Best UX Design Courses for Aspiring Designers

A roundup of the best UX design courses available for beginners online to help you learn the ins and outs of user experience design.

Maria Myre
Maria Myre
|
Aug 17, 2023
|
12
Min Read
Share

Trying to figure out which is the best UX design course online that will help you get started on your journey towards landing a job as a UX designer?

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'll outline key factors to consider before you start, explain what makes a beginner-friendly course, and present a curated list of standout options. 

Questions to Help You Choose the Right UX Design Course

Are you looking for an introductory course that will quickly help you with the fundamentals? Or are you hoping for a one-stop for a full career transition? 

If your goal is to fully shift into the field of UX design, you might be looking for a more intensive UX bootcamp experience that comes fully stocked with mentorship, career support, and more.

1. What are your learning or career goals?

Take some time to reflect on what, exactly, you hope to achieve by the end of the course. Do you want to learn UX design basics? Create a professional portfolio that you can use in job searches? Master one of the industry recognized design tools?

Reflect and write down your goals, so that you can use them to compare your various options.

2. What is your current experience level with UX design?

There are many courses on the list below that are meant for absolute beginners. Others might require some design familiarity as a prerequisite, since there will be certain skills you need to hit the ground running and complete the course on time.

3. How much time are you willing to commit?

Research estimates that the average completion rate for online courses is anywhere from 3 - 15%. Yes, each course (and participant) is different, and many factors come into play here. 

To beat these odds—and get the results you want from the course—you’ll have to stay committed from Day 1.

Short courses are like sprints: they're easy to fit into any kind of a schedule. 

More intensive, multi-week programs are like marathons. They require careful, consistent scheduling if you want to get the most out of your investment.

4. How much accountability and feedback do you need?

If you are serious about developing design skills through hands-on projects, personal feedback is essential. If this is important to you, you might gravitate towards courses that include elements like 1:1 mentorship, peer feedback, and an active online community that you can reach out to with questions.

5. What learning format do you prefer?

Do you enjoy video-based learning (the kind you find on Skillshare or Udemy)? Wish you could process what you’re learning out loud in a live group session? Looking for 1:1 mentorship to get personalized feedback on your work and how you can improve?

6. What do the testimonials say? 

There’s no “perfect” course, and for every really great option you’ll likely find a wealth of negative reviews from unhappy students who didn’t get the results they had wanted to achieve. 

However, taking a look through the testimonials of a course can help you identify where a program’s strengths and weaknesses lie. You can use these as a gut check against your internal criteria of what you’re looking for.

Criteria for Selecting the Best UX Design Course for Beginners

Whatever your career goals are, we've put together a list of the top UX design courses available, based on a few qualifying criteria:

  • Comprehensive & updated Curriculum: Each course on this list covers foundational concepts and practical skills that are appropriate for UX beginners.
  • 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 in the field.
  • 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 succeed quickly, it can be a great idea to look for courses that include a mentor who will provide feedback and tips on your work—and be available to answer your design questions.
  • Career Support: If you’re serious about mastering the fundamentals of UX design and going on to land a job in the field, you might want to look for courses that are connected with career support programs. While this 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

Learning UX vs UI Design

UX and UI design are two sides of the same coin. Products with poor user experience lead to frustration, errors, and customer churn. A poorly designed UI can impact usability and the overall perception of the product. And UX designers benefit when they can create wireframes and layouts that will support UI best practices.

Because of this intrinsic connection, many of the courses on this list include both UX and UI elements, to ensure that you are hireable as a UX designer.

Learn more: The Difference Between UX and UI Design

The Top UX Design Courses

1. UX Academy Foundations by Designlab

UX Design Course Online - UX Academy Foundations

  • 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 either a fully fledged web page or app design by the end of the course.

Start your UX journey with the foundations

2. UX Academy by Designlab

UX Design Course Online - UX Academy

  • 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.

3. Interaction Design Foundation (Membership)

UX Design Course Online - IDF

  • Duration: Self-paced, monthly membership
  • Price: Membership starts at $16/month for the Professional level. Upgrade to the $200/month "Design League" tier for personalized coaching to help you pair your coursework with career goals.
  • Best for: If you want to dip your toes into the world of UX, or are simply looking for a way to gain in-depth knowledge on a specific topic, you might enjoy a membership with Interaction Design Foundation.

