Overview
The Professional Certificate in UX Design, brought to us in partnership with the UX Design Institute (UXDI) is a 10-module course that will equip students with the skills and knowledge to become UX professionals. Students will learn about every aspect of the UX design process: from understanding user needs, right through to building interactive prototypes of designs.
Prerequisites
The course requires no prerequisites to attend. This course is specifically aimed at UX Professionals looking to gain an industry recognised qualification.
Delegates will learn how to
After taking this course, students will be able to:
- Explain how the UX process is critical to the development of intuitive digital experiences.
- Combine different research techniques to develop an understanding of user goals and problems.
- Use analysis frameworks such as customer journey maps, personas, and customer value curves to communicate existing and future customer experience.
- Define high-level flow and navigation for mobile and desktop software applications.
- Design clickable prototypes using popular prototyping tools according to the principles of interaction design.
Outline
This 5-day course includes ten core modules that will give learners the fundamental knowledge and aspects of best-practice UX Design:
Module 1 – Introduction to UX Design
This module will give students a foundational understanding of the user experience design process. Students will learn that UX design is a problem-solving discipline focused on building products that solve problems for the user. Students will also get a clear sense of the role of research in design, which will be explored fully in Module 2.
Module 2 – User Research
This module will help students to see research as the key ingredient underpinning UX Design. Strong, focused research is fundamental to understanding the problems we are attempting to solve for users. Students will learn about a range of research techniques: from the core skills of usability testing and depth interviews, to card sorting, online surveys, A/B testing and heuristic evaluation.
Module 3 – Analysis Techniques
In this module, students will understand the need to analyse the research data that they gather. Only through analysing this data can students clearly define the problems they're attempting to solve for the user. This module will look at a number of frameworks and techniques that will help students make sense of raw, unstructured data.
Module 4 – Structure & Navigation
A lot of work is required before people can start to ‘design’ a product. Before students design screens, they have to step back and consider the structure of their software and how they want users to flow through it. In this module, students will learn how to define a clear structure and information architecture for their software. This, in turn, will help you to design intuitive navigation and a smooth flow for your users.
Module 5 – Interactions
Interaction design is where the rubber begins to hit the road. This is where we get to define what happens when people ‘touch’ our software. How does it respond when users enter data? Press buttons? Click on navigation? This module will teach students the components of an interaction and how these components - controls, rules, and feedback - facilitate an interaction.
Module 6 – Design Principles
This module will enable students to harness the power of design principles to create high-quality software. Design principles are proven guidelines and rules for effective design. They stem from different disciplines, including advertising, architecture, and software development. Students will learn why using design principles as reference points will increase the probability that their designs and software will be successful.
Module 7 – Design Patterns
In this module, students will be introduced to the concept of design patterns: reusable solutions to common problems in software. By using these common solutions, they can ensure that their designs are more perceivable and predictable for users. Students will also learn about concepts including chunking, affordances, alignment, and visual hierarchy, which all help to make better, more usable software.
Module 8 – Mobile
This module focuses on designing effective mobile applications. Students will understand the key differences between responsive websites, mobile websites, and native applications. Students will also learn about different mobile application types and gain an understanding of mobile design patterns.
Module 9 – Workflows
In the coming lessons, students will learn the importance of designing effective workows, which allow users to complete common tasks like registration, onboarding, and sign-in. Students will also be introduced to complex forms, payment ows, and techniques to improve user trust in their designs.
Module 10 – Prototyping & Handover
In this module, students will gain the skills and knowledge to build interactive prototypes. They will learn the differences between high, medium, and low-fidelity prototypes. Finally, they will learn how to create clear handover documentation for transitioning from design to build.
Additional modules
Three additional modules are accessible through the UX Design Institute's learning management system (LMS). Students will not need to study these modules to get their certification. But they will help students to become more rounded and job ready UX professionals.
Creating a portfolio
Advice and examples on how to create a great UX portfolio.
UX Insiders
Interesting and insightful talks from designers and industry experts.
Tutorials for Figma
A curated set of tutorials to help students master the Figma design tool.
Exam Information
In order for a student to be awarded the Professional Certificate in UX Design, they must:
1. Complete all 10 core modules.
2. Receive a grade of 60% or higher on the final exam.
The final exam
- 120 multiple choice questions
- Duration: 2 hours
- 72/120 to pass (60%)
Once all modules have been completed, students are ready to sit the final exam.
The exam is two hours long and is administered online. It consists of a range of question types: e.g. multiple-choice, reorder, matching, and scenario-based questions. The exam will cover material from all ten modules.
Why the UX Design Institute?
They want to set the standard in UX education globally. They provide professionals and employers with a tangible, straightforward and objective measure by which to assess and prove UX skills and knowledge. All their courses are overseen by an Industry Advisory Council to ensure relevance. They’ve partnered with Glasgow Caledonian University to make sure they meet the highest educational standards.
Frequently asked questions
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All courses are built around case studies and presented in an engaging format, which includes storytelling elements, video, audio and humour. Every case study is supported by sample documents and a collection of Knowledge Nuggets that provide more in-depth detail on the wider processes.
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When will I receive my certificate?
Certificates of Achievement are issued at the end the course, either as a hard copy or via email. Read more here.