onlincourse

Introduction to UX Design

Discover how good user experience leads to increased sales as you explore and develop the critical skills of a UX designer, utilising industry-relevant content.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Explore the fundamentals of user experience design

On this four-week course, created in collaboration with Canva, you’ll learn how UX design adds business value at all levels and across all teams, as it fosters collaborative thinking, drives engagement, and ensures greater business value.

You’ll learn to define UX and discover how a quality user experience is fundamental to repeat customers, recommendations, and referrals.

Recognise the crucial role of a UX designer

You’ll identify why UX designers are critical in driving customer experiences. They can drive for an enhanced user journey and create a frictionless customer experience, creating satisfied and loyal customers.

This means that UX designer jobs are in high demand, as more and more organisations recognise the importance of a seamless user journey.

Delve into the UX design process

On the course, you’ll explore the end-to-end UX design process and how it can be applied to business challenges.

You’ll learn how to use common tools and frameworks such as user personas, empathy mapping, and prototypes to better understand customers.

Contribute to quality UX in the world

By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to develop creative ideas and achieve a good user experience.

With learning based on industry expertise, you’ll explore how you can use UX design to improve your current role or how this new knowledge can help you stand out when applying for UX designer roles.

Week 1
UX design challenges and personas
- Welcome to the course
  Explore the course objectives and get orientated with UX design. How far back in history can we trace design principles and thinking? And how did modern UX design emerge? You’ll also get to share your story into UX design.
- Introduction to UX
  What are the basic concepts of UX design and its business value? These are key questions to be able to answer. In this activity, you’ll also gain insight into how high-performing UX designers typically approach their work.
- Design challenges
  Good UX design exists to address a human need or solve a challenge. In this activity, you’ll learn how to articulate design challenges to generate successful solutions that add value.
- User interviews and personas
  Who are the humans you’re designing for? Knowing your users is essential – otherwise, you’re designing in the dark! UX designers use personas to give them a clearer idea of the people that will use the product or service.
Week 2
Tools to understand your user
- Understanding user mindsets
  What’s the right mindset to be in when researching real-world users? You can utilise every tool and technique in the book, but approaching user research in the right way can mean the difference between success and failure.
- Empathy maps
  Personas are great, but what other research techniques do UX designers have in their toolkit? Human-centred design emphasises empathy, and UX designers have a trusted tool for mapping the more human aspects of users' experiences.
- Journey maps
  UX solutions aren't a single event; they're part of a user's journey that can be scouted and mapped. Journey maps build on personas and empathy maps and capture the current state of UX over time toward an optimised future state.
Week 3
Ideation and information architecture
- Ideation in UX
  Why is ideation so important? Do UX designers really need guidelines to come up with solutions? In this activity, you will learn about the key principles of ideation in UX design and the benefits of using ideation techniques.
- Brainstorming and card sorting
  One of the most well-known ideation techniques is brainstorming. Have you brainstormed before? Here you'll learn how UX designers do it and how they're structured. You'll also discover a lesser-known technique: card sorting.
- Information Architecture
  Have you ever used an app that frustrated or confused you? You may have been struggling with the information architecture (IA). In this activity, we'll explore IA and how to use it to inform good UX design.
Week 4
Developing your ideas
- Prototypes and wireframes
  What is prototyping and how is it used in the UX design process? In this activity, you’ll learn about this critical phase in the UX design process, how to choose the right method, and create a wireframe for a design challenge.
- Usability testing with prototypes
  To know if a solution will succeed, you need to test whether it’s feasible and viable, which is where live prototypes and pilots come in. UX designers also consider usability testing to determine whether a solution is desirable.
- UX designer skills
  What's your next move? In this final activity, you'll explore the professional UX design landscape and the skills required to become a great UX designer. You'll also have an opportunity to reflect on what you learned this week.