January Cohort

Go from a designer who presents work to a strategic partner who influences what gets built.

Medium's Top Design Writer. Educator.

Medium

Designlab Learning

ADPList

Substack

National Cancer Institute

Kai Wong

Medium's Top Design Writer. 13 Years Defending Design Where UX Wasn't Valued.

Make the Case: How to Show Your Design Work Matters

Master Data Storytelling: The Presentation Framework that Positions You as a Strategic Partner instead of Just a Designer.

Northrop Grumman

Social Security

Intuit

You're a good designer. Your work solves real problems and creates genuine value. But here's what separates good designers from great ones: great designers get executive buy-in. While good designers focus on craft, great designers focus on communication.While good designers present features, great designers present business impact.While good designers show what they built, great designers prove why it matters. The gap isn't in your design skills. It's in your communication. When you present research findings, executives are trying to connect dots to million-dollar decisions.When you recommend design changes, they want to understand the measurable impact. It's not that your work lacks business value. It's that you're not communicating that value in terms executives understand and trust. Without This Skill:You'll stay excluded from strategic conversations While others make critical product decisions without design inputYour best insights will be overlooked Because stakeholders can't see the connection to business outcomesYou'll be seen as tactical, not strategic Limited to executing ideas instead of shaping themYour value gets questioned As leadership struggles to measure design's ROI The Solution Isn't Better Design Work. It's Better Data Communication. Every department that gets executive respect—sales, marketing, product—speaks in data. They measure impact, quantify outcomes, and present compelling business cases. That's how they earned their seat at the strategy table. As one Design Director told me: "The difference between good and great designers is the great ones can come with data... they bring a package of insights and data that helps sell their ideas and what they've created." When you master data-informed communication, you'll:✓ Get invited to strategy meetings – Because you bring measurable insights about design's business impact✓ Gain influence without political games – Using data your company already has✓ Become a strategic partner – By connecting design decisions to business results✓ Earn the recognition you deserve – As someone who bridges design and business understandingYou don't need an MBA.You need a systematic framework to measure, validate, and communicate design impact in executive terms. This 4-Week Program Transforms Good Designers Into Great Ones:Week 1: Align Design with Business Goals and Measure Design Impact Learn how executives think about metrics and how to connect your design work to outcomes they already care about.Week 2: Turn Problems into Compelling Data Visualizations That Get Buy-In Master the art of visual storytelling with data—making complex insights scannable and persuasive for time-pressed decision-makers.Week 3: Validate Design Solutions from Multiple Stakeholder Perspectives Build bulletproof cases by addressing objections before they arise—using data that speaks to everyone from engineers to executives.Week 4: Present Your Work with Persuasive 5-Minute Executive Presentations Deliver presentations that get immediate approval, not weeks of deliberation. Learn the structure executives expect and the language they respect. Limited to 15 students for personalized coaching. ﻿Training Your Team? Email kai@datainformeddesign.online for bulk pricing.

The Difference between Good and Great Designers? Getting Executives to Buy-in

Designers who want to use data to bypass office politics and prove their value immediately

Designers tired of watching 'strategic' roles like PMs get promoted while their insights are ignored

Designers in low-UX maturity environments where relationship-building isn't enough

Mid-level designers whose great ideas get dismissed by skeptical executives

Who is this course for

What you'll walk away with 

Get the frameworks that allow decision-makers immediately see how your design work connects to business metrics, not just beautiful interfaces.

A Portfolio That Speaks Executive Language in 30 Seconds

Get the exact questions that reframe conversations and expose weak thinking when executives challenge your designs with opinions.

The Question Framework: How to Win Stakeholder Arguments Without Being Defensive

You don't need to buy a fancy tool to have an impact. Prove design value through simple experiments that connect your decisions to business outcomes they already track.

ROI Experiments You Can Run With Tools You Already Have 

Transform any project into a portfolio piece that demonstrates strategic thinking with step-by-step guidance.

Plug-and-Play Templates for Design Case studies

Apply these frameworks to YOUR actual work, so you're ready for your next big presentation, interview, or portfolio review.

60 Minutes of Personalized Coaching

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Lifetime access

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Community of peers

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Certificate of completion

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

Learning Experience Design Lead, Data-Driven Design, Designlab

Partner, Design @ Work & Co, Editor of Medium's UX Collective Newsletter

What people are saying

Christopher Kai Wong

Top Design Writer on Medium (325+ design articles). Data-Informed Design Expert.

Meet your instructor

I will have live lectures with Q&amp;A, reviewing this week's lessons. These will also be where I review student's exercise and provide live feedback

Mondays and Thursday

In these lectures, I'll dive into the specifics around Data, Narrative, Visuals, and more. This will be a more detailed videos on the stuff I cover live on Mondays and Fridays

Pre-recorded lectures

These exercises, paired with the lecture, will help you practice the concepts you learn from lectures

Weekly projects and exercises

Course schedule

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Active hands-on learning

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Interactive and project-based

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Course completed by

About this course

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