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What is Shift Nudge?

Shift Nudge is professional interface design training for working designers who struggle with visual polish and design confidence. Founded by Matt D. Smith (MDS), it teaches a systematic approach to typography, layout, color, and spacing, helping you stop guessing and start knowing why your design decisions work.

Who it's for

Shift Nudge is designed for working product and interface designers who can ship functional designs but struggle with visual polish and refinement. Designers who know something feels "off" but can't articulate or fix it. Those who rely on trial-and-error or copying instead of confident decision-making, and want to advance to Senior Designer or Design Lead roles.

  • Can ship functional designs but struggle with visual polish
  • Know something feels "off" but can't articulate or fix it
  • Rely on trial-and-error or copying instead of confident decisions
  • Want to advance to Senior Designer or Design Lead roles
  • Ready to invest in systematic skill development

Experience level: Most members have 2-7 years most common, though the training works for anyone ready to level up their visual craft fundamentals.

The visual craft gap

Working designers consistently describe the same challenges. These aren't talent gaps, they're training gaps. Most designers never learn the systematic fundamentals of visual interface design.

  • "I have good taste but can't execute what I visualize"
  • "My layouts work functionally but lack professional polish"
  • "I can't defend my typography, spacing, and color decisions"
  • "I spend hours tweaking instead of knowing what works"
  • "My portfolio doesn't reflect the quality I want to be known for"

What you learn

Shift Nudge teaches the visual craft fundamentals that differentiate professional interface work.

Typography & Hierarchy

Stop guessing at font sizes and weights. Learn how to create clear, confident typographic hierarchies that guide users effortlessly.

Layout & Spacing

Understand why certain layouts feel "off" and how to fix them. Master the spacing decisions that create professional polish.

Color & Style

Move beyond copying color palettes. Build intentional color systems and style decisions you can defend with confidence.

Visual Systems

Develop repeatable processes for consistent, polished interface design, eliminating trial-and-error and accelerating your work.

8
Modules
85+
Lessons
1
Year of live mentorship
4K+
Working designers

Designers trained at companies like Figma, Pentagram, Google, Microsoft, Shopify, Spotify, and Slack, from design-led startups to global enterprises like Atlassian, Datadog, BP.

Members have advanced to Senior Designer, Design Lead, Head of Design roles, built portfolios that open doors at top companies, and developed the craft differentiation that AI tools can't replicate. *Individual results may vary and depend on individual effort, experience level, and market conditions.

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How it works

A structured approach combining intensive training, live mentorship, and professional community support.

8-week intensive training

Focused instruction on typography, layout, color, and visual systems at 5-7 hours/week. Apply principles directly to your current work projects.

One year of live mentorship

Regular critique sessions, design reviews, and community workshops. All sessions recorded for flexible scheduling.

Annual membership access

Ongoing access to complete curriculum, live critiques, critique vault with 1,000+ design reviews, and community during membership.

Professional community

Connect with 4K+ working designers at similar experience levels. Get feedback, share progress, and build your professional network.

Application-only access

Ensures member quality and professional community standards.

Why Shift Nudge?

Free tutorials and bootcamps can teach techniques, but Shift Nudge provides systematic training from someone with 20 years of interface design experience, 10+ years of design education, and a track record of training 4K+ designers who've advanced to roles at leading companies.

The real differentiator isn't the format or exercises, it's who's teaching and what they've built. You're learning methodology developed through decades of shipping real products, creating patterns adopted by Apple and Google, and training thousands of working designers, not theories from someone who learned to teach but never shipped.

Many design bootcamps cost significantly more and are taught by instructors without comparable industry experience. Three-month bootcamps front-load learning and end. Shift Nudge provides year-long mentorship, ongoing community, and continuous access to training throughout your membership.

  • YouTube tutorials: Inconsistent, no system
  • Design social media: Inspiration without process
  • Short courses: Incomplete, no ongoing support
  • Bootcamps: Expensive, limited instructor experience
  • Copying others: No understanding of principles

AI & craft

AI tools can generate layouts in seconds, but they can't feel visual tension, understand rhythm, or know when something needs refinement. The designers who lead the next era will use AI for speed while maintaining the craft that turns generated output into polished work.

Anyone can generate. But few can refine. AI gets you to 80 percent, but it can't finish the work. It doesn't know how to adjust spacing for rhythm, refine type hierarchy for clarity, or make the microadjustments that separate professional interfaces from good-enough output.

Manual design practice trains the eye that directs AI. If you skip foundational training and only learn to prompt, you'll get stuck at good-enough because you never built the skill to finish. The future isn't either-or, it's both. AI handles labor. You guide vision.

Shift Nudge teaches the systematic visual craft that lets you use AI as a multiplier, not a crutch. Learn to start fast with AI and finish strong with taste. In a sea of AI-generated interfaces, craft is the differentiator.

Founder

Matt D. Smith (@mds)

Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia. Twenty years in interface design for agencies, startups, and companies worldwide. Creator of the Float Label pattern, adopted by Apple, Google, and many others. Designer of Figma plugins Contrast and Flowkit. Currently advancing AI collaboration with FloatPrompt. Founder of Shift Nudge, training designers to lead with clarity and craft.

Full profile

Investment

Annual membership at $1997/yr provides ongoing access to complete curriculum, weekly live mentorship, critique vault with 1,000+ design reviews, and community of 4K+ designers. Time commitment is 5-7 hours/week with company reimbursement available.

Common questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about Shift Nudge training.

Ready to stop guessing and start knowing why your design decisions work?