Erin Essex

Erin Essex

1.4K Subscribers

Design Leader at Google | Ex. Product Design Director of MongoDB & Shutterstock

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I’m Erin Essex, a UX designer, instructor, and content creator with over a decade of experience helping teams bring ideas to life through design. I’ve taught hundreds of students—from beginners to mid-career professionals—how to level up their design skills. I’ll give you the tools, tips, and fluency you need to elevate your design work and professional career.

Previously at
Google
YouTube
MongoDB
Shutterstock
Major League Baseball

Alumni reviews

LeeAnn

Live cohort
Product Designer · N/A

The Hidden Rules of Product Design Interviews

I learned so many new techniques that I can use to prepare for my interviews moving forward. She makes you feel comfortable asking questions and is always willing to share her knowledge about the entire process. You can tell she truly cares about helping people feel more confident and at ease as they navigate their journey. I really appreciated her approach and walked away feeling much more prepared!

Marie

Live cohort
Sr. Staff Product Designer · Warner Bros. Discovery

The Hidden Rules of Product Design Interviews

Erin is warm, easy to talk to, and brings a great perspective on interviewing. She breaks concepts down so they’re simple to follow, and her live feedback made a real difference for me. I came in with questions I’d been stuck on for a while, and she cleared them up quickly. My favorite part was practicing our “About Me” and getting feedback on the spot. I’d heard so much conflicting advice on how to handle that part of the interview, and Erin finally gave me a clear approach. I’d recommend her workshop to anyone preparing for interviews.

Courtney

Live cohort
Senior Product Designer · n/a - Seeking Opportunities

Maximize Your Design Process With AI

This class was really helpful in exposing us to a wide range of tools and encouraging us to experiment with both new and familiar ones. It pushed me to think more critically about how to evaluate tools, when and why to use them, and how they compare. I also appreciated learning how workflows are rapidly evolving across teams within larger organizations and how different tools are being integrated into those processes. I appreciated the quick pace and deadlines. They kept me from overthinking or getting caught up in the details, which helped me get out of my head and approach things with more of a beginner’s mindset and a creative, experimental spirit rather than being overly self-conscious or critical. One of my biggest takeaways was that the most important thing is to keep exploring, experimenting, and building. Equally valuable is documenting the process, what worked, what didn't, and how you got there, so you can revisit those learnings and continue building faster, smarter, and more effectively with AI.

Edmund

Live cohort
Product Designer · Flourish

Maximize Your Design Process With AI

This course is a great way to familiarize yourself with AI design tools, no matter what your experience level is. Personally, I had decent exposure to some of the tools and processes, but just needed a focused dive outside of real work to put that knowledge into application. I also learned more about a couple of tools that I likely wouldn't have explored on my own. Anecdotally, I noticed some of my classmates who had zero experience designing with AI had learned quite a bit and become more confident with the tools. Erin is a great instructor; she is good at letting the conversation be free-flowing while still keeping things on topic. She has a very friendly and casual demeanor and is great at easing any anxieties you may have around the course material.

Aisa

Live cohort
Lead Product Designer

Maximize Your Design Process With AI

I really enjoyed the hands-on style of the course. There was a bit of learning and then we would deep dive into the AI tools. We learned about the different ways Erin leveraged the AI tools and how they worked. Erin was the perfect AI guide giving us tools and advice on how to navigate using AI. Erin also brought in a guest speaker and it was really eye-opening to learn how real designers were engaging AI in their design process. I went from having zero experience in building something on AI to building a functional prototype that anyone would experiement with. The possibilities are endless. I had a great cohort class and I want to thank everyone and Erin for the amazingly insightful conversations we had during our course period. THANK YOU ERIN!