Introduction to UI/UX Design Course

Take the first step towards a career in UX design and try the Springboard approach to transforming your career.

  • 4 weeks part-time with cohorts starting every Monday

  • Four 1:1 meetings with your industry mentor + a career coaching session

  • Complete an end-to-end design project for your portfolio

  • $99 one-time only payment

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The Springboard System - a proven approach to career success

Experience our flexible, human-guided approach to online learning in this 4-week, part-time course. If you choose to move onto the UI/UX Design Career Track, backed by the Springboard Job Guarantee, you'll receive a $99 credit to put towards the cost.

Learn online, with real humans

You’ll meet with your industry mentor every week to get feedback on projects, answers to questions, and gain insight into what it’s like to be a designer.

Build your portfolio with a hands-on project

The best way to learn is by doing. You’ll apply your new skills to an end-to-end project by designing an app using popular tools like Sketch and Figma.

Get expert career guidance

Partner with a career coach who can help you figure out if a design career is the right fit for you and how to take the next step.

Mentors make the difference. Yours will help you think like a designer.

At Springboard, we believe humans help humans learn better.

You’ll have four 30 minute 1-on-1 sessions with a mentor — someone who works in the field and will be your partner throughout the course.

Learn more about Springboard mentorship

  • Personalized guidance to move you forward

    Build skills faster with an industry expert in your corner.

  • Accountability at every step

    Weekly sessions with your mentor mean blockers will be removed and you’ll stay on track.

  • Industry insight on call

    Your mentor is a window into the industry and will provide guidance and an insider's perspective.

Mentor: Alex Souza

Lead UX Designer

Mentor: Karen Ko

UX Designer

Mentor: Matthew Weprin

Sr Manager, Design & UX

Mentor: Vanessa Mateus

Principal Product Designer

What you’ll learn in this introduction to UI/UX design course

In this four-week course you’ll get a guided tour of the design industry and Springboard.

Topic 1: Design 101

Build the foundational knowledge needed to create high-quality products while learning the key steps of the design thinking process. 

  • Learn the differences between user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design.

  • Get set up with Sketch or Figma.

  • Identify designs and designers that inspire you.

Topic 2: Research

Understanding the motivations and needs of a user helps in creating a better product. Designers conduct research to understand the problem they’re trying to solve. This unit will delve into understanding your user and their experience with the product.

  • Learn about different types of user research.

  • Receive a deep dive into competitive research.

  • Begin to create personas for your end-to-end project.

Topic 3: Ideation and Sketching

Ideation is the process of brainstorming and identifying ideas that work and often involves choosing the one that wins out. Sketching is one way you can brainstorm. In this unit, you’ll learn different types of sketching techniques.

  • Understand why sketching is integral to successful design

  • Learn Crazy 8s sketching

  • Create a Crazy 8s sketch for one screen for your end-to-end project

Topic 4: Working with Design Tools

This unit will move away from theory and have you work hands-on with the tools most widely used in Design — Sketch or Figma.  You’ll also learn about the salaries that designers earn.

  • Build a basic working knowledge of Sketch or Figma

  • Follow tutorials on using the design tool of your choice

  • Understand the benefits of a design job

Topic 5: Low-Fidelity Design

Low-fidelity designs validate a designer’s ideas early in the design process. They are rough representations of a product and allow designers enough room to tweak and iterate their designs. This unit will introduce you to wireframes, which you’ll create for your end-to-end project.

  • Understand wireframing best practices

  • Become familiar with common layouts and patterns

  • Sketch two to three screens for your end-to-end project

Topic 6: High-Fidelity Design Part I

High-fidelity designs look and feel like real designs, but there’s still room for adjustment. Some planning goes into high-fidelity designs, including choosing design elements like fonts, colors, and buttons. You’ll work through high-fidelity designs for your end-to-end project in this unit.

  • Develop a basic style guide

  • Explore visual design fundamentals like color palette, topography, UI elements, and imagery

  • Convert your designs from low-fidelity to high-fidelity

Topic 7: High-Fidelity Design Part II

In this unit, you’ll take the feedback you received from your mentor to refine your high-fidelity mockups. You’ll also have the option to run usability tests — an evaluative research method that helps designers understand the issues users may experience with their product.

  • Optionally conduct usability tests with your mockups

  • Increase your skill with your design tool of choice

  • Finalize your high-fidelity designs

Topic 8: End-to-End Project

Throughout the course, you’ll work through one end-to-end design project. You’ll learn a specific phase of the design-thinking process and then apply it. The project involves creating an app from one of three possible choices. A breakdown of the project phases:

  • Choosing your project

  • Conducting competitive research

  • Creating a user persona

  • Sketching possible solutions

  • Creating low-fidelity wireframes using Sketch or Figma

  • Building high-fidelity designs using Sketch or Figma 

  • Optionally choosing to conduct usability tests

Topic 9: Career Support

You’ll have the opportunity to participate in one career coaching call and ask your coach any questions about the design field.


If you decide to move on to one of the Career Tracks, you’ll have access to a more robust career support plan that includes regular career coaching calls, resume reviews, mock interviews, and career coursework that will help you land a UX Design job.

Is this program right for you?

The Introduction to UI/UX Design was created to help people from all professional backgrounds understand if UX design and Springboard are right for them.

Requirements:

  • No prior design experience is required

  • A Mac or PC, with an internet connection

Tuition

Limited time offer

$99

Get the entire 4-week course, four mentor calls and a career coaching session for just $99 (discounted from $349). Cohorts start every Monday.

What’s included in the tuition:

  • Access the online curriculum anytime, anywhere, so you can learn when it suits you

  • 4 x 30 minute sessions with your mentor and a career coaching consultation

  • Fast-tracked review of your UI/UX Design Career Track application if you choose to continue

  • $99 tuition credit for the UI/UX Design Career Track

Already know you want to become a UX designer?

If you know, you know. Apply to the UI / UX Design Career Track backed by the Springboard Job Guarantee.

Learn more

Questions? We have answers

Discover what it’s like to be a designer

Cohorts start every Monday. Spots are limited. Reserve yours today.