UX Design Certificate

Faculty: C. J. Yeh, Christie Shin, Robbie Frank, Anders Wallace, Yuwei Fu, Michael Hintze, Michelle Flacks
Program Webpage: FIT User Experience Design Certificate Program
Email: chinjuz_yeh@fitnyc.edu
Classroom: CJ’s Remote Classroom
Program Instagram: @NewCreatives.Info
Program Portfolio: Behance
FIT Help Desk: TechHelp

Course Description

FIT’s User Experience Design Certificate Program is tailored for creative professionals such as graphic designers and web designers who are looking to advance their careers in the exciting field of UX design. Our goal is to provide you with a well-rounded education in UX design that will foster career growth.

Weekly Outline

The weekly outline is subject to change based on the pedagogical needs.

Mon: 01/24 (s1)

  • Program Introduction (Yeh, Shin)
  • Project: User Experience Redefined
    Deliverables:
    – Heuristic evaluation
    – Competitor analysis
    – Research and empathy interviews
    – User research (persona(s), affinity map, empathy map, journey map…etc.)
    – Insight Statements
    – POV / Hypothesis
    – Value proposition and MVP proposal
    – App Map
    – Low-fidelity prototype
    – Usability testing
    – Mid-fidelity prototype
    – Final Presentation: Trip Advisor
    – Final Presentation: Norwegian
  • Lecture: UX, UI, IxD…???? (Yeh, Shin)
  • Lecture: Heuristic Evaluation (Yeh)
  • Tasks: download Zoom, join Slack, and Miro sign-up (Yeh)
  • Activity: Research Team Forming
  • Breakout Session: User Experience Refined Candidates Selection
  • Due next class: each team will select three possible apps from the provided list and do a quick review on its user experience and creative potentials: Content-Centric App (such as Pandora, any museum/gallery app…etc.); Transit App (such as MyMTA, NJ Transit…etc.); Local-Search / Travel App (such as Yelp, TripAdvisor…etc.)

Thur: 01/27 (s2)

  • Mini Presentation (7 minutes) / Discussion: User Experience Refined Candidates (Yeh, Shin, Frank / 1hr)
  • Lecture: Competitor Analysis (Yeh)
  • Research Methodologies (Shin)
  • Breakout Session: Heuristic Evaluation & Competitor Analysis (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: Heuristic Evaluation & Competitor Analysis
    – Synthesizing Heuristic Evaluation
    – Identify 3 to 5 competitors
    – Competitor analysis first draft
    – Be prepared to share some key research findings as a team next week. (7-10 minutes)

Mon: 01/31(s3)

  • Presentation / Discussion: Research Findings (each team will prepare a short presentation to share 3 to 5 major UX design successes and flaws for the redesign candidate and its competitors) (Yeh, Shin)
  • Lecture: Target Segmentation (Yeh)
  • Lecture / Demo: Site/App Map (Yeh)
  • Breakout Session: Site/App Map creation (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework:
    – App map
    – Identify flaws in the app information architecture
    – Share app map with faculty via Miro
    – Complete competitor analysis
    – Target Segmentation
  • Off-hours Team Review: Site/App Map (Frank / 2hr)

Thur: 02/03 (s4)

  • Group Discussion: each team shares a brief summary of their Site/App Map analysis and target segmentation
  • Lecture: Empathy Interview Techniques (Wallace)
  • Breakout Session: Empathy Interview Preparation (Shin, Wallace)
  • Homework: Each student will do a minimum of three empathy interviews and bring the interview notes to the next class

Mon: 02/07 (s5)

  • Lecture: Capture Finding / Affinity Map (Shin)
  • Breakout Session: Affinity Map (Shin, Yeh)
  • Lecture: Persona (Shin)
  • Lecture: UX Mapping Techniques Overview (Shin)
  • Lecture: Empathy Map (Shin)
  • Homework: Affinity Map summary, Proto-Persona(s), and Empathy Map

Thur: 02/10 (s6)

  • Group Discussion: Proto-Persona, Empathy Map (Shin, Yeh)
  • Lecture: Journey Map (Shin)
  • Lecture: Insight Statement (Yeh)
  • Breakout Session / Homework: Comprehensive Persona(s), Define journey map scenario and scope, and Insight Statement first draft (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: Comprehensive Persona(s), Journey Map, and Insight Statement.

