USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN GA.CO/UXD

Transcription

1 General Assembly Course Curriculum USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN

2 User Experience Design Table of Contents 3 Overview 4 Students 5 Curriculum Projects & Units 11 Frequently Asked Questions 12 Contact Information 2

3 Overview OVERVIEW THE FRAMEWORK In this part-time course, students learn the tools and techniques to design useful, functional, and pleasurable products. With an equal focus on theoretical frameworks and practical applications, students will progress through a final project of their choosing and receive feedback along the way. The project is designed to serve as an eventual portfolio piece, and will be worked through incrementally throughout the course. By the end of this course, students will be able to: Understand problem spaces and how to ideate solutions Articulate and defend design decisions Communicate an understanding of the origins, benefits, and outcomes of UX design Participate in effective design critique Understand how UX designers work with others on a product development team (e.g., product managers, developers, visual designers, etc.) Learn about what hiring managers look for in UX candidates Produce UX documentation, including: Personas Information architecture User flows Annotated wireframes 3

4 Students STUDENTS We see many different kinds of students in UXD. Some students are graphic or print designers looking to add User Experience to their skills set while others are Product Managers looking to improve their design skills. Often, students include engineers who want to learn how to make their websites more useable or entrepreneurs looking to build UX into their idea. 4

5 Projects PROJECTS FINAL PROJECT Throughout the course, students work on designing a new product or redesigning an existing one. At the end, students explain and defend their design, clearly demonstrating the following: Effective user research and personas Documented information architecture Well thought out task analysis and user flows A full set of out wireframes with clear annotation and attention to detail This project is meant to serve as a portfolio piece. Students will have opportunities throughout the course to present their work and receive feedback. 5

6 Units 1 DESIGN PROCESS 1 INTRODUCTION TO UX & DESIGN THINKING Define the elements of User Experience Design. Develop basic skills in creative problem solving, innovation, and human-centered design through a fast-paced design thinking activity. 2 RAPID PROTOTYPE 2 PROTOTYPES, FEEDBACK, & CRITIQUES Practice adapting to rapidly changing stakeholder requirements. Create a paper prototype of your proposed solution. Present designs and justify design decisions. 3 USER RESEARCH Describe the skills required to conduct and recruit for an effective user interview. Define contextual inquiry and articulate its benefits. Prepare unbiased interview questions. Conduct an effective user interview. 4 COMPETITIVE RESEARCH Compare products in the same space or in adjacent industries, including competitive reviews and task analyses. Conduct competitive research to help inform your final project concept. 5 SYNTHESIZING RESEARCH & CREATING PERSONAS Use research to create an affinity map that identifies trends and insights within your research findings. Articulate the benefits and shortcomings of personas as a design tool. Use research to create personas that reflect the target audience. 6 DEFINING USER GOALS & USER FLOWS Effectively synthesize research into a problem statement and design direction that reflects the primary need of your target audience. Apply sketching techniques to ideate through solutions. Explore examples of how to map the flow of a specific product or experience. 7 PAPER PROTOTYPING & USABILITY TESTING BASICS Articulate the value of testing early in the design process. Apply paper prototyping techniques to iterate on your design concept. Practice formulating task scenarios and running usability tests. 6

7 Units Continued 3 HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE 8 USER STORIES AND FEATURE PRIORITIZATION Break down your user goals into more granular user stories. Use a common framework to prioritize features that align with your vision. Discuss struggles with feature prioritization and vision alignment and how to address them. 9 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE & NAVIGATION Define the field of Information Architecture and explain when its techniques are used in a project. Explore methods for organizing complex and diverse types of content. Apply card-sorting techniques to structure and validate your proposed information architecture. Use card sorting results to construct a sitemap that will then become navigation. 10 RESPONSIVE / NATIVE DESIGN & DESIGN PATTERNS Describe the respective technical capabilities of responsive sites and native mobile apps. Evaluate options and choose what format is most advantageous to your final project. Gain exposure to design patterns. 11 WIREFRAMING Define best practices for wireframing and annotating. Use industry standard tools (Sketch) to create high-fidelity wireframes Download UI kits and discuss their role. Explain the difference between human interface guidelines, design principles, pattern libraries & style guides. 12 VISUAL DESIGN BASICS Explore principles of design and how they relate to digital interfaces. Learn to apply fundamentals of visual hierarchy, grid systems, and typography to give your final project UI more structure and clarity. Make visual hierarchy and typographic choices that enhance the appeal and clarity of your content. 7

8 Units Continued HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE 3 (CONTINUED) 13 HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPING Identify and describe the different categories of tools for prototyping. Create clickable prototypes using InVision that will support usability testing goals. Discuss gestures and motion how they are commonly applied. 14 ADVANCED USABILITY TESTING Prepare a discussion guide to test your final project. Run 3 usability tests using best practices. Synthesize your testing results and identify major takeaways from testing. 4 REFINE 15 ONBOARDING & BEHAVIOR CHANGE Describe what makes a great onboarding/first time use experience. Practice designing an onboarding experience that communicates the value of your product to potential users. Learn about Nir Eyal s Hooked model of habit formation and how it may be applied to the final project. 5 PRESENTATIONS & NEXT STEPS 16 FINAL PROJECT WORKSHOP Receive instructional team feedback on your final project. Turn your project into a stakeholder presentation 17 UX MINI-PROJECT Practice going through real industry UX design problems from beginning to end. Work in teams or independently to develop design solutions for the industry design problem. Present your design solution. 18 & 19 FINAL PRESENTATIONS Effectively communicate your design solution for your final project. Critique and provide feedback for classmates. 20 PORTFOLIOS & NEXT STEPS Explore examples of good UX portfolios. Discuss the storytelling and structure present in a good portfolio. Practice telling your personal story to different types of stakeholders. Identify next steps and receive project feedback. 8

9 FAQs FAQS WHY IS THIS COURSE RELEVANT TODAY? WHAT PRACTICAL SKILL SETS CAN I EXPECT TO HAVE UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE? WHO WILL I BE SITTING NEXT TO IN THIS COURSE? SHOULD I COME EQUIPPED WITH ANYTHING? As technology becomes increasingly multi-channel, multidevice, and pervasive, the experience of technology becomes more complex. Companies are now recognizing this complexity, and most of them are hiring UX designers to make sense of, organize, and design experience with brands, products, etc. UX designers are in a unique position to work across many different functions, collaborating with many other teams to shape how to solve users problems. This course is aimed at students seeking to transition into a UX role. The curriculum has been developed based on extensive research into what hiring managers from multiple industries look for in a good candidate. Course material will balance core thinking and principles of UX with project-facing deliverables. Most students in the class will be others looking to transition into a UX role. Many will likely be from the tech industry: product managers, developers, visual designers. Some might come from advertising and print design, while others might be from completely unrelated fields. Yes, a laptop. A Mac is preferred but a PC is also okay. 9

10 Contact Info CONTACT COURSE APPLICATION NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO BOSTON LOS ANGELES WASHINGTON, DC LONDON +44 (0) CHICAGO SYDNEY ATLANTA atlanta_admissions@ga.co HONG KONG hk_admissions@ga.co SEATTLE seattle_admissions@ga.co MELBOURNE melbourne_admissions@ga.co AUSTIN austin_admissions@ga.co SINGAPORE singapore_admissions@ga.co 10