Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate (Coursera)

Current UX designers and researchers at Google will serve as your instructors, and you will complete hands-on activities that simulate real-world UX design scenarios.

Learners who complete the seven courses in this certificate program should be equipped to apply for entry-level jobs as UX designers. No previous experience is necessary.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

- Describe common UX research methods.

- Empathize with users to understand their needs and pain points.

- Create empathy maps, personas, user stories, and user journey maps to understand user needs.

- Develop problem statements to define user needs.

- Generate ideas for possible solutions to user problems.

- Conduct competitive audits.

- Identify and account for biases in UX research.

- Start designing a mobile app, a new project to include in your professional UX portfolio.

Course 2 of 7 in the Google UX Design Professional Certificate

What You Will Learn

- Describe common UX research methods.

- Empathize with users to understand their needs and pain points.

- Develop problem statements to define user needs.

- Generate ideas for possible solutions to user problems.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Integrating research into the design process

As a UX designer, it's your job to put the user front-and-center in everything you do. In this part of the course, you'll explore the role of research in the design process to help you better understand and empathize with users. You'll also learn about the benefits and drawbacks of common UX research methods. And, you'll identify and account for biases that can arise when conducting research.

WEEK 2

Empathizing with users and defining pain points

Get ready to begin the design process for a new portfolio project: a mobile app! This part of the course will focus on empathizing with users, which is the first phase of the design process. You’ll conduct interviews with real users to build empathy maps and create personas. These hands-on activities will help you understand user perspectives and pain points.

WEEK 3

Creating user stories and user journey maps

In this part of the course, you'll continue to empathize with users of the mobile app you'll later design. You'll craft user stories and develop user journey maps. You’ll also learn about the importance of considering accessibility when empathizing with users.

WEEK 4

Defining user problems

All of your work to empathize with users will help you define the problem that users are facing. In this part of the course, you'll move from the empathize phase into the define phase of the design process. To define the problem your designs will solve, you’ll build a problem statement, a hypothesis statement, and a value proposition. In addition, you’ll explore how psychology and human factors influence design.

WEEK 5

Ideating design solutions

You're ready to move into the third phase of the design process: ideate. You'll consider everything you've learned about the users you're designing for and the problems they're facing in order to brainstorm ideas for design solutions. To help you come up with lots of ideas for design solutions, you’ll conduct a competitive audit and complete design activities, like How Might We and Crazy Eights.