elementedu.io: the program repositioned around shipping a real app, not just a prototype.
Case Study: Program, Curriculum & Platform
Element Education: elementedu.io
elementedu.io: the program repositioned around shipping a real app, not just a prototype.
01: Overview
Element Education began in 2024 as a UX program for people trying to break into the design industry: the fundamentals, the thinking, and the portfolio that gets you hired.
Then the room changed. At the end of 2025, a cohort was far more interested in actually building their ideas with AI than in adding another prototype to a portfolio, and I started helping them do exactly that. The people applying had shifted too: no longer only aspiring designers, but founders who wanted an MVP and business owners who wanted to build tools for their business and their clients.
So I rebuilt the program around a new promise: don't stop at a prototype: leave with a real, launched product. This is how I redesigned the curriculum, and designed and built the platform that runs it.
My Role
Designer, Instructor & Builder
Program design, curriculum, every slide & prompt, all module assignments, and the learning platform
Timeline
2024 → 2026
UX program in 2024; redesigned into a build & launch program from late 2025
The Program
12 Weeks, 4 Phases
Validate, Design, Build, Launch (~10 hrs/week, fully remote, live cohort)
Deliverables
12 Shipped Artifacts
A doc or working build every week, ending in a live app on the App Store
The Platform
learn.elementedu.io
Custom-built to deliver recorded sessions, slides, prompts and assignments, module by module
Audience Now
Founders & Owners
Business owners and founders building digital products for their business and their clients
02: The Signal
The redesign wasn't a hunch: it came directly from what students kept asking for. Four signals made the direction obvious.
Students were proud of their Figma prototypes but frustrated the work stopped there. They wanted the real thing: an app they could put in someone's hands.
By late 2025, a beginner could get from design to a working app with AI as a co-creator. One cohort leaned hard into this, and I began coaching them through it directly.
Applicants shifted from people breaking into UX to founders wanting an MVP and business owners wanting to build products for their business and their clients.
For this audience the deliverable that mattered wasn't a case study: it was a live app with real users. That reframed every week of the curriculum.
03: The Redesign
The old program was all design. The new one splits cleanly in two. The first six weeks are the design phase: validate the idea, design the system, prototype and test. The last six weeks are build and launch: a real codebase, a real backend, a beta, and a public launch.
Keeping the design half intact was deliberate. The build only goes fast because the thinking is done first: a tested prototype and a real design system are exactly what AI build tools need to produce something good.
The program page: every week has a named deliverable, from problem statement to live app.
04: What You Build
There are no vague learning outcomes. Every week ends with a concrete artifact: a doc, a Figma file, a working screen, a live product. By week 12 you have a portfolio of work and an app in the App Store.
Week 01
One page: who the user is, their core problem, why existing solutions fall short.
Week 02
Competitive analysis, positioning, and a scoped MVP (max five core features).
Week 03
A full user-flow diagram and lo-fi wireframes for every primary screen.
Week 04
Colour, type, spacing and 20+ reusable components: the file AI build tools use later.
Week 05
Every screen at full fidelity, including empty, error and loading states.
Week 06
A clickable prototype tested with real people before a line of code is written.
Week 07
The design becomes real: working navigation and home screen on an actual device.
Week 08
A live database with auth and real data reading and writing end-to-end.
Week 09
All five core features functional, connected to real data, usable by a real person.
Week 10
A TestFlight build in front of 10+ real testers, with analytics and bugs triaged.
Week 11
An App Store listing and a live marketing landing page on a custom domain.
Week 12
The app goes live on the App Store, with a Product Hunt launch on Demo Day.
The what you build page: every artifact week by week, fourteen deliverables across twelve weeks.
05: Curriculum
This isn't a repackaged course. I designed every class presentation, every slide, every copy-paste prompt, and every module assignment myself, then teach the live cohort each week.
Each week follows the same rhythm so nobody's guessing what's next: a two-hour live workshop, build days with drop-in help, a Friday peer review, and a concrete deliverable due before the week closes. The AI toolkit is taught hands-on: only the tools that actually ship products.
Slide one of each weekly session deck: twelve decks, designed and taught in Figma.
06: The Platform
Great curriculum still needs somewhere to live. So I designed and built a custom learning platform, learn.elementedu.io, that gives every student one place for the whole program: recorded sessions, slides, prompts and assignments, unlocked module by module as the cohort moves through it.
The platform sign-in: “your AI product design program, all in one place.”
Student dashboard: all 12 modules, unlocked as the cohort progresses.
The curriculum view in light mode: the platform ships with both themes.
Inside a module: recorded session, slides and copy-paste prompts.
Assignment submission: students hand in every deliverable right in the platform.
07: Audience
The program found its people. Today's cohorts are full of founders and business owners: someone with a business who needs a tool for it, an operator who wants to build for their clients, a domain expert who finally has a way to turn an idea into a product without hiring a dev team. I lead every cohort myself, teaching the live sessions and coaching each build.
That shift shaped the details: real deadlines that fit around a working week, an emphasis on scoping a tight MVP, and a launch that produces something they can actually use and sell, not just show.
08: Outcomes
Across cohorts the model holds up: people who start with an idea finish with a product.
94%
Ship Their App
38+
Apps Launched
4.7★
Avg. Cohort Rating
0
Coding Prereqs
09: Reflection
The best signal for what to teach came from listening to who was actually in the room. The program got stronger the moment I stopped defending the old UX-only version and let the students' real goal (a shipped product) redefine every week.
Cohort 05 begins in September 2026. Every round the curriculum gets sharper as the AI build tools improve and as more founders bring real businesses to the table, and the platform grows with it.