73 UX Resources To Help Your Skills & Your Next Project

There is no shortage of UX (user experience) resources on the internet. From blogs and YouTube channels to books and Twitter accounts, everyone and their mother seems to have an opinion on how to do UX design better. 

So if you’re actually trying to improve your UX design skills, and want to find resources that will actually help you accomplish that, then you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ve detailed a list of the 73 most useful UX resources. 

Ready? Then let’s get started. 

What Is UX (User Experience)?

UX design is the process of creating digital interfaces that users can easily navigate. The goal is to create a seamless and smooth experience for users when they interact with a product. To do this, UX designers study user personas to understand the needs of the customers, then design a system that helps them meet their goals and accomplish their tasks as effortlessly as possible.

UX Resources

Below, we’ve compiled an all-inclusive list of resources split into the following categories: UX courses, UX experts, websites and blogs, books, YouTube channels, podcasts, tools, and communities. Consuming different types of relevant content is a great way to build your knowledge while studying or searching for your first UX design job.

Free UX Learning Resources and Courses

Free UX design courses are great resources both for those who are new to UX design, and those who want to expand their resume. They also act as an accessible path into new niches and areas, and they help even senior UX designers expand their knowledge. You can also learn UX design by enrolling in an online UI/UX design bootcamp if you’re interested in a longer course. Check these out:

Free UX Design Curriculum – Springboard

This 40-hour free course from Springboard includes a list of 37 resources that cover topics such as research methods, user personas, prototyping, wireframing, and more. 

UX Fundamentals – Gymnasium

Gymnasium’s course is aimed at web designers and developers and aims to give industry professionals a working knowledge of UX design principles. 

Google UX Design Professional Certificate – Coursera (Financial Aid Available)

The Google UX design certificate is a six-month course that aims to take aspiring professionals with no experience and get them ready for a job in the UX industry. 

LearnUX.io

The site is full of free video tutorials that can help you get to grips with multiple popular UX design tools such as Figma, Sketch App, and Adobe XD. 

HackDesign

HackDesign is a resource website with weekly UX design lessons contributed by a number of UX professionals, and they are all free. 

UX Design Short Course – CareerFoundry

CareerFoundry offers a free short course as an introduction to UX design. It’s aimed at complete beginners who want to learn a little more and find out if UX design could be the career for them.

UI/UX – Great Learning

This UI/UX design short course introduces the fundamentals of user interface design and the UX design process, and provides students with lifetime access to its resources and a certificate upon completion. 

Digital Skills: User Experience – Accenture

Accenture offers a three-week course that covers the foundations of the UX discipline, how it affects businesses, and what the UX process looks like. 

UX Experts

Next, we have a list of UX experts who are active on social media and post useful quick tips and resources for their followers. You’ll also be able to keep up to date on their own projects and learn directly from their work.

Luke Wroblewski (@lukew)

Source: Twitter

Luke Wroblewski is a UX professional and founder of Google and Twitter-acquired companies.

Jess Eddy (@jesseddy)

Source: Twitter

Jess Eddy taught UX design at General Assembly and currently works with Zendesk. She’s active on Twitter and even has published a book. 

Jen Simmons (@jensimmons)

Source: Twitter

Jen Simmons is a UX Design professional at Apple and works on Safari and Web Kit.

Kim Goodwin (@kimgoodwin)

Source: Twitter

Kim Goodwin is the author of “Designing for the Digital Age” and works as a UX design consultant.

Lisa Angela (@leeloowrites)

Source: Twitter

Lisa is a UX enthusiast and founder of the writing project Disrupting Systems, where she writes about the impact of design on real-world issues.

Patrick Neeman (@usabilitycounts)

Source: Twitter

Patrick Neeman is a UX veteran who has worked in the industry since 1999. He writes the blog Usability Counts.

Loana Teleanu (@uxgoodies)

Source: Twitter

Loana Teleanu is a UX designer and podcast host at Honest UX Talks. She also posts actively on Instagram and has over 200,000 followers there.

Steve Krug (@skrug)

Source: Twitter

Steve Krug is a UX professional and author of the book “Don’t Make Me Think,” which covers UX design principles. 

