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10 Best Free Online UX Design Courses Free UX Design Courses Online

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Free online UX design courses can be the first step towards a new career as a user experience designer. As a user experience designer, you are tasked with focusing on the usability and aesthetics of a software application. As new devices are introduced with new input methods like smartphones, it is important to consider the ways that users interact with these devices. Taking into account these new devices and the more complicated functionality of new applications, user experience designers help to smooth out the interaction with the software.

Companies like Apple have made quality user experience a major aspect of their success. Tech companies pour large amounts of money into ensuring that their applications have the best possible user experience. This is an incredibly in-demand job market and having skills related to user experience can open a lot of doors to new career paths for you. However, user experience courses can be expensive. That’s why we recommend enrolling in free user experience courses.

Choosing to try a free user experience course online allows you to get your education as a user experience designer started with no initial investment. This way you can see if this career is right for you. Below you will find a selection of user experience courses that we’ve found to be helpful. 

1. Become a User Experience Designer

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Check out the Become a User Experience Designer course here.

Available on LinkedIn Learning, the Become a User Experience Designer can be accessed via a free trial of the LinkedIn learning service. Able to be completed in just 8.5 hours, the Become a User Experience Designer course is a comprehensive free online UX course designed to teach the fundamentals of UX design. LinkedIn Learning has partnered with select universities to allow for this course to be converted to course credit at certain partner universities. A shareable certificate is offered at the end of this course that can be added to your LinkedIn profile.

The goals of this LinkedIn Learning course are to teach you how to apply principles of user-centered design, create wireframes and graphics using Illustrator and Sketch, and build a UX portfolio with interactive prototypes. Lessons in this course include Planning a Career in User Experience, Analyzing User Data, Creating Personas, Ideation,Creating Scenarios and Storyboards, Paper Prototyping, Implementation Planning, Interaction Design, and Sketching for UX Designers. This course is very comprehensive and provides students with a lot of insight into getting started in UX design.

We really like this free online UX design course as it can be converted to university credit at selected universities and also acts as a very comprehensive introduction to user experience design concepts. 

Summary

  • A comprehensive introduction to user experience
  • Offered by LinkedIn Learning
  • Can be completed in 8.5 hours
  • Free with trial

2. UX Design Fundamentals

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Check out the UX Design Fundamentals course here.

Made available by California Institute of the Arts on Coursera, this course is a fantastic free online user experience course for those interested in a beginner level course. This course is part of the UI/UX Design Specialization offered by California Institute of the Arts on Coursera. This course can be completed in about 13 hours. A shareable certificate is offered to students when completed with this course. This certificate can be easily added to your LinkedIn profile making it easy to show off to prospective employers. This course is designed for beginners and is offered in a self-paced format. 

This course is offered as part of an overall UX Design specialization that can be completed on Coursera for free. The lessons in this particular course include Ideation, Articulation, Development, and much more. Students will learn how to prototype different UX designs on paper and in Adobe applications like XD and Illustrator. You will learn how to collect data from users to determine which UX implementations work best. When finished with this course, students will have a better understanding of UX design elements while also having had created some items for their portfolio.

We like this free online user experience course as it is very comprehensive and taught by a highly regarded institution, the California Institute of the Arts. The course is part of a larger specialization offered by the college.

Summary

  • Can be completed in 13 hours
  • Focuses on the fundamentals of UX design
  • Part of a larger UX Design specialization
  • Available on Coursera
  • Entirely free

3. UX Research

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Check out the UX Research course here.

Offered on the edX platform by HECMontrealX, this free online UX design course focuses on user experience research. User experience research is a huge aspect of successful user experience design. Engaging in user experience research allows UX designers to examine the ways that users interact with an application to gain better insight into what the users expectations are. Knowing this information allows UX designers to design their applications to be more user-friendly. This course is offered in a self-paced format and can be started at any time. HECMontrealX estimates that this course can be completed in six weeks. A certification is available upon the completion of this course.

Through this course, you will learn how to implement user data collection into various IT projects. You will study various methods of user research and learn about the various types of data sources available in user research. You will learn how to assess this data to make intelligent user experience design decisions. These are just some of the lessons in this UX design course. This course is designed for the intermediate level and it is suggested that students enrolling have existing familiarity with user experience concepts. 

We really like this course as it offers students a way to learn a different aspect of user experience design. By understanding user experience research, you will be able to make more informed decisions when creating your user experience designs. 

