Now enrolling · Cohort 01

UX,
taught
without the
bullshit.

Six-week cohorts. Practical project work. Honest feedback. We teach the parts of UX that actually ship. From research that sticks to problem definition, metrics that matter and prototyping.

Find out more → See what we cover
Cohorts run4× / year
Class size30 max
Lead tutor10+ yrs in product

Most UX courses teach you
frameworks. We teach you
to do the work.

Lucid UX Lab is run by a working UX/UI designer with 3.5 years' teaching experience. Everything we teach we use ourselves on real client briefs. No bullshit here.

01 / Upcoming courses

UX design
courses.

Pick the one that matches where you actually are — not where you'd like to be on LinkedIn. If you're unsure, email and we'll tell you straight.

Flagship · 6 weeks Now enrolling
LUL-01 · Sept 2026

UX, Without
The Bullshit.

Our flagship cohort. Open to anyone wanting to upskill in UX — you don't need to be working in the industry already. Everyone works individually on the same real business brief, so by week six you've run a real interview, set the metrics that matter, and shipped a prototype on a project you can take into your portfolio.

6 weeksWed 9 Sept — Wed 14 Oct
£480tuition
You'll leave with
  • A user-interview transcript & insight wall
  • The ability to create flows with measurable wins
  • A working prototype reviewed live
  • A portfolio piece from a real business brief
  • Honest, plain-English feedback throughout
£480 tuition
Intensive · 3 weeks
LUL-R · Nov 2026

Research without personas.

Open to anyone wanting to upskill — designers, PMs, founders, career-switchers. No UX experience required. Learn to run interviews that produce decisions, not deliverables. Three weeks. Everyone works individually on the same real business brief. No persona templates.

3 weeksTue 3 Nov — Tue 17 Nov
£240tuition
You'll leave with
  • An interview script that doesn't lead
  • A written research debrief on a real business brief
  • A decision-making framework that fits one A4
  • A portfolio piece you can take with you
£240 tuition
In person · 2 days East London
LUL-W · Sept 2026

Whistle Stop UX Weekender.

Two in-person days in East London learning the core UX skills end-to-end — research, framing, sketching, prototyping, metrics. Open to anyone wanting to upskill; no UX experience required. Everyone works individually on the same real business brief over the weekend.

2 daysSat 26 — Sun 27 Sept
£180tuition
You'll leave with
  • The core UX process, end-to-end
  • Hands-on practice in research, framing, sketching
  • A portfolio piece from a real business brief
£180 tuition
1:1 · 60 min Available now
LUL-PR · Rolling

Portfolio review, straight.

Sixty minutes, one tutor, your portfolio open. We'll tell you what we'd cut, what we'd lead with, and what's stopping you from getting hired. No platitudes. Sessions booked on a rolling basis — slots usually within the week.

60 minBooking open
£75flat fee
You'll leave with
  • A prioritised list of what to fix
  • One case study restructured live
  • A recording of the call to keep
£75 per session
02 / What we cover

What we cover.

The six areas of UX practice we teach across our programmes. What you'll actually work on depends on the course you pick — each one zooms in on a different slice of the craft, with the depth and pace adjusted to fit. Email us if you'd like the full syllabus for any one of them.

Area
01

Research.

Running interviews that produce decisions, not quotes. Observation, recruiting, transcripts, and the questions that actually get useful answers.

Lives in:Flagship · Research intensive
Area
02

Synthesis.

From raw transcripts to an insight wall. Finding patterns without forcing them. Persona-free. No Post-it bingo, just decisions you can defend.

Lives in:Flagship · Research intensive
Area
03

Framing.

Defining a problem statement your team will agree with. Picking the metric that matters. One A4 your stakeholders will actually read in 90 seconds.

Lives in:Flagship
Area
04

Sketching.

Generating flows on paper before opening Figma. Picking one in 20 minutes. Arguing for it without ego. The thinking work most courses skip.

Lives in:Flagship
Area
05

Metrics.

Defining what "better" actually means before you ship. North stars, success metrics, leading vs lagging indicators — and how to argue for the right ones with stakeholders.

Lives in:Flagship · UX Weekender
Area
06

Storytelling.

Building a case study that doesn't lie. Presenting work to stakeholders. Handling the hard questions. Walking out with a portfolio piece that gets you hired.

Lives in:Flagship · Portfolio review
03 / What we believe

Six principles
for UX that ships.

Principle 01
Talk to
users.

Not about them. The shortest path to a good design decision runs through a person you've actually spoken to in the last month.

Principle 02
Frame the
problem first.

Most UX failures are problem-statement failures. Write the problem down before you draw a single rectangle. If it doesn't fit on an A4, it's not a problem yet.

Principle 03
Sketch before
you Figma.

Pixels make bad ideas look good. Generate ten options in pen before opening the file. Kill nine. Build the tenth.

Principle 04
Metrics
are UX.

If you don't know what "better" looks like, you can't tell when you've made it. Pick a metric you'd defend in a stand-up. Designs that don't move a number are decoration.

Principle 05
Prototype
to learn.

A prototype isn't a deliverable. It's a question. Ship it rough, put it in front of someone, change your mind in public. Pretty prototypes that nobody tests are decoration.

Principle 06
Edit
ruthlessly.

Every flow has too many steps. Every screen has too many elements. Every case study has too many slides. Cut the second draft in half. Do it again.

04 / Who's teaching

One tutor.
Same one every week.

No rotating roster, no guest "thought leaders." You'll learn from one senior designer for the full cohort.

Olivia Hall-Smith
Olivia
Hall-Smith
Founder ·
Lead tutor

A decade in product. 3.5 years teaching the people who do it next.

Olivia is a Senior Product Designer with over ten years shipping digital products across e-commerce, travel, freight, fintech, banking, transport and edtech — solving the kind of complex, messy problems that don't fit a case study. She tailors the work to the brief and the budget, not the other way round.

Alongside her client work she's spent the last 3.5 years teaching, running 12-week cohorts that walk adult learners through real client projects and into the tech industry. She's delivered seminars at the University of Essex, University of Westminster and Queen Mary, spoken on strategy at Women in Product, and run workshops with product managers and C-suite leaders on vision setting, data-driven decisions and building inclusive teams.

Senior Product Designer 10+ yrs in product 3.5 yrs teaching 100s of students helped Speaker · Women in Product Guest · Essex · Westminster · QMUL Based in London
05 / Frequently asked

Things people ask
before they sign up.

Do I need to be working in UX already?+
No. None of our courses require you to be working in UX. They're an opportunity to upskill, whether you're a designer wanting to go deeper, a PM or founder picking up the craft, or a career-switcher heading into the industry. We'll meet you where you are.
Will I have something to show at the end?+
Yes. Every course works from a real business brief, and everyone works on it individually — so you walk out with a portfolio piece you can actually use, not a fictional dog-walking app you share with the rest of the cohort.
What if I can't make the live sessions?+
Every session is recorded and posted within 24 hours. Slack is open all week for async questions. You can complete a cohort entirely on recordings — but those who attend live get more.
What's your refund policy?+
Full refund up until 48 hours before the first session. After that, a pro-rata refund for the weeks not completed, less an admin fee. We've never refused a sensible refund.
Will I get a certificate?+
No. We don't believe in them. You'll leave with shipped work and a case study — worth more than a PDF with our logo on it.
Do you offer scholarships?+
Yes. Two full scholarships per flagship cohort, prioritising designers from under-represented backgrounds. Email us with "scholarship" in the subject line. We respond to every application.