SYSTEMS THINKING FOR DESIGNERS WITH DEADLINES
A video course library for designers that want to design more than just screens, but design connected and unified products.
Change how you think about design?
Right now, you design with screens, colors, words, boxes, cards. After System Design Lab, you’ll design the hidden system underneath that makes or breaks a product.
If you change your thinking, you can’t get your old mindset back.
One of the most in-demand DESIGN skills HAS almost nowhere to learn it...
45+
of hiring managers rank systems thinking in their top 5 desired skills in the AI era.
~55%
of current senior design job postings mention system thinking.
Until now
Leveling up systems thinking for teams at
Built from practice, not academia
Most systems thinking courses and articles are written by people who study systems, not designers in 2-week sprints. We turn systems thinking into an everyday practice, not just academic theory.
Complex ideas, plain language
Learning about systems thinking shouldn't feel like getting a PhD. System Design Lab uses plain, accessible language, and sometimes jokes, to turn boring theoretical lectures into engaging discussions that anyone can understand.
Walk away with something Monday morning
Learning that doesn't change your work isn't worth your time. Every lesson ends with a tool, framework, new way of seeing, or idea you can apply the next day.
Who is system design lab for?
This is for you if...
- You ship products, but feel like you're designing pieces without seeing the whole
- You sit in design reviews and know something is wrong that has nothing to do with design, but you don't know how to describe it.
- You've been interested in systems thinking, but it feels too academic to apply on Monday morning.
- You work in fast-paced teams where discovery and time is tight.
- You want to think differently, not just follow a new framework.
- You're building with AI and can never put your thumb on why what it builds feels close, but not right.
Why learn from me?
I’m Dave Connis, founder of System Design Lab, and I didn’t learn what I teach in a bootcamp or classroom.
When I started my tech career in code, object-oriented programming gave me a systems thinking mindset that I’ve spent years trying to develop and apply in real fast-paced day-to-day product design work. When I wanted to learn more, systems thinking content was so boring and academic I lost interest fast or didn’t feel like I was smart enough to understand how to apply it. I tried certification programs and courses, all of them were so comprehensive that it felt like I was getting quantum mathematics when my day-to-day reality only had space for addition and subtraction.
After 10+ years in UX and design, System Design Lab is what actually worked. It’s not comprehensive frameworks that breakdown the moment a PM says “this needs to be done by tomorrow.” It’s not abstract theories that require PhDs to apply them, or feel too ambiguous to use on Monday morning. It’s practical everyday thinking that changes what you see when you look at a product.
SDL is for designers who don’t need another framework or academic theory, but a perspective shift in how they see and design products. It’s practical systems thinking that you can apply when you’re staring down a deadline in the trenches of a flow with 5+ stakeholders telling you different requirements.
- 10+ years in UX, content design, and product design
- Contributor, 97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know (O'Reilly)
- Multi-course author, UX Content Collective
- Former design system lead