The material is more personalized to my learning style.
Lead Product Designer,
Zendesk
I loved how fast and efficient this course was. I felt like I was sprinting (in a good way) the entire way through. The integrated notifications saying peers completed threads kept me going and accountable.
Product Designer,
Google
I like that you get to participate and put things into practice. This felt like a natural flow with breaks to explicitly try out what you just learned!
Product Designer,
Figma
Other formats tend to give you all of the information up front and leaves it up to you to decide how much you want to learn. It often leads to me being overwhelmed. Threads are more manageable and approachable. It felt more like a conversation rather than reading blocks of text.
Product Designer,
Gusto
The courses were concise yet engaging! I wasn't just watching someone talk about some topic for an hour. The lessons were straight to the point while still allowing me to be involved.

Product Designer,
Shopify

The threads were short, digestible and memorable. I could squeeze them in on most workdays and I really enjoyed the async conversational format. I already use my phone in my work breaks and so this course met me there.

Staff Product Designer,Shopify
Love this format! I never would have thought an interactive experience would work for self-directed learning, but it worked really well for me. I think part of it has to do with keeping me engaged in a “conversation”, versus clicking through a bunch of slides. Loved it!

Product Designer,
Google
These courses were short and impactful which is key. I love learning, but time is so hard to make for things these days, so this really was great.
Sr. Principal Experience Designer,
Autodesk
I loved this format! Easy to grasp content, easy to fit into my workday because is so quick and straight-forward.
Product Designer,
Dropbox
I love how I can easily set the pace as my responses determine the content that follows. The material is more personalized to my learning style.
Lead Product Designer,
Zendesk
I loved how fast and efficient this course was. I felt like I was sprinting (in a good way) the entire way through. The integrated notifications saying peers completed threads kept me going and accountable.
Product Designer,
Google
I like that you get to participate and put things into practice. This felt like a natural flow with breaks to explicitly try out what you just learned!
Product Designer,
Figma
Other formats tend to give you all of the information up front and leaves it up to you to decide how much you want to learn. It often leads to me being overwhelmed. Threads are more manageable and approachable. It felt more like a conversation rather than reading blocks of text.
Product Designer,
Gusto
The courses were concise yet engaging! I wasn't just watching someone talk about some topic for an hour. The lessons were straight to the point while still allowing me to be involved.

Product Designer,
Shopify

The threads were short, digestible and memorable. I could squeeze them in on most workdays and I really enjoyed the async conversational format. I already use my phone in my work breaks and so this course met me there.

Staff Product Designer,Shopify
Love this format! I never would have thought an interactive experience would work for self-directed learning, but it worked really well for me. I think part of it has to do with keeping me engaged in a “conversation”, versus clicking through a bunch of slides. Loved it!

Product Designer,
Google
These courses were short and impactful which is key. I love learning, but time is so hard to make for things these days, so this really was great.
Sr. Principal Experience Designer,
Autodesk
I loved this format! Easy to grasp content, easy to fit into my workday because is so quick and straight-forward.
Product Designer,
Dropbox
I love how I can easily set the pace as my responses determine the content that follows. The material is more personalized to my learning style.
Lead Product Designer,
Zendesk
I loved how fast and efficient this course was. I felt like I was sprinting (in a good way) the entire way through. The integrated notifications saying peers completed threads kept me going and accountable.
Product Designer,
Google
I like that you get to participate and put things into practice. This felt like a natural flow with breaks to explicitly try out what you just learned!
Product Designer,
Figma
Other formats tend to give you all of the information up front and leaves it up to you to decide how much you want to learn. It often leads to me being overwhelmed. Threads are more manageable and approachable. It felt more like a conversation rather than reading blocks of text.
Product Designer,
Gusto
The courses were concise yet engaging! I wasn't just watching someone talk about some topic for an hour. The lessons were straight to the point while still allowing me to be involved.

Product Designer,
Shopify

Designer Fund Teaching Team

Ben
Blumenrose

Mamie
Rheingold

Enrique
Allen

Robyn
Park

Dave
Baggeroer

Ben
Blumenrose

Mamie
Rheingold

Enrique
Allen

Robyn
Park

Dave
Baggeroer

Ben
Blumenrose

Mamie
Rheingold

Enrique
Allen

Robyn
Park

Dave
Baggeroer

Join Top Teams in Tech

Join Top Teams

in Tech

Apply Now

Who will benefit from this workshop?

This is an introductory workshop for a wide range of creative roles including: product designers, brand designers, design program managers, content designers, content strategists and UX researchers. The workshop content will benefit anyone who wants to learn the basic skills, concepts and mindsets required to successfully define and communicate the business value of their work. The workshop format will benefit anyone who learns by doing and doesn’t have the time or budget to commit to a multi-week, cohort-based zoom course.

What is the workshop format?

We created a unique learning format that fits easily into tight budgets and busy workdays. In one week you'll complete five interactive courses with a cohort of designer peers. Each course is asynchronous and takes about 25 minutes. After completing each course you’ll connect in Slack to discuss the course topics and takeaways with instructors and peers. This is NOT a live, lecture-based Zoom workshop. It is a unique learning experience designed to be quick, concise and a very efficient use of your time and money. Every workshop is: Interactive — The format requires active participation, engagement and personalized application – no long-winded one way lectures Accessible — Allows you to learn at your own pace at a time that works for you. Expect about 25 minutes per day for five days. Applied — Shares simple, actionable frameworks and tactics that you can immediately practice and apply back at work. Social — While each course is completed independently, the overall workshop experience brings together the collective wisdom and accountability of the entire group.

Will I meet other designers?

You will be part of a cohort of designer peers from a wide range of companies and industries. Each cohort is connected via a private Slack channel which serves as your hub for collaboration, connection and discussion. Exceptional participants will be considered for membership in the Designer Fund Collective.

Can I take it with my team?

Yes! Participants share with us that this program is even more impactful if taken as a team. Teams return to work with a new shared language, understanding and mindset, ready to apply what they learned together. Contact us at connect@designerfund.com for teams of 10 or more.

What is the refund policy?

We understand that learning is very personal and we care deeply about delivering effective educational outcomes. If for any reason your unsatisfied with the workshop, please connect with us directly and we’ll discuss a full refund.