Hey and welcome back to another week! 👋 

2025 is coming to a close and what a year it’s been for Open Doors, design and the job market. There is lots to reflect on which I’ll do in a different space but I wanted to thank everyone reading this every week, clicking ads here to keep the lights on and generally being super supportive. I’ve brought many folks into jobs this year and I’m incredibly proud of that. I hope that in 2026 I can scale this somehow but one step at a time.

As a service announcement: next week’s issue will be the last for the year until I’m back on January 7.

In this issue:

• Not Sure About Your Christmas Wishes?: Here are my top tools, courses and communities in a handy gift guide. For almost all I was able to secure a discount for my readers too and in one case a few of you can even get something for free 👀 !

• Nimisha’s Portfolio: A calm and clearly focussed portfolio that deserves a spotlight.

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A Designer’s 2025 Gift Guide: Tools Worth Giving (or Getting) 🎁

Christmas is around the corner, the year is nearly over, and this is the penultimate issue before we wrap up 2025. If you’re anything like my readers, you’ve probably spent the last two weeks watching Black Week come and go while trying not to buy anything—and now suddenly people are asking what they can get you for Christmas, or you’re considering gifting something to yourself (which, by the way, you absolutely should if it helps your career).

The problem: everything is back to full price.

The good news: I’ve collected a handful of products where I can still offer discounts—or where the value massively outweighs the cost either way.

These aren’t random picks. Every product in this guide has been vetted by me personally, and each one meaningfully levels up your skills, confidence, and opportunities as a junior or early-career designer. They cover slightly different needs, so depending on where you are right now—learning, portfolio-building, job hunting, or finally taking prototyping seriously—you’ll find at least one thing here that hits the mark.

For those always wanting to try Lovable I have a little gift in there even so make sure to check that out 👀 !

Let’s get into it.

DesignerUp – The Most Comprehensive Course for New & Emerging Designers

If you’re at the very beginning of your UX/UI/product design journey—or you’ve self-taught your way into a shaky foundation—this is the single best course you can take. Full stop.

I’ve vetted a lot of design courses. DesignerUp, created by Elizabeth Alli, is the only one I consistently recommend as the “complete package.” Elizabeth is an exceptional designer and an even better educator. You may know her from YouTube, but the course goes far beyond anything she shares publicly.

The strength of DesignerUp is not that it teaches you the fundamentals (many courses do). It’s that it teaches you the right fundamentals—including the business mindset, structured processes, templates, organisation systems, and real-world considerations most junior designers completely overlook.

And the one thing that sets it apart in this price range: 1:1 feedback from Elizabeth herself.

That alone makes the course worth it, because good critique early in your career saves months of wasted effort.

This is not a quick crash course. Most learners spend months with it—because it’s packed with depth, systems, templates, and material you’ll revisit again and again, even two years later. You also come out with one or two genuinely portfolio-ready projects.

Who this is for / when to buy

If you’re starting from zero, still building your portfolio, not feeling “job-ready,” or lacking structure in how you work, this is the product for you. It’s also the perfect “gift you can justify to yourself,” because the long-term payoff is enormous.

Uxcel – The Best Ongoing Upskilling Platform
for Designers

If DesignerUp is the deep, structured foundation, Uxcel is the skill-building machine you’ll keep coming back to.

Their Pro subscription gives you access to a huge catalogue of practical courses—UI design, UX fundamentals, accessibility, visual design, interaction design, and now PM and AI skills. The latter two are far more relevant for designers in 2026 than most people realise. PM skills are a superpower in early-stage environments, and AI literacy is becoming a baseline requirement rather than a plus.

What makes Uxcel so strong is the format:

short, focused lessons → immediate application → certificate → repeat.

If you’re working on your portfolio and you want to “patch” a specific weakness—UI craft, research methods, product thinking, whatever—Uxcel lets you do exactly that without committing to a months-long program.

Who this is for / when to buy

If you already have the basics but want to level up specific skills quickly—especially UI design—this is perfect. It’s also ideal for anyone who wants to add recognisable certificates to their portfolio or resume while improving the actual underlying skills.

IntoUX.design – The Best Community
For Job-Searching Designers

This is one I haven’t talked about enough—but should have.

IntoUX.design, created by Anfisa, is one of the most active and effective design job-search communities out there.

