One Young India
Design DreamersThe self-paced course
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Design DreamersThe self-paced course

Learn design theory, and how it quietly shapes society.

26 chapters in four parts, about 12 hours, at your own pace.Everyday objects, form and function, empathy and user testing, service blueprints, streets and public spaces, deceptive screen patterns, and how to read the designed world.Every claim and figure checked against its source.

Start freeOpen the courseThe welcome and chapter 1 are free. Learnacy Essential opens every chapter.
Included in Learnacy Essential₹1,499 for the year, including GST. One payment, no automatic renewal.
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1LearnEach chapter opens with an everyday object or scene, asks a question, and gives you something to try: a brief builder, a layout tester, a sorter, a simulator.
2PractiseEvery chapter ends with five questions. Pass with 4 right, as often as you need, and each answer comes with its reason.
3FinishPass every chapter check and the final round for a certificate of completion with a link anyone can use to verify it.

What the course covers

Part 1Form, function and the everyday objectDoors and switches, form and beauty, constraints, mappings and feedback, materials and repair, letters and signs, and colour and contrast

7 chaptersAbout 3 hoursChapter 1 free

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  1. Before you beginWelcome: the room you are sitting inHow many things around you right now were designed by someone?Free10 min
  2. 1Why do some doors need a sign?When you push a door that says pull, is the mistake yours or the door's?Free25 min
  3. 2Form, function and beautyIs beauty in design a luxury, or does it do real work?25 min
  4. 3Creativity loves a constraintWhy is it harder to start when someone says "design anything you like"?25 min
  5. 4Mappings, feedback and mistakesWhy do you flip three wrong switches before the fan above your head turns on?25 min
  6. 5Materials, repair and what things are made ofWhy could your grandparents' ceiling fan be fixed in twenty minutes, while a new lamp goes straight to the bin?25 min
  7. 6Letters, signs and reading at speedWhy is a word in mixed case easier to read from far away than a word in ALL CAPITALS?25 min
  8. 7Colour, contrast and what the eye notices firstWhat happens when a map or warning relies on red and green alone?25 min
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Part 2Empathy, users and design thinkingWhy you are not the user, finding the right problem, diverging before choosing, paper prototypes, watching five testers, universal design, and climate and craft

7 chaptersAbout 3 hours

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  1. 8You are not the userWhy do smart designers build things that real people cannot figure out?25 min
  2. 9Finding the right problem to solveWhat is more wasteful than failing to solve a problem?25 min
  3. 10Diverge, then chooseWhy is your very first design idea almost never your best one?25 min
  4. 11Paper, cardboard and fast failureWhy does a 20-minute cardboard mock-up teach you more than a 20-page slide deck?25 min
  5. 12Watching five people tryHow many people do you need to watch using a design to catch most of its traps?25 min
  6. 13Designing for the edges helps everyoneIf you build a chair for the exact "average" person, how many people does it fit?25 min
  7. 14Design in India: climate, craft and frugal ingenuityWhy does a glass office tower copied from a cold country turn into an oven in May?25 min
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Part 3Systems, services and the public realmFrontstage and backstage services, wayfinding and transit maps, streets and shade, welcoming and defensive public spaces, human error as a system flaw, and invisible standards

6 chaptersAbout 2½ hours

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  1. 15Designing a service, not just an objectWhy do you wait 90 minutes at a clinic when the doctor sees you for only 10?25 min
  2. 16Wayfinding: how strangers read a building or a mapWhy is an inaccurate metro map much easier to use than an exact geographic one?25 min
  3. 17Streets, shade and who the city is built forWhat decides how fast a car drives down a neighbourhood street: the speed-limit sign, or the width of the lane?25 min
  4. 18Public spaces that welcome, and spaces that push people awayWhy do some public plazas buzz with life while others sit empty all day?25 min
  5. 19When systems fail: human error is usually a design problemWhen a tired nurse picks up a look-alike medicine vial at 3 a.m., is "be more careful" a safety plan?25 min
  6. 20Standards: the invisible agreements that hold the world togetherWhy is an A4 sheet of paper 210 by 297 millimetres instead of a neat 200 by 300?25 min
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Part 4Design that shapes behaviour, and your questionDefaults and choice architecture, good and bad friction, deceptive screen patterns, attention hooks, when metrics become targets, reading the designed world, and your question

6 chaptersAbout 3 hours

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  1. 21Choice architecture and the power of the defaultCan a designer stay completely neutral when arranging a form or a shelf?25 min
  2. 22Good friction and bad frictionShould a designer always make every action as fast and effortless as possible?25 min
  3. 23Deceptive patterns: when screens trick you on purposeWhy does joining a service take one tap on a bright orange button, while cancelling it takes six screens and a phone call?25 min
  4. 24Infinite scroll, variable rewards and the attention slot machineWhy is it so easy to close a printed book at the end of a chapter, and so hard to stop scrolling a feed at 11:30 p.m.?25 min
  5. 25When the metric becomes the targetWhy would a design team deliberately make a timetable harder to read?25 min
  6. 26Reading the designed world: a five-question walkHow do you walk down an ordinary street and see the invisible arguments frozen into its walls, signs and benches?25 min
  7. The wrap-upYour question, and what nextSo, coming back: how many things around you were designed by someone, and which one will you redesign?30 min
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Your certificate

A certificate of completion, issued when you pass every chapter check and the final round while logged in. It names the course and its length, about 12 hours. It is not a grade, an examination result or an accreditation.

This course is for learning. Every screen and product example in it is made up or drawn from public and historical design. It names no company, brand or app to praise or blame, and takes no side in party politics.