Kostas Hatzis (@hatzisKOstas)

Source: Twitter

Kostas Hatzis is a product manager and designer, and he is also the founder of Monospace Labs.

Aarron Walter (@aarron)

Source: Twitter

Aarron Walter is an experienced UX designer and has previously worked with InVision and Mailchimp.

Mike Kus (@mikekus)

Source: Twitter

Mike Kus is a web designer and photographer from the UK. He speaks regularly at design/tech conferences.

Joe Natoli (@joenatoli)

Source: Twitter

Joe Natoli is the founder of the UX 365 Academy and has helped over 270,000 students with his industry experience.

Laura Klein (@lauraklein)

Source: Twitter

Laura Klein is a podcast host on UX topics and author of UX for Lean Startups & Build Better Products.

UX Websites and Blogs

The following websites include various types of content, study tools, and resources that will help you develop your skills and stay up to date with the UX industry. 

UX Planet

This blog on Medium labels itself a “one-stop resource for everything related to user experience,” and has a tab dedicated to UX for beginners.

Usability Geek

This blog focuses on the principle of usability within UX design and includes a library of useful blog posts. 

Nielsen Norman Group

The Nielsen Norman Group is a renowned user experience design company, co-founded by the man who coined the term “user experience.”

52 Weeks of UX

This resource comprises 52 micro-lessons in user experience, designed to be read once a week as you study the discipline. 

UX Movement

A UX blog covering differing elements of UX design, such as forms, buttons, content, wireframes, and more.

Smashing Magazine

A subscription community covering all things visual design and UX. Smashing Magazine also hosts workshops and conferences for its members. 

UX Booth

A UX design blog with over 100,000 subscribers. 

Awwwards

A site that hosts awards for outstanding web design, and collects all of the winners on their blog for people to learn from. 

UX Magazine

UX Magazine is a free membership blog that has been running for two decades and has over 640,000 members. 

VWO Blog

UX tool VWO runs an active blog with all kinds of case studies and advice for fellow designers. 

UX Studio

A user experience design blog with hundreds of high-quality blog posts on every aspect of the UX industry.

Abdz.do

A website collection of various standout UX designs and case studies.

The Springboard Blog

Springboard’s blog covers a wealth of information on the UX industry, how you can become a UX professional, and what to expect from the career. 

Inside Design

Inside Design is a blog run by the team at InVision, a leading design collaboration platform.

UX Books

Books covering the principles of UX design help to develop your knowledge of the industry on a large scale, and help keep your own opinion in line with current trends. 

The Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman

Written by the designer who coined the term “user experience,” this book covers the most basic principles of design in relation to all kinds of products and objects. 

UX for Beginners: A Crash Course in 100 Short Lessons – Joel Marsh

This is a book version of the popular blog course on The Hipper Element, and covers everything a new UX designer needs to know about the craft. 

Don’t Make Me Think Revisited – Steve Krug

Steve Krug’s book on UX covers design principles from a common sense perspective, and focuses on enabling users to get what they want without having to exert effort to work around your design.

Usable Usability – Eric Reiss

This book is like a troubleshooting manual for UX designers. It covers a number of usability issues your product might have and how you can fix them.

Simple and Usable – Giles Colborne

Giles Colborne’s book focuses specifically on designing for digital applications and covers the principles of truly simple design. 

Designing for Emotion – Aarron Walter

This book combines design principles with psychology to guide readers in the art of making users love their products. 

Hooked – Nir Eyal

Nir Eyal uses this book to explain and showcase the Hook Model, a four-step process for designing a great user experience. 

Smashing UX Design – Jesmond Allen and James Chudley

This comprehensive guide to the world of UX was written by the founders of the long-running and popular Smashing Magazine blog we listed earlier. 

Lean UX: Designing Great Products With Agile Teams – Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden

This book introduces you to the design system known as Lean UX and teaches you and your team how to develop an efficient and effective design process. 

UX YouTube Channels

When your eyes are a bit tired from all the reading, watching a good YouTube video from a UX expert can help you continue to build your knowledge with a little less active effort.

