Lessons

Unit 1 Design Thinking

Design Process January 7, 2019
In this course, we’ll take an iterative approach to design. No one “process” fits all projects. However, we’ll find it useful to alternate between divergent (exploratory) and convergent (decisive) thinking, and to find ways to test ideas efficiently to gain confidence in our decisions.
Usability Testing January 8, 2019
In order to build better products, it’s useful to test prototypes with potential users to identify opportunities to improve our designs before investing in full production.
User Interviews January 9, 2019
When planning new design work, interviewing potential users helps us understand behaviors and contexts to narrow down the problem(s) we should address.
Paper Prototyping January 10, 2019
Prototyping is often best done in cheap and fast ways, so that we can work out the kinks in design concepts quickly and deliver a better final product.
Surveys January 11, 2019
Surveys can also help us form a better picture of our users, their behaviors, and preferences.
Personas January 14, 2019
Personas are a deliverable which helps us summarize and communicate findings from user research, embodying those findings in a representative user which other stakeholders can empathize with as well.
Design Reports January 16, 2019
Writing about your design work is a good practice in general, to document your process and results. For us, these will serve double duty as early drafts of our eventual portfolios.

Unit 2 Interaction Design

Visual Design January 17, 2019
Visual design makes our work, aesthetic, clear, and usable. We’ll start exploring some principles of typography and layout in this class. Keep in mind that theory will only take your design work so far. You have to produce work, look at it, and try again in order to actually improve.
User Interface Design January 18, 2019
Exploration is key to creating beautiful user interfaces. We don’t see design in our mind, we perceive it with our eyes, and interact with it with our hands. Until a possibility is down on paper or screen, it’s not a possibility you’ve considered. Give yourself as many possibilities to choose from as you can.
Motion in user interfaces January 21, 2019
Motion should be used to add clarity to a user interface, and then sparingly and with nuance. A little bit goes a long way.
Material Design January 22, 2019
We’ll focus on how Google’s Material Design system works on Android devices (primarily phones) and explore the primary navigation model.
Human Interface Guidelines January 24, 2019
We’ll focus on Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for iOS (phones and tablets) for now, with an emphasis on the navigation models in iOS.
Competitive Analysis January 25, 2019
We’ll cover how to conduct competitive research.
Evaluative Research January 28, 2019
We’ll extend our evaluative research toolbox to include heuristic analysis.
Advanced UI February 1, 2019
In this lesson, we will explore a few different topics in order to stretch your UI skills.
Desirability Testing February 4, 2019
We’ll try out a couple of card sorting techniques to help us more objectively gauge the desirability and aesthetic appeal of our designs.
Visit @ Interactius March 1, 2019

Unit 3 Information Architecture

Content Strategy & IA February 4, 2019
Responsive Design February 5, 2019
Navigation & Forms February 6, 2019
Research topics February 8, 2019
IA Methods February 11, 2019
User Stories February 12, 2019
Adaptive Interfaces February 13, 2019

Unit 4 Web Development

HTML and the DOM February 18, 2019
CSS Basics and Flexbox February 19, 2019
CSS Grid and Media Queries February 20, 2019
CSS Animations February 21, 2019

Unit 5 Final Project

Portfolio Workshop February 26, 2019
Review TBD February 27, 2019
Review TBD February 28, 2019
Review TBD March 1, 2019
Review TBD March 4, 2019
Review TBD March 5, 2019

Unit 6 Career Services

CS - Mandatory LinkedIn & CV Talk January 30, 2019
CS - Personal Branding Workshop due March 6, 2019 March 6, 2019