Christopher Nguyen

UX Playbook

UX education is broken, why?

🤑 Bootcamps are extortion
😵‍💫 Over emphasis on Figma
🫠 No real world preparation
😫 No career focus just skills
🫨 Getting started is confusing
🤥 Theory taught isn’t practical

That's why I created UX Playbook.

At UX Playbook, I help frustrated designers figure out how to take control of their education, make better decisions, and ultimately build the career they want. 

Over 17,000 designers, from 90 countries, are using my playbooks to better their career.

300+ five star reviews.

Learn more: www.uxplaybook.org

Founder

The Design of Everyday People Livestream

Livestream AMAs, where I speak to design experts, from all over the world.

Livestream Host

Play of the Week Newsletter

Get UX mentorship in your inbox. 2-minute read. Every Wednesday. Absolutely free.

Writer

Backlog

Antler

Entrepreneur in Residence

Playstack

Co-Founder

Divvy Notion

CoiBoi

BAEMIN Vietnam (Woowa Bros.)

Designing thinking training with Baemin's leadership teams

Design Thinking Trainer

MoMo (M_Service)

Facilitating Design Sprints for multiple product teams inside MoMo for their B2C and B2B2C products

Design Sprint Facilitator

I help UX designers go from Fuzziness to Focused (uxplaybook.org), now Freedom (backlog.design)

I went from 0 experience to Head of Design in 4 years.

Then, in 2020, I quit.

Leaving the high-paying salary and status of working at a FinTech unicorn behind.

The job I once dreamed of wasn't align with my values.

But, I wasn't ready to give up on UX.

I intrinsically want to help other designers succeed. 

Working with 100s of designers, I realised that most designers are in someway self taught, but why? 

Because most UX education is incredibly expensive, lack accessibility, and real-world practicality.

I had a hypothesis.

Designers craved for education that 1) cuts to the core, 2) applies to every day scenarios, 3) templatized execution, 4) affordable, and 5) personalized 

Thus levelling the playing field for equal opportunities in the design industry.

So, I started an experiment in mid 2020. 

And the results were pretty phenomenal.

We grew 1400% in one year.

It was clear people valued UX Playbook.

My mission is to "Make UX Education Accessible & Enjoyable." 

My impact:

→ 14,000,000+ content impressions in the last 2 years
→ 270,000+ weekly newsletters & blogs read
→ 92,000+ people following my daily UX content
→ 17,000+ people downloaded my UX guides & templates
→ 1000+ people, from 84+ countries, bought my products 

If you want to learn more about how I can help you as a designer, you can check out:

FAST TRACK DESIGNER BUNDLE

In this 6 product bundle, you will learn how to thrive in your UX career. Build a kickass portfolio, learn how to job hunt, and master UX frameworks for project success, grow meaningfully, and lead your first design team. It’s packed with 93,000+ words, 130+ videos, 125+ templates, and 200+ examples. Join 15,000+ designers using this system to level up.

→ https://uxplaybook.org/fast

BACKLOG

If you're looking to replace your 9 to 5, become an independent designer, and kickstart your designpreneur journey, join us a Backlog. Be part of our tight-knit community, get personalized coaching, and access our resources made for design founders.

→ https://backlog.design

Email: hello@uxplaybook.org
YouTube, Twitter, IG: @uxchrisnguyen

Co-Founder & CPO

If UX Designers have a yearly wrapped...

(2025 version)

———
♻️ Repost if this is even slightly true for you

👉 Follow Christopher Nguyen for more unhinged wraps
🔗 Grow your UX career at UX Playbook

📰 Listen to me moan weekly in my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gmTfNKwN

2025 Wrapped

Figma valued at $20B.
Notion valued at $12B.
Canva valued at $42B.
Airbnb valued at $78B.
Pinterest valued at $22B.
Instagram valued at $100B.

All founded by designers.

Designers have founder DNA
(most just don’t know it yet)

Y Combinator’s latest Request for Startups memo said:

“More designers should be founders”

Yes, that YC.

Think about what’s winning today:

∗ Notion feels like clarity, digitalized.
∗ Figma made design a multiple player game.
∗ Canva made design stupidly simple for everyone.

Those wins weren’t just technical.
Those wins were emotional.

A designer’s gift is…

→ Taste
→ Intuition
→ Empathy
→ Storytelling
→ Sensitivity to friction

What could 100x your career?

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.

↳ Use AI to build
↳ Use your taste to differentiate
↳ Use your empathy to solve hard problems

Your aspirations shouldn’t be a “senior product designer”

It should be a Design Founder.

Designers who leap today will:

— Set their own vision
— Build products people love
— Own 20% of something they made

...Not 0% of someone else’s dream

The tools are here.
The moment is now.

If you could design anything, what would it be?

P.S. Thinking about making the leap? Best decision I ever made!

📰 Get a weekly email to grow your UX career 🌱
https://lnkd.in/gmTfNKwN — 2 minute read. No fluff.

I study these 7 sites
(not for inspiration)

The internet is full of “inspirational” portfolios.