Interaction Design Foundation offers a suite of self-paced UX design courses, ranging from beginner to advanced, and even a few masterclasses. Rather than sell the courses individually, Interaction Design Foundation operates on a membership model (similar to Skillshare), where you can opt to become a member and then take as many classes as you want, as long as your membership is active.

4. UX Design Certificate by Google

UX Design Course Online - Google UX Design

  • Duration: ~6 months (10 hours/week)
  • Pricing: $39/month for a Coursera subscription
  • Best for: Beginners who are looking for a focused, relatively inexpensive way to gain understanding of the UX design process and earn a certificate.

The Google UX Design Professional Certificate covers the foundations of UX design, including user empathy, building wireframes and prototypes, and conducting research to test your designs. Simply sign up for a Coursera membership and you'll be able to work your way through this course, learning design thinking basics, an overview of the UX design process, and practice with design projects that are reviewed by course peers. While this isn't a comprehensive course, it comes with a certificate and a glimpse into Google's innovative perspective on UX design.

5. User Experience Design Fundamentals (Udemy)

UX Design Course Online - Udemy

  • Duration: 10 hours
  • Pricing: $94.99, or $29.99/month with a personal subscription.
  • Best for: Someone with a basic understanding of design who's interested in making more user-friendly, effective websites.

Joe Natoli's User Experience Design Fundamentals is a perennial recommendation for anyone who wants to learn more about how UX design works, and how it can be used to create more user-friendly, effective websites. Throughout the 10 hours of on-demand video in this design course, you'll be introduced to concepts like the user research process and the basics of visual design, as well as project-specific work like creating content requirements, identifying business goals, and more. At the end, you'll receive a certificate of completion.

6. Intro to UX Design by CareerFoundry

UX Design Course Online - CareerFoundry

  • Duration: 1 month (~15-20 hours/week)
  • Pricing: $690
  • Best for: Someone with no previous design experience who wants to learn the essentials of UX.

CareerFoundry's Intro to UX Design teaches the fundamental principles of UX design including design thinking, user-centered design, and information architecture. Throughout the month-long course, you'll learn and practice core UX skills—such as user research and iterative design—as you create your very first app design.

7. Product Design Bootcamp by Flatiron School

UX Design Course Online - Flatiron School

  • Duration: 15 weeks (full-time)
  • Pricing: $16,900
  • Best for: Someone with no previous design experience who wants to learn the essentials of UX.

In addition to courses on cybersecurity and data science, Flatiron School also offers a 15 week long product design bootcamp program, with both online and location-specific options. In this program, you’ll gain hands-on UX/UI design experience using tools like Figma and Webflow, and you’ll use your course projects to create a design portfolio.

8. Advance Your UX Design Skills (LinkedIn Learning)

UX Design Course Online - LinkedIn Learning

  • Duration: 8 hours, 16 minutes
  • Pricing: Free with a 1-month trial. LinkedIn Learning membership starts at $19.99/month (paid annually).
  • Best for: A designer who is looking to sharpen and expand their UX design skillset.

The Advance Your UX Design Skills on LinkedIn Learning is a short, varied collection of UX design courses that allow you to explore UX design facets like prototyping, mobile design considerations, validation techniques, and more. You'll work your way through 8 mini-courses that teach you how to use Figma for UX design, as well as interaction design basics, UX web analytics, and remote research.

Next Steps:

  1. Learn more about how to become a UX designer without a 4-year design degree.
  2. Ready to go all-in? The next cohort of UX Academy Foundations is currently open for enrollment. Sign up here.

Start your UX journey with the foundations

Launch a career in ux design with our top-rated program

Top Designers Use Data.

Gain confidence using product data to design better, justify design decisions, and win stakeholders. 6-week course for experienced UX designers.

Launch a career in ux design with our top-rated program

Top Designers Use Data.

Gain confidence using product data to design better, justify design decisions, and win stakeholders. 6-week course for experienced UX designers.