UX Design Fundamentals Course

The UX Design Fundamentals course is an online, self-paced course covering the end-to-end UX design process — from journey mapping and wireframing through to usability testing, information architecture, and high-fidelity prototypes. It runs across 10 units and 41 lessons, with 14 hands-on activities and downloadable templates you can apply to real projects straight away.

UX (user experience) is about how a product works and feels — the flow, the logic, and the ease of use. UI (user interface) is about how it looks: the visual design, layout, and styling. UX comes first. You map the user journey, test concepts, and define the information architecture before visual design enters the picture. This course focuses on UX fundamentals, giving you the process and tools to design experiences that actually work — regardless of what the UI layer ends up looking like.

The terms are often used interchangeably, but product design vs UX design does carry a distinction in some organisations. UX design focuses on the user experience layer — research, wireframing, usability, and interaction design. Product design often encompasses a broader scope, including visual design and product strategy. In practice, most product managers benefit from fluency in both. This course covers the UX design essentials that underpin good product design decisions.

It is primarily built for product managers and anyone who works closely with design — including product owners, business analysts, and team leads. The course is built around the UX designer and product manager relationship: it gives PMs enough fluency to collaborate effectively, run their own concept tests and usability studies, and push back constructively on design decisions. UX designers looking for a structured refresher have also found it valuable.

A user journey map is a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete a goal — capturing their actions, thoughts, and pain points along the way. It is one of the most practical tools a product manager can have for identifying where to focus design effort. Unit 2 of the course covers user journey mapping in full, including a hands-on activity and a downloadable user journey mapping template you can apply to your own products immediately.

The core UX design essentials covered in this course are: understanding your users through journey mapping and concept testing; designing solutions through user flows, wireframing, and prototyping; validating those designs through usability testing; and preparing them for development using design systems and accessibility principles. Together, these form the complete UX design process from problem to shipped product.

No prior design experience is needed. The course focuses on the thinking and process behind UX design — not tool proficiency. You will learn to create low-fidelity wireframes, run concept tests and usability tests, and communicate effectively with designers. Tool-specific training is not the focus; building the judgement to make good UX decisions is.

A usability test is a method where you observe real users attempting to complete tasks with your product or prototype, to identify where they struggle or get confused before anything ships. Unit 7 of the course covers usability testing in full — including how to write a test script, how to moderate a session without leading your participant, and how to turn observations into design decisions.

Yes. On completing the UX Design Fundamentals course you receive a certificate you can share directly to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes — and in many ways that makes it more valuable, not less. When you understand the UX design process, you can brief your designer more clearly, give more useful feedback on their work, and make faster decisions together. Several students who took this course already had a UX designer on their team and found it transformed how they collaborated. The course is not about doing the designer's job; it is about knowing enough to be a strong design partner.

The course is built for product managers, so it may cover ground you already know well. That said, UX designers working in fast-paced product environments have found it a useful structured refresher — particularly the units on usability testing, information architecture, and preparing designs for development. If your team is light on process or your PM doesn't have much UX fluency, it can also be a useful shared reference point.

AI tools are changing how fast teams can generate wireframes, prototypes, and research summaries — but they do not change what good UX looks like or how you evaluate it. Knowing when to run a concept test, what to listen for in a usability session, and how to structure information architecture are still judgement calls. The UX design fundamentals in this course are the foundation those AI tools sit on top of. Without them, you cannot tell whether the output an AI generates is actually solving the right problem for your users.

The course has 10 units and 41 lessons. Most students complete it over 4–6 weeks alongside a full-time role, depending on how much time they spend on the hands-on activities. You have 12 months' access with no deadline — so you can work through it at your own pace and revisit any lesson or template any time.