Two years ago, I almost quit Design Buddies. The community brought people together who tried to break it apart. I felt like a failure and felt betrayed from people whom I thought were my friends. 

I’m glad they did it so publicly, because after, I had many friends reaching out to me in support. They motivated me to keep going, and are the reason why I didn’t quit. 

I took Design Buddies even further. It helped me quit my job, taken me around the world, create more epic events & experiences, go viral, and help more designers land jobs. 

I had a thought of sharing this giant exposé. But I can barely remember what happened. I don’t have any purpose to share. I’ve moved on from it. I’m grateful for them for teaching me a great lesson when I had nothing to loose. 

Overall, it taught me: Not everyone is your target audience. Focus on creating something valuable and having fun. 

Pacific Northwest travels & Design Buddies events

I recently went to Vancouver to speak at the UX x UX conference and hosted a fun Design Buddies meetup! I gave a short talk about building side projects as a designer. 

It was also fun to hang out with my long time internet friends from Vancouver! Shoutout to Eric, Dex, Jarrell, Josh, Justin, Irem, Calvin, Jordan, Leticia, and the Vancouver Design Community for the fun experiences~

Went to these dope places: Capilano suspension bridge, vibed around downtown, ran around Stanley park and false creek and the whole bay, went to some tech events to feel the vibes, went to Granville Island, tried Tim Hortons, and hung out with my buddies

Then I headed to Seattle to cowork with my Cofounder Leon for Design Buddies + UXGO. We jammed on a bunch of things and our roadmap. I’m very excited to be launching more educational programs with Design Buddies and partner with early stage startups!

We also threw a fun launch party in Seattle on my birthday, I got to meet many long time Design Buddies members! 

We’re also launching a new 10 week design project cohort to help you learn UX design while shipping real products! Our cohort starts Oct 18, 2024. Apply here: https://www.ux-go.com/uxgo-2025/10-week-internship-course 

In Seattle, I also got to hang out with my long time internet friend, Zosh, right before he moved to India! We explored Gasworks Park, University of Washington, and the Selfie Museum. We got many great LinkedIn photos~! :D 

Then I went back home to San Francisco for 2 weeks before heading to Asia for 2 months+

We hosted a designing in startups event with speaker Akhil. Thank you Jenn for cohosting with me and Manvi for the photos!

Okay, this actually all happened end Aug - mid Sep. I’ve been living in the moment and need to catch up! I’ve been traveling in Asia for 2 weeks now and went to Seoul and Singapore. Now I’m in Bali for a month. I’ve got some fun stories to share that will come in my next newsletter. Stay tuned!

I’m Grace Ling, a designer, founder, and content creator. I founded Design Buddies (150,000+ members, 2 million+ on socials). I have been yelling on the internet since 2014. These days, I share about design, community, and lifestyle. I’ve been to almost 40 countries. I travel around the world to speak at conferences and throw parties. I also like to draw and run!

I hope you slay your day! Feel free to also stay in touch on socials: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter.