Hi — we’re
Nate and Tim.
Design Shaped is our community for designers reaching for the next level. We go live every Friday at 11am PT inside Design Buddies: portfolio and resume reviews, plus candid talk about hiring, leveling, and what the job actually asks for. It’s free, always.
How the heck did this get started?
We don’t even really know. We hosted a portfolio review session, and over 200 people showed up. People seemed to really like that we were anti “portfolio-roast we will attack you” and more on the “we want to help you, so let’s talk about what would probably work for you.” We ran out of time, so we decided to host a follow-up session, and even more people came to that one.
Put this on repeat. You basically have the whole of it.
But when we saw how consistent some of the problems were and how helpful the feedback was for people, we organized it into what we call Design Shaped — just a free place for people to get help and learn.
It had started with being about resumes and portfolios, but now we talk about AI, code, design principles, animation, and what it’s like to actually get a job. Kind of everything.
So join us every Friday at 11am PT inside Design Buddies and on YouTube. Bring your portfolio or your resume and jump on camera and chat with us. We even have guests occasionally.
Nate Bauer
Principal product designer
I’m a principal product designer. Most of my career has been enterprise healthcare: messy systems, high stakes, the kind of product where a confusing flow actually hurts people. On the side I run free design education — lectures, studio tours, and a lot of 1:1s — which is how I ended up on a Friday call every week.
I watch for whether you can explain a decision, not whether the case study looks expensive. Bring the work. I’ll tell you what I’d change, and why.
Tim Gailey
Founding & lead product designer
I’m a founding & lead product designer. I spend my days on 0→1 and turnaround work — AI products, training tools, B2B workflows — and my Friday mornings talking about AI and design intent. I think like a researcher and obsess like a scientist.
I got here through sort of a weird path: teacher, healthcare, landscaping, running a small business. That mix is important. Designer, parent, keyboard enthusiast, occasional longboarder. If it helps you ship, I’ll talk about it.
Join the community
Live calls every Friday at 11am PT inside Design Buddies, focusing on portfolio & resume reviews and applied AI. Drop your email and we’ll keep you in the loop on new stuff we’re doing here too, or jump straight into the Discord.
Check out our resources.
Positioning, resume bullets, research methods, portfolio metrics, team structures, levels, and titles — the frameworks from the Friday calls, built to use in the browser.
Browse all resources
