Leverage AI tools to create more intuitive and engaging design, and set yourself apart as a designer equipped with the latest knowledge and skills. We've added seven new optional units to our curriculum to allow you to learn AI alongside key topics in UI/UX.

• Introduction to AI and Its Relevance to UX

• AI-Enhanced User Research

• Dynamic Persona Building and Journey Mapping with AI

• Information Architecture and Ethical Considerations in AI

• Designing for AI: Tools, Practices, and Usability Testing

• Prototyping for AI: Tools for Prototyping AI-Based Systems

• AI and Usability Testing: Adjusting Techniques for AI Systems

Before working on a hands-on project, you'll get comfortable with the design tools that will make up your arsenal.

• Explore and use design tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, or Figma

• Gain an understanding of how you will use each design tool in your work

• Complete your first UI practice exercise by recreating the UI of a few screens

Dive into hands-on work that will help you learn the ins and outs of understanding your users.

• Learn how to develop a research plan

• Study best practices for recruiting interview participants, writing screeners, and conducting interviews

• Synthesize data to draw insights about your user and problem space so that you can create a successful solution

Designers establish a visual language with the help of design systems and style guides. Design systems and style guides are artifacts that define the rules and representations of a product's visual language including what fonts, colors, UI elements, and imagery will be used.

• Develop an understanding of design systems, as well as their value in the UI/UX industry

• Become familiar with common components of a design system

• Learn how to understand a company’s existing design system

• Describe the components of a basic brand platform and understand their importance

• Analyze how designers translate a brand platform into visual style

• Understand how you will interact with brand platforms throughout your career

• Develop an awareness of how logos are treated and used in UI

Wireframes are digitized versions of your sketches and sit between sketching and high-fidelity mockups. This unit prepares you to map your product’s content while also teaching you that there is room for flexibility and innovation. 

• Create wireframes for mobile and desktop

• Develop an understanding of the importance of designing for edge cases

• Learn about and create wireflows for multiple states of the same screen

Prototyping is the next step in the process of increasing the fidelity of your designs. High-fidelity prototypes like the ones you create in this unit are as close an approximation of your final product as you can get. Creating and testing prototypes is another way to identify aspects of your product that could be improved and ensure that your product meets the needs of your users.

• Learn how to create a clickable prototype

• Understand the purpose of animation and interaction patterns within UI/UX design, including how they affect functionality, brand personality, and user delight

• Familiarize yourself with current animation and interaction patterns and guidelines

• Learn about the role that animation plays on a high-screen level, such as when screens transition from one to the next

• Explore the role animation plays at a granular level within designs, such as how a dropdown menu animates when it opens