The UX Week: 5 workshops with experienced designers

Day 1 — UX design fundamentals

We'll show you how to carry out user research, map user journeys, run usability and A/B testing, track conversions and more. Show moreShow less

• introduction into User Experience design process
  for you to have a lean, robust & effective workflow across your projects and company
• UX versus UI
  to explain important differences between designing pretty User Interface and understanding & solving actual user's problems
• carrying out user research and reporting findings
  to understand users, their needs and challenges using surveys and interviews
• mapping user journeys and experience maps
  to understand how users navigate through the system, find out about their feelings any pain-points
• creating information architecture using card sorting
  to group information in a more logical way to improve navigation and help users complete their tasks quicker
• usability testing remotely & in person
  to validate assumptions and test product directly with users before spending time and financial resources on coding
• A/B testing
  to compare two or more design variations and pick the best performing one (instead of arguing with fellow teammates)
• review of the best accessibility practices
  to make sure design is inclusive and works for everyone (way further than only for people with disabilities)
• looking into analytics
  to measure performance of your design: setting goals and tracking conversions in order to turn visitors into customers

Day 2 — UI design fundamentals

You'll learn the base User Interface design principles, how to make your UI responsive and accessible, create a style guide, and more. Show moreShow less

• UI design principles & process
  to understand where User Interface design sits in a process and essential design fundamentals
• typography and importance of content design
  knowing when to use px and em, n-dash and m-dash, how to embed fonts and to avoid faux fonts, making your content legible
• accessibility
  to make sure you design complies with industry-standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• iconography
  how to make your icons meaningful and sharp
• graphics
  understanding which media format to use when (raster versus vector), and how to optimise it for the best performance
• layout using responsive grid
  to make sure your design works across different devices, benefitting from mobile-first approach
• styling and design systems
  creating a style guide of UI elements to have consistent design across your systems, overview of design libraries
• designing with development in mind
  to ensure your design is technically feasible to implement, understanding technical constraints

Day 3 — Wireframing & Rapid Prototyping

At this workshop you'll create an interactive prototype of your own portfolio website using Figma, which you'll then preview and test on your mobile phone. Show moreShow less

• structuring content
  emphasising the importance of starting design with content (not chrome), which is most relevant to users
• creating layout in Figma app
  to visualise concepts bearing in mind different device form factors, including designing responsive UI for mobile
• embedding fonts, icons and graphics
  to prepare all the assets for prototyping stage and handover to developers
• prototyping interactions
  creating interactive rapid prototype (no code behind) to be used in-browser as well as real device, optimising for touch
• testing on a real device
  sharing, testing and giving feedback on a working rapid prototype on your mobile phones
• review of UI design tools
  overview of the most commonly used apps used by User Interface designers on the market

Day 4 — Behavioural UX

You’ll learn how to turn technological signals into psychological insights, turning these into persuasive and engaging user experiences; how to use behavioural science to ‘nudge’ the behaviours you want, and how to use data to do this in a personalised way. Show moreShow less

• behavioural science principles of decision-making
• taking nudging digital
• inside Cambridge Analytica
• predicting the future from behavioural cues
• using digital footprints to understand your users
• designing personality-targeted user experiences
• the power of the personalised nudge
• faces, cheeks and eyes: New tech opportunities
• the ethics of it all

Day 5 — Content Design & UX Writing

• writing and editing skills/digital copywriting: tips and tricks for taking bad, boring corporate speak copy into something that works for users and helps with SEO. Lots of practical exercises on front-loading and decluttering text and writing headings, links and in plain English etc.
• think like a journalist: a lot of content designers started as journalists, trained to look at information critically, filling in the holes and checking the logic.
• working with stakeholders: advice on working with stakeholders on copy. It’s kind of train the trainer – showing how to make stakeholders confident that you know what you’re doing if you edit their bad copy!
• plus some basic content strategy to underpin any project