Erik Kennedy

Erik D. Kennedy is a freelance UX/UI designer based in Seattle and the creator of Learn UI Design, an in-depth video course that teaches visual interface design through practical, tactical rules rather than abstract art-school theory. The course is his main business, with more than 5,000 students and 36+ hours of video lessons.

He trained as an engineer and worked as a developer before moving into design. Finding traditional advice about colour theory, grids and the golden ratio unhelpful, he developed his own methods built on close analysis of good designs, questioning gut reactions and lots of practice. His article 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI, written for developers, spread widely and preceded the course, which took him about 11 months to build.

He has since added sister courses Learn UX Design and Landing Page Academy, a set of free design tools such as an accessible colour generator and gradient generators, and the Design Hacks newsletter, which has more than 60,000 readers. He also designed Figtree, a free geometric sans-serif typeface released on Google Fonts in 2022.

Alongside teaching he continues to freelance, with past clients including Amazon, Soylent and GiveWell, and his design writing has appeared in Smashing Magazine and A List Apart.