Can I work on my own project in the short courses?

Each of our short courses has a complete curriculum of lessons and hands-on projects. Although standard briefs are provided for each project, most mentors will be happy to work with you on your own project. For example, you might want to work on a website or app design for a side project you’re undertaking.

If you do plan to work on your own project, make sure to let your mentor know right away at the start of the course. That way, they’ll be able to steer your work towards your planned deliverables from the beginning.

Note that sometimes your mentor might push back. If they feel that the project you’re suggesting is too big to tackle during a short course, they might encourage you to work on the standard briefs instead.

If you’re struggling to see eye-to-eye with your mentor about your aims for the course, let us know and we’ll help you resolve things.

Another factor to consider is that Designlab courses work by you uploading submissions to a public platform, where your work can be viewed by others. This is a core part of our learning model, which allows students and mentors to learn from one another’s work. Therefore, if the project you have in mind is confidential or commercially sensitive, it won’t be suitable to use as coursework.