The Futur

The Futur Academy releases tutorials and educational videos on all things design, including user experience. 

CharliMarieTV

CharliMarie is a UX and web designer, sharing the content of her projects, work, and life as a UX professional. 

UX Mastery

A UX tutorials channel covering fundamentals such as user personas, wireframes, and UX research. 

AJ & Smart

AJ & Smart are a product design studio based in Berlin, posting content about their design processes on their YouTube channel.

Nielsen Norman Group

The Nielsen Norman Group also has its own YouTube channel with over 500 videos covering in-depth topics within the UX industry.

Mike Locke

With over 17 years of experience in the UX industry, Mike Locke brings his knowledge to YouTube to help viewers with everything from interview questions to UX design processes.

UX Podcasts

Podcasts can be a great way to get long-from, undiluted conversations from industry experts, and you can listen to them at any point during your day.

The Crazy One

A UX-focused podcast hosted by a veteran professional who has worked with top companies such as Apple, Google, Nike, Amazon, and Disney.

UX Podcast

A bi-monthly podcast helping its listeners learn something new about design and boost their confidence. 

UX Radio

This podcast covers a host of UX-related topics with various guests from the industry.

UX Like Us

A design podcast for UX researchers, designers, and strategists, hosted by two experienced UX professionals. 

The UX Intern

This podcast is aimed at new UX designers and uses an interview-based format to chat with veteran industry professionals from the perspective of a UX intern.  

What Is Wrong With UX

A humorous podcast hosted by two UX professionals who drink and complain loudly about bad examples of UX design. 

UI Breakfast Podcast

A short-form podcast on UI design interviewing different industry guests, with over 240 episodes available. 

Google Design Podcasts

A collection of podcasts chosen by Google, many following the careers and thoughts of Google’s own designers. 

UX Tools

Becoming proficient in multiple UX tools is a great way to increase your value as a designer, so here’s a list of popular tools for you to choose from. 

Research Tools

First, we have a collection of research tools that help you gather insight into your users.

• Typeform
  A tool for creating friendly forms, quizzes, and surveys for you to send to your users and gather their valuable thoughts.

• Hotjar
  Hotjar is a behavioral analytics software that helps you collect data on what users do on your site and survey them about their experience. 

• UserZoom
  User insights software that allows you and your team to gather actionable insights on user behavior. 

• CrazyEgg
  This UX research optimization software includes features such as heatmaps, recordings, and analytics. 

• Google Analytics
  Borrow the power of Google’s machine learning software to analyze data for your business and make smarter decisions. 

Design Tools

Design tools are key for UX designers, and you’ll likely have heard of all the big names below. Each one would be a great addition to your UX designer resume. 

• Sketch
  Sketch is a collaborative design software, able to take you from the first wireframe to the final prototype. 

• Balsamiq
  Balsamiq is an industry-leading wireframing tool and also offers workshops and courses in the art of wireframing. 

• Invision
  Invision is an online productivity platform that helps design teams optimize their development process and stay in sync.  

• Figma
  Figma is collaborative design software used by teams to design, prototype, and gather feedback all on one simple platform.

UX Communities and Forums

The last section on our list is communities and forums. Finding the right UX community for you can take some time, but they are highly useful resources where you can even find job opportunities and mentors. 

UX Mastery Slack Group

The UX Mastery YouTube channel mentioned earlier on this list also has an open Slack community that you join to discuss UX design with other enthusiasts.

Dribble

Dribbble is a paid online community for designers to collaborate, share work, and help each other find jobs

UX/UI Design Projects Facebook Group

A Facebook group with over 100,000 members, where people share their projects, ideas, and opinions on UX design.

UX Weekly Facebook Group

A small community for discussing UX design and keeping up to date with the latest industry news. 

Interaction Design Association Slack Group

The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is a professional community for designers that hosts conferences and local communities, and they also have a Slack group.

User Experience Design Community on Reddit

This subreddit has over 7000 members and is open to anyone interested in UX design. Both enthusiasts and professionals are part of the community, and they are open to questions from aspiring designers.

Since you’re here
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