Frequently Asked Questions

 

So, what is this thing?

Baseline is a new way to learn design. It’s built on three core beliefs:

  • High-quality design curriculum should be available to everyone for free
  • Access to expert design coaching should be flexible and affordable
  • Online education should respect people’s rights, privacy, and autonomy

That’s why you can complete the whole course without having to pay anything, log in, or even provide your email address. We also don’t do any email marketing or use any aggressive sales tactics.

How’s this different from other online design bootcamps? Also, what’s a bootcamp?

A design bootcamp is a relatively long course — typically lasting between 3 and 12 months — which aims to teach a complete set of design skills. Bootcamps are often geared towards preparing students for an entry-level design job.

Here are some of the key differences between Baseline’s design bootcamp and many others on the market:

  • Baseline course materials are completely free. Many other bootcamps require you to pay thousands in tuition.

  • Our course materials have been created 100% from scratch, in-house, by our own team of expert design educators. Many other bootcamps fill out their curriculum with blog articles and other low-grade materials from the web.
  • We offer 1-to-1 coaching from just €30, with a choice of chat, audio, and video interfaces. Many other bootcamps require you to commit to an entire programme of coaching in advance, costing hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Why don’t you use video in your curriculum?

While video can be high-impact, it also tends to require little effort to engage with.

Most of us find it easier to watch TV than read a book, because we can consume video passively, whereas reading requires active mental work. For that reason, we believe there is more educational value in written content.

We are currently working on translations and audio versions of assignments. This work is scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.

I’m a professional designer and would like to use Baseline materials in my teaching. Am I allowed?

Yes, you are welcome to use our materials in this way. However, please note that all original materials on baselinehq.com remain copyrighted, so you may not reproduce, modify, or retail the materials themselves. Please just provide your students with links to our site. For full details, you can read our Terms of Service.

How does your pricing work?

Our coaching services are priced with the intention of covering our operating costs (staff salaries, website hosting, content maintenance, and other small overheads).

For those unable to pay, we devote 20% of our available coaching time to the provision of free sessions. You can find out more on our Free Sessions page.

Who made this?

Baseline is written, designed, and coded by Andrew Wilshere.