Coaching

For designers & leaders navigating a moment with no clear map — who want to find their way back to work that feels like theirs again.

A 1:1 coaching practice for designers facing an industry that's moving faster than anyone can explain. We build a steadier read of where things are heading — and the internal compass to move with it.
Alex M. Chong

Hi, I'm Alex — I coach designers and creative leaders who want to find their bearings and take their creative growth back into their own hands.

About Coach Alex

I've spent over a decade working with designers across industry, education, and community — directing design practices, consulting for Fortune 500 companies, developing curriculum that's reached 300+ students, and, still today, advising teams through the changes the whole field is trying to make sense of.

That range of experience gave me an unusually wide vantage point on how designers grow, stall, and find their way — and it's what I bring into every coaching engagement.

Most designers expect their growth to come from their job — and that's exactly why so many feel stuck. I offer what employers were never designed to provide: a design director whose only agenda is your growth.

The Transformation

Arrive barely alive

Most designers reach out in a moment of disorientation — assuming they need a new job or a better title, while the path forward has gone unclear and the people who used to point the way don't seem to have the answer either. What usually surfaces in the first few sessions is something underneath that: a creative life handed over to output, and a growing distance from work that once felt like theirs.

  • Lost direction
  • Creative numbness
  • Industry anxiety
  • Going through the motions
  • Leadership isolation
  • Value misalignment
Reclaim vital capacity

Feeling depleted isn't a lack of energy — it's a capacity problem. We identify what's quietly consuming yours, and remove it.

Drain sources

Remaining capacity

Drain removed

Reclaimed capacity

  • Drain — misaligned work, unmet creative needs
  • Available creative capacity
Creative invigoration

Creativity is exciting — most designers who've lost that feeling haven't lost the capacity for it, they've lost the conditions. Creativity was never only something you bring to the job; it's a way of being alive that the work has quietly been spending. The aim is to restore it in your life — and let your work draw from it again.

  • Self-authorship
  • Craft & expression
  • Meaning in work
  • Creative identity
  • Sustained practice

The Feedback Loop

calibrating your own compass
bearings you learn to trust
Uncover

Together, we surface what achievement means to you

Examine

We look at what's driving you and what's draining you

Co-process

We work through it — I bring perspective, you bring direction

Recalibrate

As you grow, we adjust and deepen the work

Each round builds more clarity than the last.

What Clients Come To Me For

What Clients Say

Frequently Asked

What is coaching, and how is it different from mentorship?

Coaching is a sustained relational practice built around your own definition of achievement — a continuous working relationship with targeted feedback and a framework for action that's entirely yours. A mentor shares the path they walked; coaching helps you find and walk your own.

I'm a senior designer — shouldn't I have this figured out by now?

No. Seniority means you've developed real craft and navigated real complexity — it doesn't mean the deeper questions of creative identity and meaning resolve themselves. Most of the designers I work with are highly capable people who have simply never had the space to examine what they actually want from their work.

What does a coaching session actually look like?

Each session is a co-processing conversation — we work through what's live for you, examine what's underneath it, and close with a set of actions to explore before we meet again. Structured but not prescriptive. The direction always comes from you.

What is creative invigoration, and how is it different from recovering from burnout?

Burnout recovery is about getting back to baseline — easing the immediate depletion. Creative invigoration is a different aim: the return of a genuine, self-authored aliveness — the kind that doesn't depend on your job to supply it, and that your work gets to draw from once it's there.

How does AI fit into your coaching practice?

The anxiety most designers feel about AI right now is real — and it's also one of the most clarifying entry points into understanding your own creative value. My coaching helps clients build a healthy, generative relationship with AI tools that enhances their thinking rather than replacing it.

Who do you coach?

Designers and design leaders at the intermediate through leadership level — those established in the industry looking to grow within their circumstances. I work primarily with UX designers and researchers, and also with creatives in adjacent fields. Single-session consultations are available for those earlier in their career.

How long does a coaching engagement typically last?

It varies — and that's intentional. Some clients come for a focused three-month engagement around a specific transition. Others work with me on an ongoing basis as their practice evolves. We start with a complimentary conversation, and if it's a fit, I'll propose a structure that reflects where you are.

Are you a motivational coach?

No. My practice is grounded in self-determination theory — working with your existing motivation and building sustainable psychological foundations beneath it. The goal is self-motivation that doesn't require someone standing over you to maintain.

Will you help me find a job or get a promotion?

That's not the focus of this practice. Some coaches specialize in placement and title — the resume, the portfolio, the interview. My work sits in a different place: the creative identity and values that make a career meaningful. Clearer direction and better opportunities tend to follow from that, as a natural result rather than the starting point.

What if we don't work well together?

The complimentary first conversation exists precisely to figure that out. No pressure, no obligation. If it doesn't feel like the right fit, I'll say so honestly — and I'm happy to point you toward coaches I know and trust so you're not left without options.

Book a Complimentary Consultation

A 30–45 minute conversation to talk through where you are. You'll get a clear sense of how the practice works and whether it's the right fit. If it isn't, I'll let you know — and point you somewhere that is.

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