User experience certificate program

For 18 years, he has spearheaded the movement towards rapid prototyping and user-centric web and mobile application development for companies including Google, Nike, Adobe, Mercedes, Starbucks, Xbox, Sony, Lexus and Herbalife. Creating delightful, meaningful, and easy-to-use digital experiences requires the ability to generate multiple ideas rapidly, iterate quickly, and test the results. Topics include essential UX software and their practical applications, design team collaboration, etc.

Class projects include rapid design and prototyping, multi-platform design for websites, mobile and native apps, wearables and voice assistants; as well as conducting user research and testing.

Instruction covers the total spectrum of interface design standards, including e-commerce websites, service design, and physically based environments.

Projects incorporate the full spectrum of screen resolutions and device types, and may include designing interfaces to scale and degrade, and considerations as to cost of implementation. The course prepares students to recognize user experience design problems and iterate solution proposals.

Students focus on problem solving a project, generating insights, and delivering solutions. The courses begin with the foundational concepts of good design: human-computer interaction, usability, user experience, and user research. Beginning with understanding the user, you will plan and conduct user research to gain insights into real users; their backgrounds, goals, and behaviors. After gaining a firmer understanding of the design space, the physical visualizations begin to take shape as you lay out prototypes in the implementation stage.

In the last course and the final stage of the human-centered design process, you will evaluate your design. This will involve planning and running a usability testing session with someone from the user group and reporting on the results. The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.

Human-computer interfaces have become a part of everyday life, whether we consider technology that we use at home or at work. People rely on technology to help them achieve a goal or solve a problem, and this idea is central to the emerging and rapidly expanding field of human-centered design: Who is using the interface, and for what purpose?

How can we help them do that better? Answering these questions should be at the heart of the design process, as technologies are ultimately for people to use, and designers need to make this as intuitive and smooth as possible.

Design doesn't happen in a lab; it happens in the world, and gathering information about the users of your product ensures better design. In this course, you will be introduced to human-computer interaction design, use practical methods for applying sound design principles, and execute the entire process.

You'll discover the basics of how to identify a human need, how and why you need to keep that need at the center of the design process, uncover what can be measured to improve the design, and ensure that you conduct your research fairly and ethically. User-centered design does not start with the design, but rather with the users: Who are they? What are their goals? What do they need to achieve those goals? In what context will they be using your design?

And how would a designer discover these things from the user base? Answering these questions requires a plan. Interviewing potential users in a controlled, systematic way helps to clarify their expectations and their requirements. Doing so helps to inform your design and make it better; no one wants to invest time, effort, and money into designing a solution no one will use.

In this course, you will examine best practices for planning and conducting interviews of potential users so that they yield the most insights. Over the course of the project, you will narrow down the target user group for your design, plan your interview, create meaningful and clear interview questions, and help ensure you can leave the interview sessions with the most useful insights.

After you have conducted interviews with your users, it is time to sift through your notes and transcripts in order to get at the most important insights; this is the data, which will be your guide to what the users actually need as well as what the design requirements ultimately need to be. However, one challenge we face as designers is that the data we have gathered is qualitative and not quantitative, which means that interpreting the data requires us to make associations and inferences as we read through the users' stories, thoughts, and feelings.

Fortunately, we have several strategies for translating data into design requirements. In this course, you will practice analyzing data from your user interviews and identify insights that are not always immediately apparent. After you extract insights from your interview data, you will create a fictitious user called a persona that will serve as a model of your users and help guide your design decisions. Finally, you will create design requirements that will help as you move from explaining the current state of your users to imagining a future where they use your design to better meet their needs.

When designing a product, we must always consider the experience that the user will have while interacting with it, and we do this by visually sketching the product and our vision of how a user would interact with it.

A pen-and-paper sketch helps us to conceptualize abstract design ideas more effectively, communicate these ideas to others, and get feedback. Regardless of your artistic skills, you can effectively, quickly, and inexpensively communicate design ideas by sketching; it is much faster and cheaper to modify or throw away a pen-and-paper sketch than a full prototype. In this course, you will learn numerous techniques to improve your sketching skills in order to more clearly convey your design ideas and improve your design.

Expect to be challenged when working through the assignments. Some basic knowledge prior to enrolling may be of major benefit but is not a requirement. The UX Research and Strategy program is probably the place to start for most. All of the Coursera programs are free of charge—you simply sign up on the site, complete a very basic and unobtrusive questionnaire that helps them suggest the right courses, and enroll in a program.

You do have the option of joining the enterprise membership for a few extra benefits, but this is entirely optional, and there is no pressure applied. Some of the programs are offered in two options though, such as the Introduction to User Experience Design.

All it takes is hours a week for five weeks. Available all over the world, including 11 US regions, the GeneralAssemb. More than 1, universities make use of the Interaction Design Foundation IDF resources, and around companies are subscribed to them as well.

Designed comprehensively with evidence-based content, it provides participants with the opportunity to seek help with tests, share ideas, and interact on the forum. With a new lesson becoming available each week, the program is designed to allow you to work at your own pace.

There are ten lessons in total, but they remain available to you for life, so there is no immediate pressure to complete the program in the ten weeks. Depending on your dedication however, working through the material for as little as an hour a day can result in successful completion within this time frame. The course is available for free provided you are an IDF member. The major perk of signing up for the most expensive package is that you gain access to a personal coach, which the Student and Pro options do not have.

Bentley University has recognized that not everyone needing UX certification has the luxury of attending a full-time degree course. To cater for the resultant gap, they developed their UX Certificate Program. The program constitutes of 8 two-day classes, which are held 09h00 to 17h00 on Thursdays and Fridays spread over the course of three months. Bear in mind that there are enrollment limits.

The program is suitable for beginners and working professionals alike. Bentley University will also provide on-site corporate training on request. SMU has been providing quality education since the s, and have moved from strength to strength. Some sites have claimed that you can complete the course in three months. You also have the option of completing it over a maximum of 18 months should the need arise. All of the User Experience Design Certificate Program classes are scheduled for the evening, making it ideal for part-time students who are working full-time jobs or even wanting to supplement their existing field of study with UX training.

The only exception is one full-day tutorial session, which takes place on a Friday. Career Foundry offers a host of learning options, designed to help absolute novices become UX professionals with a recognized certification as quickly as possible.

Both courses also give you the opportunity to book telephonic mentor support they do require booking 48 hours in advance , and you can call in up to times for the duration of the course. And as an online program, their only requirements for participating are that you have a laptop and internet connection. How long it takes is entirely dependent on your time management.

Career Foundry recommends a total of and hours respectively. There are four required courses each with four units , a minimum of two electives there are 16 to choose from, most of which have three units each , and a final portfolio class. It is possible to do the course over the course of 5 to 8 quarters 15 to 24 months by doing two courses at a time and working for just six hours a week.

However, there are assignments, critiques, and online discussions that you will be required to take part in according to a specific time frame. Some of the electives are not available online and do require attending a class in person. This makes the program more suitable for those who have already completed full-time studies and are now looking to enhance their skills after working in the industry for a while.