TL;DR: Design Strategy School by Davey and Krista is a self-paced, 9-module program that teaches designers to design, price, sell, and deliver strategic brands and Showit websites, plus the studio systems behind them. You compete on impact, not style.
Design Strategy School: Build a Profitable Design Studio
Most courses teach you to make pretty things. The design strategy school approach here is different, because it treats design as a tool that solves business problems, not a trend you chase. Davey and Krista take you from fundamentals through launching a live brand and Showit site, then hand you the studio systems that turn good work into paid work. It is for designers tired of guessing at prices and competing on aesthetics alone, the same shift toward strategic website design that turns layouts into conversion tools, and that positioning is why we shortlist it among the design-studio mentorships we cover.
What You Learn Inside the Program
The curriculum splits across two skill sets that usually live in separate courses: the craft and the business. You build brands and websites rooted in strategy, learn to sell brand strategy as the foundation of the work, create a portfolio that pulls in higher-caliber clients, price and sell without feeling salesy, deliver a polished client experience, and talk through your choices like a creative director.
That blend is the strongest argument for Design Strategy School. A designer who can only execute stays a freelancer; one who can frame, sell, and deliver runs a studio.
Complete Course Breakdown
This is a self-paced, video-heavy program of nine modules, and we inspected the listing to confirm the scope. Here is every module in the design strategy school curriculum, one line each:
- Studio CEO Essentials – set up pricing, workflows, and client systems that sell for you.
- Design Principles – master the principles that make work feel intentional and high-end.
- Elements of Design – use color, type, layout, and spacing to support conversion.
- Brand and Logo Design – build strategic brand concepts, not just logos.
- Customize a Showit Site – create and launch Showit websites that convert.
- Marketing for Designers – get found online and create content that drives inquiries.
- Build Your Mailing List – grow an email list and automate sequences that sell.
- Paid Advertising – design on-brand ads and understand targeting and tracking.
- Portfolio Projects – work through real scenarios to build a strategic body of work.
Module Five, the Showit build, surprised us most, since a strategic web design walkthrough is rare at this depth, and it pairs well with the same team’s Showit template customization training if you want to monetize that skill.
Who It Is For
The program covers a wide skill range, but it is not for everyone. It fits best if you are:
- A beginner opening Illustrator for the first time who wants a structured path.
- A freelance designer who undercharges and wants a real design studio business system.
- An established studio wanting repeatable client workflows.
- A designer adding Showit web design, marketing, email, or ads to your offer.
Who it is not for: if you have already drilled the craft side through something like the LogoCore logo design masterclass and run a booked-out studio with tight systems, parts of this will repeat what you know. The value sits in the gap between competent designer and confident studio owner.
About Davey and Krista
Davey and Krista are brand and web design educators who run their own studio. They built the program on what they describe as 15-plus years of real client work, distilled into a repeatable framework. We treat that as their stated background rather than an independently verified fact, but the curriculum reads like it comes from people who have delivered client projects. Design is a recognized professional discipline, and bodies such as the AIGA frame it the way this course does, as strategic problem-solving rather than decoration.
Design Strategy School: Common Questions Answered
What is Design Strategy School?
A step-by-step program with nine self-paced modules that teach you to design, price, sell, and deliver strategic brands and websites, then run the studio behind them.
Is Design Strategy School worth it?
If you want craft and business in one place, yes. Nine modules span fundamentals, a live Showit build, and studio systems like pricing, marketing, email, and ads. Few single programs combine all of that.
Is Design Strategy School legit?
Yes. It is created by working design educators Davey and Krista, and we verified the deliverables directly: nine modules of self-paced video covering execution and business.
How long does it take to complete?
It is self-paced, so you set the speed across the nine modules and move through it around client work.
What makes it different?
It teaches design as strategy that solves business problems, pairing brand, logo, and Showit execution with the studio business system most programs leave out.
The Bottom Line on Design Strategy School
If you can execute clean design but freeze on pricing, selling, and client systems, Design Strategy School closes that gap better than most. Start with Module One, build through the Showit launch, and finish with a portfolio you can put in front of premium clients.
