UX Design 101: Usability and UX Foundations

Our UX Design 101: Usability and UX Foundations Course is for everyone who wants to learn how to successfully develop digital products based on the principles of Human-Centred Design. This course does not require any prior knowledge. Our experienced instructors will guide you live and interactively through the entire UX process according to ISO 9241-210 in small learning groups. This course is conducted in English.

What you will learn in this course:

Fundamental Theory of Human-Centred Design (HCD): You will learn the basic concepts of HCD, understand the difference between Usability and User Experience (UX), and learn to apply the interaction principles for maximum user-friendliness.

Understanding Users: You will acquire methods to understand the Context of Use and to specify the User Requirements based on this.

Mastering Accessibility: You will gain an understanding of digital Accessibility requirements for websites and interactive systems. Based on practical examples you will learn how to integrate these requirements into your own projects and will also receive an Accessible Website Checklist for Conformance Checks (POUR / WCAG).

Design Solutions & Usability Evaluation: You will learn to create Wireframes and Prototypes and evaluate your solutions early on. This includes Usability Evaluation through Usability Inspection methods, such as the Heuristic Evaluation, or by conducting professional Usability Tests.

All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. The course is live online, practice-oriented, and interactive. After completing the course, you retain full access to all learning materials and recordings in our Campus for a full year! Upon request, you can also book a mentoring session with your trainer at a discounted price at any time after completing the course.

1. Basic Terms and Definitions

• Basic terms and definitions
• What is Usability?
• The difference between Usability and User Experience (UX)
• Principles of Human-Centred Design and Human-Centred Quality
• Accessibility and Avoidance of Harm From Use

2. The Main Activities of HCD according to ISO 9241-210

• Planning the Human-Centred Design Process
• Understanding and Specifying the Context of Use

Exercise: Context of Use Brainstorm

• Specifying the User Requirements
  • Deriving Needs and specifying User Requirements
• Accessibility
  • Understanding Accessibility of websites and interactive systems
  • Overview of the requirements: POUR, WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 and EN 301 549
• Producing Design Solutions that Meet the Requirements
  • Interaction principles and Best Practices
  • Ethics and Design: Dark Patterns and Ethical Design
  • Prototypes:
  • Distinction between Low-Fidelity Wireframes vs. High-Fidelity Prototypes
• Evaluating the Design Solutions
  • Usability Tests and Usability Inspections
  • Card Sorting and other Usability Evaluation Methods
  • The Evaluation Report or Test Report

3. Further Quality Criteria:

• Digital Sustainability: Overview of the relevance of Green UX/UI

4. Planning and Data Collection

• Planning the Human-Centred Design
• Specifying the Human-Centred Quality Goals as a basis
• User Research as data-driven input
• Distinction between Constructed and Non-Constructed Context of Use Information
• Selecting the relevant users and recruiting test participants

5. Understanding the Context of Use

• The components of the Context of Use:
  • Users
  • Goals
  • Tasks
  • Environment
  • Resources

Exercise: Context of Use Brainstorm

• Methodology: Contextual Interviews
  • Use of qualitative methods
  • Creating the Interview Guide
  • Application of the Master-Apprentice Model
  • Techniques: Formulating neutral and open questions

6. HCD Results from the Analysis of the Context of Use

• Context of Use Description:
  • User Group Profiles
  • Personas
  • Task Models
  • As-Is Scenarios
  • User Journey Maps

Exercise: Creating a Persona

7. Deriving User Needs from the Context of Use Description

• Identifying Needs from the Touchpoints and Pain Points of the As-Is Scenario
• Quality Criteria for Needs
• Considering Accessibility and Neurodiverse Requirements in the Needs Derivation

8. Specifying the User Requirements

• Systematically transferring Needs into User Requirements
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative User Requirements
• Quality Criteria for User Requirements
• Accessibility and its Requirements
• Transferring the POUR requirements (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) into concrete User Requirements
• Integrating the regulatory frameworks WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 and EN 301 549
• Formulating Requirements for the Avoidance of Harm
• Digital Sustainability in the Requirements
• Identifying conflicting Needs
• Consolidating and Prioritising User Requirements (e.g., with the Kano Model or MoSCoW)

Exercise: Formulating 3-5 measurable requirements that consider an accessibility or digital sustainability criterion

Questions and Answers: 

Open Q&A for the entire module

9. Fundamental Design Principles

• Interaction Principles (ISO 9241-110):
  • Suitability for the User's Tasks
  • Self-Descriptiveness
  • Conformity with User Expectations
  • Learnability
  • Controllability
  • Error Tolerance
  • Suitability for Individualisation
• Heuristics (according to Nielsen): Established rules of thumb for good Usability
• Designing for Intuitive Understanding and Consistency
  • Creating Affordance: Giving visual cues on how UI elements can be used
  • Considering Users' Mental Models: Aligning design with the target group's expectations
  • Using Design Patterns: Applying proven solutions for recurring design problems
• Design Rules & Style Guides: Ensuring specific requirements are met to maintain consistency in look, feel, and behaviour
• Extended Design Aspects: Inclusivity, Ethics & Sustainability
  • Integrating Accessibility from the start (Accessibility by Design):
  • Applying the POUR principles to all designs: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust
  • Ethical Design: Avoiding Dark Patterns
  • Considering Digital Sustainability (Green UX/UI): Resource-saving design

Exercise: Applying 3 Interaction Principles and one POUR Principle to a sample UI

10. Deepening Understanding & Developing First Concepts

• Formulating Use Scenarios 
• Creating Task Models for the design
• Creating Storyboards
• Creating/Adapting User Journey Maps: Visualising the future user journey across Touchpoints
• Designing Information Architecture:
  • Defining the Navigation Structure
• Creating Initial Designs
  • Producing Sketches and Wireframes
  • Creating Low-Fidelity Prototypes

Exercise: Creating a sketch or Low-Fidelity Wireframe of an app start screen

11. Creating Prototypes

• Developing High-Fidelity Prototypes
• Extended aspects of Accessibility
• User Interface Specification
• Conceiving User Assistance: Planning and designing help texts, error messages, tutorials, and FAQs

Exercise: Depicting User-System Interaction

Questions and Answers: 

Open Q&A for the entire module

12. Fundamentals of Usability Evaluation

• Evaluating the Design Solution against the Requirements
• Formative Evaluation vs. Summative Evaluation
• Method Overview: Distinction between Inspection, Inquiry, and Test
• Usability Inspection Methods
  • Heuristic Evaluation
  • Cognitive Walkthrough
  • Accessibility Assessment
• Inquiry Methods: Interviews and Standardised Questionnaires to measure Satisfaction

Exercise: Heuristic Evaluation

13. Planning, Conducting, Analysing Usability Tests

• Planning Usability Tests
  • Defining Test Goals
  • Specifying Metrics
  • Moderated vs. Unmoderated; Live vs. Remote
  • Formulating Usability Test Tasks
  • Creating the Usability Test Guide
  • Recruiting participants: Selecting representative users
• Conducting Usability Tests
  • Role Distribution in the Usability Test
  • Procedure:
    • Pre-Test Interview
    • Task Execution (Observation)
    • Post-Test Interview

Exercise: Role play of a Think Aloud Sequence based on a simple Test Task

• Analysing Usability Tests
  • Identification of Usability Problems
  • Severity Rating
  • Evaluation of Metrics
  • Communication of Results
  • Creating a Usability Test Report
  • Exercise: Severity Rating of a Usability Problem and derivation of a concrete design change

Questions and Answers: 

Open Q&A for the entire module