User Experience - Applied Research and Design

Hello and welcome to “User Experience - Applied Research and Design”. I put together this course because I know there are a lot of workers out there who’ve never done UX, but would like to learn the profession. At the same time, the demand for well trained UX researchers and designers continues to grow. Often times, a lot of aspiring UX professionals or even the companies that wish to employ such professionals, don’t truly understand what’s involved. UX is more than nice graphics! UX is about creating products that are easy to use and please the user. UX is about understanding user needs and how the product can meet their needs. It is about how the users interact with information and how they navigate the design. This course aims to reveal the extent of the UX process, and to provide a comprehensive resource which practitioners can use as a model when undertaking their own UX projects.

Becoming a UX professional is easier for some, then for others. Individuals with experience related to social science research or technology may have a big advantage. Anyone with a background in web development, software development, graphic design, research, psychology, engineering or business analysis: is especially well suited. My goal was to create a course that would offer a fast, but comprehensive overview of the UX research and design process.

The first part of the course starts out with an introduction to UX, but quickly ramps up to to present the intermediate and advanced process behind UX. You will gain an understanding of what is involved in UX research and UX design. You will learn how to conduct interviews, evaluate products, and analyze products using principles of design. You will also learn about the creation of prototypes of low fidelity, medium fidelity and at high fidelity. The second part of the course showcases a lengthy and significant UX design project where learners are able to see the type of analysis, research and process required in an applied UX project. The entire process from initial concept through to finished prototype will be demonstrated. You will gain access to professional resources in the form of research reports. The reports can be used as a guide or template for your own UX project development. By reviewing five different phases of a UX project, you will learn what reports/deliverables are expected as part of a major product design endeavour.