Designed Forward
A free peer community for designers with portfolio feedback, jobs board, and coaching
Designed Forward is Matt Karakilic's community for designers and design-adjacent professionals who want honest feedback and real career support. Free members get peer portfolio reviews, a curated jobs board, and community resources. The paid Community+ tier adds live monthly group Q&A and one-on-one coaching, giving members direct access to an 18+ year UX veteran as they navigate their next career step.
Outcomes
- Get honest, actionable feedback on your portfolio
- Access curated design job postings with guidance
- Get direct coaching access to a UX veteran
What's included?
Live Q&A & Hot Seat Sessions (2× Monthly)
Two live sessions every month. One where the community digs into real challenges together. One where Matt works directly with members — reviewing work, positioning, and next moves — with direct, honest feedback on the spot.
24/7 Access to Matt AI
Stuck at midnight figuring out your next career move? Matt AI is trained on everything Matt has built and learned through hundreds of 1:1 sessions — available whenever you need it, responding the way he would.
Resources Built From the Community, For the Community
Resources are shaped by the real questions and challenges members bring — templates, frameworks, and breakdowns that reflect what people are actually working through. Not what a content calendar decided you should want.
Curated Opportunities Worth Your Time
Not every listing that hits the feed — the ones worth actually applying for. Real leads, not noise. And where possible, who the hiring manager or recruiter is — because knowing who to send your resume to is the golden ticket
People Who Are Actually Moving Forward — With You
A space to share your work, ask the honest questions you can't ask on LinkedIn, find collaborators, and get feedback from people who genuinely want to see you win. Not a lurk-and-scroll feed — an actual community.
Who is this for?
- New graduates entering the design job market
- Career changers transitioning into UX or design
- Mid-career and senior designers evaluating next steps
About the creator
Matt Karakilic
UX design mentor with 18+ years of experience, founder of Designed Forward.
Matt Karakilic is a UX design veteran and mentor who built Designed Forward to give designers at every career stage an honest, supportive peer community and direct coaching access. With 18+ years in UX, Matt shaped the community around the kind of ho...