User Experience (UX) for Non-Designers

Learn the principles of user experience design—from the perspective of a non-designer who needs to work with UX teams, studios, and projects.

User experience (UX) design is more than just pushing pixels and adding interactivity. It's a people-centric practice that involves many stakeholders—not all of them professional designers. This course teaches the principles of user experience design from the perspective of a non-designer who needs to work with UX teams, studios, and projects. Instructor Tom Green explains the four-stage process of UX design, starting with user research—the stage where you build out personas, user scenarios, and user flows. Next, learn about UX conceptualization, where initial ideas are translated into sketches, wireframes, and paper prototypes. Tom then tackles the actual design process. In this phase, you can see how functional prototypes are generated, complete with imagery, copy, and basic interactivity. Plus, learn about the importance of testing your designs at multiple points in the process and incorporating feedback before handoff to developers.

Introduction

• User experience for non-designers

1. What Is UX?

• UX design overview
• Stage one: Research
• Stage two: Conceptualize
• Stage three: Design
• Stage four: Test
• Who does what?
• Accessibility matters

2. Research: So Who Will Use It?

• Making a business case
• The role of the stakeholder
• What do we need to make this work?
• Who do we need to build it?
• Who will use it?
• What will they do?
• How will they use it?
• How will they move through it?
• Finding problems and fixing them

3. Conceptualize: So What Does It Look Like?

• Overview of conceptualization techniques
• Sketching your ideas
• Task flow diagrams
• The infamous white board
• Content wireframe: Determining what goes where
• Building the bones with wireframes
• Digital wireframes
• The role of paper prototypes
• Testing and iteration
• Feedback and iteration

4. Design: Here Is What It Really Looks Like

• The UI designer's role
• The medium-fidelity prototype
• The medium-fidelity toolbox
• Imaging: What's with all the Xs?
• The role of SVG
• Copywriting: Words make all the difference
• Feedback and iteration

5. Design: The Design System

• What is a design system?
• The role of typography
• The role of color
• Icons and icon tools
• Using design patterns
• Imaging tools and screen resolution

6. Prototyping and User Testing

• An overview of prototyping
• Choosing a prototyping tool
• The role of motion in a prototype
• Why use prototype microinteractions?
• Refining microinteractions
• Overview of user testing