Summary

  • Focuses on user experience research
  • Can be completed in six weeks
  • Offered by HECMontrealX
  • Offered for free

4. Digital Skills: User Experience

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Check out the Digital Skills: User Experience course here.

Offered on Future Learn’s Accenture platform, this free online user experience course provides students with an introduction to key user experience concepts. This course is designed to be completed in just three weeks with a two hour weekly commitment. The course is offered in a self-paced format, allowing students to start and stop the course whenever they’d like. This particular course has a 4.7 star rating from over 900 reviews. If you complete this degree, you are able to request a certificate from the CPD stating that you have mastery over the content of this course. Accenture has designed this course to help people make career transitions into UX designer jobs.

This course is made up of three weeks of lessons that focus on different aspects of user experience. The first week of the course focuses on examining the importance of user experience design. You will learn about the foundations of UX design while also learning what makes good usability. The next week will continue to understand the basics of user experience including visual design, user journeys, user research, and more. The final week focuses on tools and testing. You will learn how to implement your UX designs and how to test to make sure they have good usability.

Accenture’s course is a great option for those who are seeking out a career transition to becoming a user experience designer. 

Summary

  • Teaches the fundamentals of user experience design
  • Self-paced format
  • Offered on Accenture
  • Can be completed in three weeks
  • Free
  • Teaches the fundamentals of user experience design
  • Self-paced format
  • Offered on Accenture
  • Can be completed in three weeks
  • Free

5. UX Fundamentals 

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Check out the UX Fundamentals course here.

Offered at The Gymnasium, this free online user experience design course offers you the ability to learn the fundamentals of user experience. This course is designed for web designers, creatives, user experience designers, and anyone considering a project in user experience design. Taught by Jim Webb, this course is a great option for beginners and folks that are new to user experience design. This course does not offer a certification at the end. The Gymnasium courses are offered in a self-paced format that allows students to work through the curriculum at a pace that suits them best. It is recommended that you have familiarity with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
This course is made up of six different lessons that are intended to teach the fundamentals of user experience design. These lessons are Welcome to UX Fundamentals, Take “You” Out of the User, Wireframes and Prototypes, Make Your Content Make Sense, Best Practices, and Watching Users. A week is dedicated to each one of these lessons. Throughout this course you will move through the various steps of the user experience design process to create a mockup of a user experience design that can be added to your portfolio. Not only will you get an opportunity to learn but you will also get the chance to build out your portfolio.

This free online user experience course is a great option as it allows students to engage directly with the user experience process and learn by doing. At the end of this course you will have a sample UX design to include in your portfolio.

Summary

  • Focuses on the UX fundamentals
  • Offered for free at The Gymnasium
  • Entirely for free
  • Made up of six lessons.

6. Introduction to User Experience Design

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Check out the Introduction to User Experience Design course here.

This free online UX design course is offered by the Georgia Institute of Technology on Coursera. Using material from their on-campus UX degree programs, this free online course provides students with access to the fundamentals of user experience design. This course is available in a self-paced format. A shareable certificate is available to those that complete this degree. This certificate can be easily added to your LinkedIn profile to share with prospective employers. The Georgia Institute of Technology has designed this course with beginner-level students in mind. This course can be completed in about six hours. With nearly 6,000 reviews, this course has a 4.5 rating on Coursera.

As a beginner level course, this free online UX design course focuses on teaching the basics of UX design. Lessons in this course are broken out across four weeks. The first week is an introduction to the basic concepts of UX design. The second week focuses on requirement gathering which is the process of examining the needs of the user to ensure that the UX design accounts for those needs. The third week is focused on designing alternatives, and the final week is focused on prototyping. Students in this course will have worked through the entire process of UX design from data gathering to prototyping. This course is taught via lectures, readings, and quizzes.

This course is great as it follows the actual process of taking a UX design from concept to prototype. Getting experience working with the actual UX design process is very useful to a potential career as a UX designer.

Summary

  • Teaches the process of UX design
  • Offered by Georgia Tech
  • Can be completed in six hours
  • Available for free

7. Break Into UX Design

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Check out the Break Into UX Design course here.

Also offered by the General Assembly, this free online UX design course is a livestream lecture aimed at helping students to take steps towards finding a career in UX design. Not as focused on the actual fundamentals of UX design, this live stream offers practical advice on how to position yourself to find work as a UX designer. This live stream is offered to students at different times during the week. During this livestream, students will spend time in a Q&A course with a UX designer that is currently working in the field. The livestream lasts about two hours.

