UX Designer

You’ll learn how to create a digital user experience that is ready to be handed off for development. You’ll start by building familiarity and fluency with design research fundamentals to identify the user and the solutions they need. You’ll then synthesize your research, and use design sprints to take an idea from concept to low-fidelity prototype. Finally, you’ll learn how to turn your low-fidelity prototype into a high-fidelity design, and improve its performance based on data. Along the way, you’ll complete projects that can be incorporated into a UX portfolio at the end of the program in order to showcase your capabilities to future employers.

• UX Fundamentals & Design Research
  

  Product design starts with understanding the needs of users, which is gathered through comprehensive research. Learn the core principles of human-centered design and how to appropriately scope a design problem. Understand how to empathize with users when performing user research, including how to conduct in-depth interviews and create quantitative surveys, and use research data to uncover opportunities. You’ll then apply psychology to design sketches, keeping the end-user in mind.

• Concept to Low-Fidelity Prototyping
  

  The best products have gone through rounds of iteration based on user research and feedback. Learn the process of a design sprint, and how to translate findings from research into a prototype that can be tested with users. Understand how to foster team collaboration and use divergent and convergent thinking to rapidly create testable prototypes. Apply user interface principles in the design of a clickable prototype, and conduct a usability test to gain valuable feedback from users that can be used in design iterations.

• High-Fidelity Prototyping to Post-Launch Analysis
  

  Once products have been tested for its effectiveness, they need to be enhanced for engagement. Learn advanced user interface principles to build interactive designs that are ready to be handed off to engineering for feedback. Understand how to solicit and integrate feedback from engineering to enhance the design before it is ready for development. Assess the engagement of the product through remote usability testing and other experimentation methods. Finally, you’ll learn how to improve design and user experiences based on engagement data in order to increase key performance indicators.

• CAPSTONE - UX Portfolio Design
  

  UX Designers demonstrate their skills by showcasing their designs and processes in a portfolio. Understand what should and shouldn’t be included in a portfolio, as well as the key components that appeal to target audiences. Learn how to organize previous work and communicate it online, keeping the audience and your career objectives in mind. Apply storytelling and branding frameworks to create a personal profile that conveys a unique value proposition. You’ll also learn best practices for maintaining and updating a UX portfolio.

This program is intended for anyone who wants to gain fluency and understanding of digital product design. If you want to learn how to shape user experiences of software products and how to prepare design assets within a cross-functional team, this program is for you.

For this program, you will need a computer with a broadband internet connection, capable of installing various open-source design tools. Note: Most consumer computers on the market today meet these requirements. You will need administrative access to be able to install software on your computer.This program uses web-based platforms including Google Suite (Slides, Gallery, & Docs), Figma, Miro, Mobbin, Zeplin, WebAIM, Whimsical, Lookback, and Unbounce. You will have the option to use Keynote, PowerPoint, or Google Slides for your presentations need to be able to communicate fluently and professionally in written and spoken English.