If you’re in the job search, you already know how isolating it can be. IntoUX solves that with:

• A genuinely active and supportive community

• Regular events, workshops, and hackathons

• Job search guidance and strategy

• Portfolio reviews and practical sessions

• A year of Figma Pro included

• Access to online courses and Framer sessions

• And a constant stream of success stories

You learn from Anfisa, from senior designers, and from peers who are in the same boat. And because everyone is focused on the same mission—getting hired—it creates accountability and momentum you simply do not get when searching alone.

Who this is for / when to buy

If you’re currently job searching, feeling isolated, unstructured, overwhelmed, or stuck, joining this community is one of the highest-ROI decisions you can make. It’s also a fantastic gift from one designer to another.

Framer – The Best Portfolio Builder
(and So Much More)

You’ve heard me say this before: if you’re building a design portfolio today, the best tool—period—is Framer.

Over the last two years, Framer has grown from a niche prototyping tool into a powerhouse that can rival Figma for interface work, while completely outclassing every other website builder in terms of interactivity, animation, speed, and publishing.

For portfolio designers specifically, Framer hits the perfect balance:

• You can build a highly custom, polished portfolio on the free plan

• You can use templates if you’re overwhelmed—no shame in that

• You can import Figma designs using their plugin

• You can add animations and motion without touching code

• You can publish instantly without wrestling a CMS

And if you’re a university student: Framer Pro is completely free for you.

Yes—an actual Pro plan, not a reduced student trial. Make sure to check out the student program.

But the real leverage is this:

If you learn Framer well, you can freelance with it. You can sell templates. You can build marketing pages for clients. Designers who master Framer are consistently opening new income streams.

Who this is for / when to buy

If you don’t have a portfolio yet, start now—on the free plan, no excuses.

If you want to freelance in 2026, learning Framer is one of the smartest bets you can make as well.

If you already have a portfolio on another platform consider a switch but only if you really feel like spending time on that right now.

Lovable – The Tool That Defines How Designers Will Build in 2026

Lovable is the most exciting new tool of 2025, and the one I’ve personally spent the most time teaching. If DesignerUp teaches you the foundations and Uxcel sharpens your skills, Lovable gives you something entirely different:

The ability to build real apps, prototypes, tools, and products without a developer.

Not in the “no-code 2019” sense of stitching together limited blocks.

In the vibe-coding sense: describe what you want, refine the code it generates, and iterate faster than you ever could in Figma.

For designers, this is a shift in power. You can:

• Prototype things Figma simply cannot express

• Validate ideas with functional flows, not simulated ones

• Build side projects that would normally require a dev

• Create tools for your own workflow

• Build small apps for freelance clients

• Test product concepts at your job without engineering resourcing

I’ve used Lovable extensively this year at my day job to test ideas, build complex prototypes, and remove engineering bottlenecks—and it’s been an absolute game-changer. And we’re still at the very beginning. 2026 will be a massive year for Lovable.

Who this is for / when to buy

If you want to build real things—products, prototypes, side projects, tools—Lovable is the platform to learn now, not later. And for designers, especially juniors, this skill compounds extremely quickly.

P.S.

I will absolutely run more content and workshops on Lovable in 2026 so if you are looking to upskill in this area, go and try for yourself and watch this space.

Closing Thoughts

If someone asks you what you want for Christmas this year, send them this list.

If you want to gift something meaningful to yourself, pick one thing here that aligns with your next step: learning, building your portfolio, job searching, or prototyping real products.

Even one of these tools can meaningfully change your trajectory.

Together, they cover almost everything a junior or early-career designer needs to get unstuck, level up, or move faster in 2026.

👀 Portfolio Showcase

Today: Nimisha Malreddy

Nimisha Malreddy is a product designer based in New York with a Master’s in UX Design from Pratt Institute. Her most visible experience comes from designing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art — and her portfolio leans into that strength in all the right ways. She presents herself as someone who cares deeply about inclusive experiences, and the work she showcases consistently reinforces that narrative.

This is a grounded, well-assembled portfolio. It avoids flash-for-flash’s-sake and instead relies on solid storytelling, clear structure, and strong fundamentals. It doesn’t try to overwhelm, yet it’s memorable because of the substance and consistency behind every case study.

Let’s look at what makes this portfolio strong — and where a few strategic adjustments could help it level up further.

That’s it for this week—thanks so much for the support! ♥️

Do you want your own portfolio reviewed in-depth with a 30-minute advice-packed video review? Or do you require mentoring to figure out a proper strategy for your job search?

I got you!

• Book an in-depth portfolio or resume review with me

• Book a mentoring session with me

• Book a quick 15 min chat to ask a question and see if we vibe

Keep kicking doors open and see you next week!
- Florian