Mon: 02/14 (s7)

  • Lecture: JTBD and How Might We (Yeh)
  • Breakout Session / Homework: Journey Map, JTBD, and How Might We (Yeh, Shin)
  • Task: Install Figma
  • Figma: Workflow (Shin)

Thur: 02/17 (s8)

  • Lecture: IDEO’s 7 Rules of Brainstorming
  • Breakout Session: Brainstorming
  • Demo: Figma Basics Part 1 (Shin)
  • Lecture: MVP Features (Yeh)
  • Homework: Refine Journey Map, MVP features Worksheet, and draft a new app map

    Mon 02/21 President's Day, No Class

Thur: 02/24 (s9)

  • Demo: Figma Basics Part 2 (Shin)
  • Lecture: What is Interaction Design? (Yeh)
  • Lecture: Information Architecture, User Story, Scenario, and Flow (Shin)
  • Breakout Session: Each team develop one unified app map using Miro or Figma, and each student starts to create low-fidelity screens for one task flow (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: low-fidelity screens for one task flow
  • Off-hours Team Review: MVP, new app map, and task flow (Frank / 3hr)

Mon: 02/28 (10)

  • Demo: Figma Prototyping Basics (Shin)
  • Lecture: Usability Testing Methodologies and Techniques (Yeh)
  • Demo: How to Conduct Moderated Usability Testing (Yeh)
  • In-class Exercise: Usability testing and record findings (Yeh, Shin)
  • Breakout Session: low-fidelity prototype (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: Complete app map, task flows, and low-fidelity prototypes
  • Homework: Usability Testing Round 1 (minimum 3 per student)

Thur: 03/03 (s11)

  • Lecture: What Does A UX Designer Actually Do? (Wallace, 1hr)
  • Lecture: The Ultimate UX/UI Elements Death Match (Yeh)
  • Breakout Session: Usability testing results and wireframes refinement/development (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: Usability Testing Round 2

Mon: 03/07 (12)

  • Breakout Session: wireframes and prototypes development (Yeh, Shin)
    Lecture: A Designer’s Take on Working in Tech (Hintze, 1hr)
  • Homework: mid-fidelity wireframes and prototypes
  • Off-hours Team Review (Frank / 2hr)

Thur: 03/10 (s13)

  • Lecture: What Are Hiring Managers Looking for in Junior UX Designers? (Fu, 1hr)
  • Discussion: Portfolio Preparation and Final Certification Review (Yeh)
  • Breakout Session: Mid-fidelity wireframes and prototypes (Yeh, Shin)
  • Homework: mid-fidelity wireframes and prototypes

Mon: 03/14 (14)

  • Lecture: My Journey to Becoming a UX Designer (Flacks, 1 hr)
  • In-class Workshop: prepare for final presentation (Yeh, Shin)

Thur: 03/17 (15)

  • Guest Lecture: Laws of UX (Jon Yablonski, 1 hr)
  • In-class Workshop: prepare for final presentation (Yeh, Shin)

Mon: 03/21 (16)

  • Final Presentation (Yeh, Shin, Flacks)

Attendance and Grading:
– This program grading is a pass-fail system
– Attendance, teamwork, and participation report are important factors in determining the completion of this certificate program
– Coming to class 15 minutes after starting time will be considered late
– Two lateness equals one absence
– Three absences will result in an incomplete
– Certification is based on the quality of design and knowledge demonstrated in the final deliverables submitted at the end of the program. While teamwork is a part of the review, each student will be evaluated individually based on the individual contributions to the final work.