Sadly, most designers copy the wrong things ↓

✘ They copy the layout
✘ They copy the colours
✘ They copy the branding
✘ They copy the animations
✘ They copy the positioning

The number one thing they should copy

But almost nobody does…

✨ The strategy ✨

Here are 7 sites to “copy” from ↓

✓⃝ pfolios.net
✓⃝ pafolios.com
✓⃝ personalsit.es
✓⃝ bestfolios.com
✓⃝ prettyfolio.com
✓⃝ wallofportfolios.in
✓⃝ portfolioproject.io

The value isn’t only in their visuals.

It’s in their strategic decisions:

→ How they tell their story
→ How they guide attention
→ How they frame problems
→ How they quantify success
→ How they position their role
→ How they simplify complexity
→ How they highlight collaboration

A recruiter’s attention span = one TikTok swipe.

In 3 seconds, they need to see:

• You fix problems
• You know your process
• You can make business impact

If it’s clear → interview.
If not → next.

A good portfolio sells you in seconds.

It makes recruiters think:

“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘵. 𝘓𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.”

Summer is over.

School is officially in session.

Good luck kids!

—

P.S. In the comments, I tell you how to reverse-engineer great portfolios.

Cigna

I help clients create and execute customized engagement strategies. I leverage internal and external resources, analytics, and feedback loops to consistently improve outcomes and measurable results for my clients. I utilize problem solving and impactful story telling skills to back up creative, evidence based recommendations to stakeholders. In this position I work collaboratively with internal and external matrix partners and frequently facilitate idea generation sessions on both sides.

I have also had the opportunity to take on other projects outside my role, including:
- Designed engagement collateral custom client campaigns
- Contributed to the design, roll out, and national training of an Environmental Policy Toolkit and Environmental Assessment platform 
- Developed a 6 month, nationally implemented professional development curriculum and managed/coached 12 direct facilitator reports
- Served on Centralized Training Team to design and facilitate onboarding curriculum for new hires

Engagement Consultant II

Public Goods

Adapted desktop and mobile designs to reflect the shift from a member only to member optional business model. Redesigns include Homepage, PDP, PLP, Cart Drawer, and Order Summary.

UX Designer

Easy Expense

I'm worked as part of a 4 person design intern team in collaboration with development to redesign Easy Expense's website with the goal of increasing web traffic and conversion.

UX/UI Designer

Mizaru

During this 6 week internship I worked with a team of 2 other designers to conduct user interviews, secondary research, research synthesis (including affinity mapping and user journeys), and key business recommendations as the organization pursued problem identification in a new industry.

UX Researcher

City Year

• Facilitated student and staff education & co-working sessions including data analysis and program design
• Developed community partnerships by sitting on an Ambassador’s committee in order to spread awareness and fundraise through storytelling

Corps Member

Miami University

• Developed, facilitated, and evaluated health programs for Miami University faculty

Employee Benefits and Wellness

Vice President/Outreach 2016-2017
• Collaborated with like minded organizations to sponsor 4 health campaigns for Miami students

Peer Health Educator 2015-2016
• Facilitated and delivered over 25 programs for student body groups ranging from 4-200 individuals
• Held weekly team office hours to address walk in concerns and complete administrative tasks

HAWKS Peer Health Education

• Developed, implemented, and evaluated programs for groups of 29-37 residents, designing educational materials to be fun and engaging
• Facilitated student mediations and engaged in comprehensive relationship building/mentorship via
individual meetings and group discussions

Resident Assistant

St. Rita's Health Management Group

• Designed visually engaging patient education collateral, making complex concepts simple for the target user population.

Intern

National Student Leadership Conference

• Designed a 40+ page position manual, writing copy and illustrations
• Simultaneously managed needs of 4 program staffs with equipment set up/break down, material and classroom preparation, training, and transportation
• Liaison between the NSLC central office, Yale Conference and Events, and the Yale on-site office

Site Assistant

Samaritan's Suicide Hotline

• Designed press releases and marketing for Boston Marathon runners and volunteers

Hi, I'm Ashley!

I'm a UX Designer in the Seattle area currently looking for a UX / UI / Product Design role. I'm particularly passionate about safe and inclusive design, user advocacy, interaction design, and prototyping.

A bit about me:

I recently climbed an active volcano. It was 14,000 feet tall. Did I train for it? Nope. Did I learn my lesson? No, I still genuinely believe that I can do literally anything even if I've never done it before. What can I say? I'm a hands on learner! Throw me in and I'll figure it out. 

I'm curious, creative, and always craving a new challenge. In fact, learning new things is kind of my hobby. Just this year I've taught myself wood working, knitting, gardening, fell in love with reading again, and now I'm on to perfecting my homemade hummus recipe. I have to say though, I have a particular soft spot for power tools. 

What does all of this amount to? A fun, invested, and open minded team player with a strong growth mindset and an attitude for gratitude! Simply put, you want me on your team.

Do you know someone looking to grow their design team? Let's chat!

Some of my primary design skills include:

User Interviews
User Research
Affinity Maps
Empathy Maps
Personas
Journey Maps
User Stories
UserFlows
Sketching
Wireflows
Wireframes
Survey Design
Prototyping
High Fidelity UI Design
User Testing
Design Sprint

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Christopher Nguyen

Ashley Miller

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Christopher Nguyen's LinkedIn Performance

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