This free online UX design course is a great option for those wanting to transition into a career in UX design. This livestream covers a number of practical concerns someone might have when transitioning to a new career. Topics covered in this free online UX design course include the process of building a UX design product, the various roles found in a typical UX design project, job requirements for certain roles, different client expectations, how to create a portfolio, how to interview, and much more. While maybe not as centered around actual UX design lessons, this course is great as it will help you orient yourself in your search for employment in UX design.

We really like this free online UX design course as it gives students insight into the process of actually finding work as a UX designer. This is a great course to take alongside another course focused on the UX fundamentals. Between the two, you’ll have the skills and know how to start seeking out work in UX design.

Summary

  • Focused on the mechanics of finding UX design work
  • A livestream Q&A
  • Offered multiple times a week
  • Entirely free
  • Offered by the General Assembly

8. Hack Design: User Experience

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Hack Design is a website dedicated to offering high-quality, free design tutorials and lessons via the internet. Available on their website, this free online user experience design course is a comprehensive introduction and overview to the various skills and concepts needed for a career in UX. Hack Design offers users four different user experience courses to start from. These courses are primarily offered as written lessons with visual interspersed to help reinforce the content of the lessons. No certificate is offered at the completion of this course.

The user experience courses offered by Hack Design include an Introduction to User Experience Design, Rapid Prototyping Tools & Best Practices, Defining & Expanding User Experience, and Understanding the User in User Experience. This suite of user experience courses give a wealth of knowledge and information to students. Through Hack Design’s courses, you can move beyond the basic introductory information and move towards more advanced topics in user experience.

We really like Hack Design’s User Experience series of courses as it goes beyond the basic user experiences courses that you tend to find online. These four courses provide students a chance to develop a truly deep understanding of user experience. 

Summary

  • A series of four user experience lessons
  • Entirely for free
  • Covers more advanced topics in user experience design
  • No certificate available

9. Introduction to UX Design

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Check out the Introduction to UX Design course here.

Taught by the General Assembly, this free online UX design course is offered to students entirely for free. A workshop offered as a livestream, this course is streamed multiple times a month. This course is a great way to become introduced to the world of user experience design. As a livestream, students will be able to directly interact with the course instructor to ask them questions and interact with other classmates. This course is designed for those without any prior user experience design. The live stream runs for two hours and covers a variety of important user experience design topics.

In this UX design course you will discuss with an experienced UX designer the importance of UX design. You will learn about its relevance and how the effect it has on the various software applications that you interact with on a daily basis. You will also get the chance to discuss the ways that UX design can make a product more usable or how it can get in the way of a product functioning the way you’d expect. Finally, this course will teach you the basics of sketching and prototyping UX design concepts. You will work with other students in the class to share UX design prototypes and examine other students’ work.

We really like that this free online user experience course puts students directly in touch with an experienced UX designer. Through this live stream you’ll be able to directly interact with someone who is working as a UX designer to learn the ins and outs of the business. . 

Summary

  • An introductory livestream to UX design
  • Live Q&A with an actual UX designer
  • Entirely free
  • Offered multiple times a week
  • Offered by the General Assembly

10. Free UX Design Curriculum

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Check out the Free UX Design Curriculum course here.

Offered by Springboard, this free online UX design course is an expansive course designed to teach students the skills and techniques needed to begin a career in user experience design. This course is expected to take over 40 hours to complete. Over 100,000 students have previously taken this highly rated free online user experience course. The course is taught by Julia, an instructor at General Assembly.  This entire course is available to students for free with a free Springboard account.

Through this free online course, students will work through the various phases of the UX design process. You will learn how to design research methods, implement user centered design techniques, and how to interview users to learn how they are using the product. You will also learn how to develop different user personas and how to create UX design deliverables for clients. This UX design course is very in-depth and is a great option for a beginner who wants to learn all the ins and outs of everything they need to get started in UX design.

This free online UX design course is a fantastic option as it is very intensive and offers an incredible amount of information for free. This course has everything you need to begin a career in UX design

Summary

  • An intensive course for beginners to UX design
  • Requires 40 hours to complete
  • Self-paced
  • Offered on Springboard
  • Entirely free

Why choose a free online UX design course?

A free online UX design course gives you the opportunity to learn the concepts and techniques employed by user experience designers without having to spend money on expensive courses. UX design courses and boot camps can be very costly. By enrolling in one of these free online UX design courses you can begin your journey towards becoming a UX designer without breaking the bank. Also check out the best degrees for a career in UX.

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Ready to start your journey?

Ready to start your journey?