Design education, sized for a commute.
Most people who want to learn design in India have two options: a three-hour video course they will not finish, or a degree they cannot afford. SHFTPLAY is the third option.
The problem with video
Video is a terrible format for reference material. You cannot skim it, you cannot search it, and you cannot open it for ninety seconds on a bus. The completion rate on long-form online courses is famously dismal, and it is not because the people who buy them lack discipline — it is because the format demands a kind of attention that ordinary life does not leave room for.
What we did instead
Every idea in a SHFTPLAY course is one card. A claim, an illustration, and the example that makes the claim land. You swipe through them the way you already read your phone. A chapter takes a few minutes. A module takes a week of those few minutes.
At the end of every chapter there are questions — not vocabulary tests, but the kind of judgement calls the principle actually shows up in. Getting one wrong is the point; the explanation is where the learning happens.
How we charge
One payment, lifetime access to the course you pick. No subscription, no expiry, and everything added to that course later is included. Module 1 of any course is free, because you should be able to find out whether this works for you before paying anything.
We sell on this website rather than inside the app. App store commissions run between 15% and 30%; selling here means a course can cost what it costs. See the pricing.
Where it is going
Design is live now. Law, Finance, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence are being written. One course is active at a time, and switching keeps your progress on each — so starting a second course never costs you the first.
Who is behind it
SHFTPLAY is built in India by a very small team. If you have found a card that is wrong, a topic we have missed, or a course you wish existed, we would genuinely like to hear it: hello@shftplay.com.