Designed is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit building an educational platform for designers — the only charity doing it. Our mission is to empower the designers of tomorrow through free educational tools and mentoring, with a focus on equal-opportunity access for designers everywhere, not just where design jobs happen to already be concentrated.

Practically, that mission shows up as a handful of connected apps under one account:

Most of it is free to browse without an account. Creating one unlocks personalization — saved progress, following categories and communities, submitting critique or a mentor application, and so on. See [Creating your account](/help/getting-started/creating-your-account) to get set up.

Designed is entirely donor- and volunteer-supported. If you'd like to help keep it free for everyone, see [Membership & Donations](/help/membership-donations).

What Designed is, who it's for, and what you can do here.

Welcome to Designed

Head to [/join](/join) to create an account. You can sign up with an email address and password, or use **Sign in with Google**, **Sign in with LinkedIn**, or **Sign in with Facebook** to skip picking a password entirely.

If you're setting a password, it needs to include:

The signup form checks each of these live as you type, so you'll know before you submit whether your password qualifies.

After signing up with email/password, we'll send a verification email — click the link in it to confirm the address is yours. You can also sign in without a password at all using a one-time link; see [Signing in and passwordless login](/help/getting-started/signing-in-and-passwordless).

Once you're verified, you'll land in a short onboarding flow that sets up your profile — see [Completing your profile](/help/getting-started/completing-your-profile).

Sign up with email and password, or with Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

Creating your account

Right after you create an account, we walk you through a handful of quick steps to set up your profile: an intro, some basics about you, your location, your social/portfolio links, your experience, and a final profile step before you land in the app.

None of this is a test — it's what powers the rest of the platform. Your topics and experience level are what [Learning Paths](/learning-paths) filters against, your location and timezone help match you with [mentors](/our-mentors) in a workable timezone, and your social links are what other members see on your profile.

If you get interrupted partway through, you can pick it back up any time — you'll land back in the flow the next time you sign in until it's complete. You can also fill in or change any of this later from [Settings](/help/account-settings/updating-your-profile).

The short onboarding walk-through after you sign up.

Completing your profile

You can sign in at [/login](/login) with your email and password, or with **Google**, **LinkedIn**, or **Facebook** if that's how you originally signed up.

Don't want to manage a password at all? Choose passwordless sign-in and we'll email you a one-time link — click it and you're in, no password needed.

Use **Forgot password** on the sign-in screen. We'll email you a reset link; opening it lets you set a new password immediately.

Once signed in, you can change your password any time from Settings — see [Password and sign-in](/help/account-settings/password-and-sign-in).

Password sign-in, one-time login links, and third-party sign-in.

Signing in and passwordless login

The top navigation is grouped into four sections, plus a fifth "Learn More" group tucked into the footer:

Once you're signed in, the header also gives you quick access to **Donate** (the heart icon) and this **Help** center (the question-mark icon) from anywhere in the app, plus your avatar for account settings.

Can't find something? Use the search box on the [Help home page](/help) — it searches every article across every section at once.

How the top navigation is organized, and where each app lives.

Finding your way around

Everything you need for your first week on Designed — creating an account, finishing your profile, and figuring out where things live.

Getting Started

Welcome to Designed

Creating your account

Completing your profile

Signing in and passwordless login

Finding your way around

We are the only 501(c)(3) charity building a diverse design community and platform of educational tools and mentoring.