The goal of this course is to help you feel confident creating digital experiences that are easy to use, pleasant to interact with, and thoughtfully designed. Whether you are just getting started with UX or want to brush up on the basics, you will leave with practical skills you can use right away. Here are six useful things you will learn to do during the workshop:

• Make navigation feel simple and natural by learning how people move through websites and apps, and using techniques like menus, breadcrumbs, and page structure to help them get where they need to go.
• Lay out content in a way that feels clear and easy to follow, using tools like spacing, grouping, and visual hierarchy to guide people’s attention to what matters most.
• Write content that is easy to scan and understand, by practicing plain, clear language and organizing your message in a way that works for real users.
• Use color and design choices thoughtfully, understanding how color impacts mood, meaning, and accessibility so your designs look good and work well for everyone.
• Make your interfaces feel responsive and smooth with little touches like animations, progress indicators, and feedback that help people understand what is happening.
• Plan your ideas visually with wireframes, whether on paper or screen, so you can test layouts, get feedback, and build your designs with more confidence.

If your team requires different topics, additional skills or a custom approach, our team will collaborate with you to adjust the course to focus on your specific learning objectives and goals.

This course is designed for beginners and those with some experience who want to feel more confident in user experience and interface design. It is a great fit for designers, developers, content creators, product managers, and anyone who helps shape websites or digital tools. You should be comfortable using a computer and have a general understanding of how websites or apps work from a user or team perspective.

You should also be able to:

• Communicate ideas clearly and visually, even if only using simple sketches or diagrams
• Understand the basic goals and needs of a user when interacting with digital products
• Collaborate and give feedback within a team environment such as design or development meetings

Please note that this list of topics is based on our standard course offering, evolved from current industry uses and trends. We will work with you to tune this course and level of coverage to target the skills you need most. Course agenda, topics and labs are subject to adjust during live delivery in response to student skill level, interests and participation. The course tools, topics, use cases and hands-on labs can also be easily adjusted to suit your specific needs, goals or requirements.

Design: Art and Science

User-Centered Design

What is a Better User Experience?

Keys to Understanding the User

Keys to Understanding the Experience

Navigation

How do People Navigate?

• Two Types of Navigators
• Users Scan Pages
• After They Scan

Challenges of Web Navigation

Characteristics of Usable Navigation

Information Architecture

Primary Navigation Systems

• Hierarchical Models
• Sequential Navigation
• Fixed Navigation

Supplemental Navigation Systems

• Index or Sitemap
• Breadcrumbs
• Quicklinks

Navigation Case Study

Tips for Simplifying Navigation

Presentation

Visual Cognitive Processing

Loads

Eye Movement and Eye Tracking

• Prominence
• Grouping
• Nesting

Tabs

Gestalt Principles of Visual Design

• What is Gestalt Psychology?
• How is Gestalt Related to Visual Perception?
• Simplicity
• Figure-Ground
• Proximity
• Law of Pragnanz
• Similarity
• Common Fate
• Symmetry
• Parallelism
• Continuation
• Closure
• Common Region
• Element Connectedness

Layout

• Golden Ratio
• Choices

Color

The Color Test

The Impact of Color

• The Color Chart
• Colors in Culture
• Contrast
• Mixing Color and Shape

Tips for the First User Experience

Content

Scanning

Writer's Pyramid

• The Top
• The Body or Structure
• The Foundation

Writing Style

• Clear and Simple
• Organized Thoughts
• Tell, Tell and Then Tell
• Stick to the Point
• Make It Interesting
• Target Audience
• Intelligent, But Lack of Knowledge
• Slang and Jargon
• Active Voice
• Positive Terms
• Direct Instructions
• Short Sentences
• Necessity

Readability Tests

Interaction Design

What is Interaction Design?

Five Dimensions of Interaction Design

Key Concerns of Interaction Design

Words

Visual Representations

• Light and Shadow
• Icons
• Fonts
• Font Size
• Font Pairings
• Line Spacing
• Circles
• Rounded Edges

Physical Objects or Space

• The Shift from Flat Design
• Ghost Buttons
• User Interface Controls

Time

• Hover Animations
• 12 Animation Principles
• Pace
• Responsiveness
• Context
• Auto-Rotating Carousels
• Progress Indicators
• Animations

Behavior

• Schemata
• The Boiling Frog
• Rewards
• Feedback
• Gamification
• Tips for Gamification

Error Handling

Freedom to Customize

Wireframing

Lo-Fidelity Wireframes

Hi-Fidelity Wireframes

Wireframes

Is Paper Dead?

Accessibility