Trying to figure out which is the best UX design course online to help you launch or grow your career in UX, UI, or product design?
With hundreds (or thousands) of tutorials, classes, and intensive courses available online—it can be tough to figure out which is going to help you reach your career goals.
In this guide, we’ve curated two lists of standout options to fit the needs of: 1) students just starting out with UX, and 2) experienced UX or product designers who want to take their career to the next level.
Courses for UX Beginners
- The Top UX Design Courses for Beginners
- UX Academy Foundations by Designlab
- UX Academy by Designlab
- Interaction Design Foundation
- UX Design Certificate by Google
- User Experience Design Fundamentals (Udemy)
- Intro to UX Design (Careerfoundry)
- UX Design Fundamentals by Skillshare
- Advance Your UX Skills (Linkedin Learning)
Courses for Experienced UX Designers
- The Top Courses for Experienced UX Designers
- Data-Driven Design by Designlab
- Advanced Figma by Designlab
- Prototyping in Figma by Designlab
- UX for AI: Design Practices for AI Developers (Linkedin Learning)
- Design Leadership at Scale (Maven)
- Figma UI UX Design Advanced: Become a Figma Pro (Skillshare)
- BONUS: Growth.Design
Courses for UX Beginners
Criteria for Selecting the Best Beginner UX Design Courses
To build our list of the best UX design courses for beginners we’ve looked at a few qualifying criteria:
- Comprehensive & Updated Curriculum: Each course on this list covers concepts and practical skills that are appropriate for those who want to become UX designers.
- Experienced Instructors: Courses are created or led by industry experts with a strong background in UX design.
- Hands-on Projects: Each course offers hands-on projects to give you practical experience.
- Peer Interaction: Courses with an active community or group projects enhance collaborative learning.
- Flexibility: All courses are online, and can accommodate different schedules in some capacity.
Bonus criteria:
- Mentorship: If you want to learn quickly, it can be a great idea to look for courses that include some component of mentorship to get feedback and tips on your work—and be available to answer your design questions.
- Career Support: While these won’t guarantee you a job (for obvious reasons), it can help you pair your UX skills with the nuances of a UX job search.
The Top UX Design Courses for Beginners
1. UX Academy Foundations by Designlab
- Duration: 4 weeks (full-time) or 8 weeks (part-time)
- Price: $499
- Best for: Those without any prior design experience who are looking for an introduction into the world of UX/UI design to see if it's right for them.
UX Academy Foundations is a focused 4-week course that's intended to give you a crash course in UI design. As a student, you'll be paired up with an experienced design mentor, to help you throughout the program and give you feedback on your work.
From ideation to handoff, this curriculum takes you through a design workflow similar to what you’d find in an actual studio or company. You’ll bring your ideas to life as a fully responsive website by the end of the course. The course also integrates AI-related content into the curriculum so that students start to gain familiarity with integrating AI tools into their design workflow.
Many students take the course as a precursor to Designlab’s UX Academy. One of the biggest benefits to the course in this capacity is that it allows students to trial Designlab’s award-winning course format and mentorship before committing to the longer, more intensive UX Academy.
What Students say (sourced from Course Report):
“A Great Start to UX/UI!"
I highly recommend the UX Academic Foundations course with Designlab. I learned so much in those eight weeks, and I feel like I have a strong foundation to start from in moving to the Academy. My skills are fresh and sharp, and I feel ready to learn more and land that dream job!”
“Affordable, exciting, motivating!"
Designlab is a great choice when considering UX design bootcamps. I appreciate the 1:1 weekly mentorship I had with my mentor. The weekly opportunity to work with an industry professional made me feel really excited to continue learning and motivated me to find resources outside of Designlab. My mentor provided many great insights like reading material, information on the ever-evolving industry, as well as tools and tricks on Figma. The optional Group Crit was also incredible! I loved getting the opportunity to work with other students and UXA alum. Getting feedback from not only just my mentor made learning more fun. The other element of Designlab that I really enjoyed was the Discord channel. This allowed me to connect with other students, learn from others, and it made committing to a fully remote education program a lot less lonely. Overall, I am excited to move forward with UX Academy in a few short weeks now that I have a great understanding and feel for the overall education structure and format.“
Learn More: Join an upcoming Informational Webinar or set up a time to speak with the Designlab admissions team.
2. UX Academy by Designlab
- Duration: 15 weeks (full-time) or 30 weeks (part-time)
- Price: $7,249 (payment plans and scholarships are available). UX Academy Foundations graduates receive an automatic $500 discount off tuition.
- Best for: Those who are looking to make a career shift into UX/UI design and walk away with in-depth knowledge on design thinking, UX processes, and a standout portfolio.
UX Academy combines asynchronous learning with 1:1 mentoring to create an educational experience that prepares you with in-demand knowledge and skills in UX/UI design. In addition to personalized 1:1 mentorship throughout the program, you’ll also receive a completed portfolio with 4 unique capstone projects; lifetime access to a network of mentors and UX designers; and actionable insights, feedback, and career support throughout the program.
With both part-time and full-time tracks available, UX Academy offers a flexible, asynchronous learning environment … designed to work with your schedule.
What Students say (sourced from Course Report):
“The best decision for a career switch"
I would highly recommend Designlab's UX Academy course if you are planning to switch careers to UX Design. 1-1 mentorship, student community, group critic sessions, flexible class hours, career services are just few of the many amazing aspects of the program.”
“A great place to get into UX Design"
Definitely loved the mentorship and the group critiques. They both allowed me to come out of my shell and be more confident in my design thinking. For anyone who's looking to switch career paths, DesignLab is a great place to get into UX Design. Idid the part-time route and worked part-time at my accounting job. Once I completed the program, I was able to land an internship in a couple months, then landed a full-time job a few months after that. If you know this is the field you want to be in, I highly recommend DesignLab.”
Learn More: Join an upcoming Informational Webinar or set up a time to speak with the Designlab admissions team.
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