Master's in Data Science

Finding the Best Online UX/UI Courses For You in 2020

Online UI/UX design courses help jumpstart your user experience and user interface design career. UI and UX are two parts of how people experience websites and applications. User interface is the overall aesthetics of how a site or app looks and its interactivity. UX is how a user interacts with your brand on a broader scale.

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MIT

Human Computer Interaction Online Short Course
Learn from eight HCI experts from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who share their latest research in this six-week online interaction design course. Learn to experiment with HCI and expand your existing UX knowledge, guided by MIT faculty.Learn More
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University of Cape Town

UCT User Experience Design
Learn how users interact with online content so that you can design environments that meet their evolving needs in 10 weeks.Learn More
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UI and UX work together to help guide how people experience a product or website. UX and UI courses may help teach web development as it relates to design and can help you enter these growing fields. The median salary for UX designers in 2018 was $95,000 (PDF, 533 KB), according to a survey by the User Experience Professionals Association.

What is a UX/UI Design Course?

UX, or user experience, and UI, or user interface design, are related but often separate professions. Many courses in this field are broken up into UX courses and UI courses, but in some cases are combined. UX courses typically focus on the overall experience of using a website, app or program, while UI courses typically focus mainly on visual design. Some courses, even those specifically labeled as UX or UI, may teach a combination of UX and UI.

The Difference Between UX and UI Courses

UX and UI courses do not always completely overlap. There are several ways to understand the differentiation between UX and UI. For instance, it’s commonly said that UX comprises the entire experience users have with a product. In this view, UI is the part of UX that deals with visual, interactive elements. Someone who works primarily in UX, however, may focus less on the visual aspect of the product and more on the structure, layout and even text with which a user interacts. In this way, UI may be seen as both part of and different from UX.

UX Courses and Skills You’ll Learn

UX courses are focused on the user, often touting user-centered design. This approach combines research and analysis with implementation that is focused on an end product.

UX courses may focus skills such as:

  • The fundamentals of User-Centered Design (USD)
  • User research and interviews
  • Usability analysis and heuristic evaluation
  • Empathy mapping and personas
  • Mobile-first navigation
  • Card-based design
  • Content strategy
  • Information architecture (IA) and card sorting
  • Sitemaps
  • Wireframing
  • Creating prototypes
  • Basic visual design
  • Front-end coding, including HTML5 and CSS

    • Course Focus Topics
    UCT User Experience Design
    Sponsored    		 User Experience Fundamentals
    • Introduction to UXD
    • Research and Evidence Gathering
    • Wireframing
    • Prototyping
    Georgia Tech Introduction to User Experience Design User Experience Fundamentals
    • Overview of User Experience Design
    • Requirement Gathering
    • Prototyping
    CalArts UX Design Fundamentals User Experience Fundamentals
    • Ideation, Articulation, Development
    • Planning, Testing, Researching, Mapping
    HECMontreal UX Design Intermediate User Experience
    • Integration of UX Research in the UX Design Process
    • Incremental, Radical and Disruptive Innovation
    • Ideation Results Analysis

    UI Courses and Skills You’ll Learn

    User Interface courses may focus more on functionality of applications and software, beyond just aesthetics. There are many aspects of UI, which is why it can be beneficial to take multiple courses on both theory and application.

    UI courses may focus on skills such as:

  • Product branding and identity
  • Visual hierarchies
  • Layouts and grids
  • Responsive design
  • Typography and icon design
  • Color theory and palettes
  • Prototyping
  • Applying user research
  • Wireframing
  • Mastering design programs: Sketch, InVision, Adobe XD

    • Course Focus Topics
    CalArts Visual Elements of User Interface Design User Interface Fundamentals
    • Formal Elements of Interface Design
    • Active Elements of Interface Design
    • Composing the Elements of Interface Design
    University of California San Diego Design Principles: an Introduction Intermediate User Interface
    • User Research and Design
    • Prototyping and Design
    • Evaluating User Interface
    Coursera’s User Interface Design Specialization Intermediate User Interface
    • Ideation, Articulation, Development
    • Planning, Testing, Researching, Mapping
    Brainstation’s User Interface Design Course Intermediate User Interface
    • Typography
    • Sketch
    • Interaction Design
    MIT CSAIL Human-Computer Interaction for User Experience Design
    Sponsored    		 Advanced User Experience
    • Natural Interaction
    • Collaborative Computer Interaction
    • Intelligent User Interfaces and Prototyping
    • Multimedia, Speech, and Vision in Computer Interaction

    How Can I Enhance my Career with a UI/UX Design Course?

    As mentioned, UI/UX is a well-paying field—the median salary for UX designers in 2018 was $95,000 (PDF, 533 KB), according to a survey by the User Experience Professionals Association. That is higher than the national annual mean wage. Some UX and UI courses help students put together a project at the end to show the skills you’ve learned in class, which may be a useful addition to your portfolio if you are looking to transition to a new career. Learn more about your options on Master’s in Data Science.

    Last updated: August 2020