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General Assembly Course Curriculum
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
GA.CO/UXD
2
User Experience Design Table of Contents
GA.CO/UXD
3 Overview
4 Students
5 Curriculum Projects & Units
11 Frequently Asked Questions
12 Contact Information
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User Experience Design Overview
GA.CO/UXD
OVERVIEWTHE 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
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User Experience Design Students
GA.CO/UXD
STUDENTSWe 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.
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User Experience Design Projects
GA.CO/UXD
PROJECTSFINAL 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.
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 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.
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User Experience Design Units
GA.CO/UXD
DESIGN PROCESS1
RAPID PROTOTYPE 2
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User Experience Design Units Continued
GA.CO/UXD
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.
HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE3
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User Experience Design Units Continued
GA.CO/UXD
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.
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.
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.
HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE(CONTINUED)3
REFINE4
PRESENTATIONS & NEXT STEPS5
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User Experience Design FAQs
GA.CO/UXD
FAQSWHY IS THIS COURSE RELEVANT TODAY?
As technology becomes increasingly multi-channel, multi-device, 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.
SHOULD I COME EQUIPPED WITH ANYTHING?
Yes, a laptop. A Mac is preferred but a PC is also okay.
WHAT PRACTICAL SKILL SETS CAN I EXPECT TO HAVE UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE?
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.
WHO WILL I BE SITTING NEXT TO IN THIS COURSE?
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.
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User Experience Design Contact Info
GA.CO/UXD
CONTACTCOURSE APPLICATION NEW YORK
[email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
BOSTON [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
WASHINGTON, DC [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
CHICAGO [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
ATLANTA [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
SEATTLE [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
AUSTIN [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
SAN FRANCISCO [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
LOS ANGELES [email protected] 1 (877) 348-5665
LONDON [email protected] +44 (0) 7703 002 046
SYDNEY [email protected] +61 2 0420 438 649
HONG KONG [email protected] +852 3952 7209
MELBOURNE [email protected] +61 1300 779 650
SINGAPORE [email protected]