Yesterday, I enrolled myself in Google’s UX Certificate Certificate Course. I was able to enroll for free through The American Dream Academy. They’re closing their program around April 2024 so I decided to take the chance on top of my tough course load to get this certificate.

I’m using my blog to keep myself accountable.

So… to answer the question in the title. What is UX? UX stands for User Experience. UI (User Interface) is commonly associated with UX, commonly stated in job titles as UI/UX Designers.

In week 1 of this course, I’m going to learn about the…

1. Foundations of UX Design
2. Common terms, tools, and framework
3. How to plan and participate in design sprints
4. Build your professional presence online including starting your portfolio

To motivate myself, I will state one thing I am looking forward to in each phase of this learning process.

I am looking forward to…

1. I’ve always heard the term “UX Design” thrown around but don’t really know what it is
2. I’m familiar with some tools like Figma but I wonder what other tools I can use to better my designs.
3. I’m doing sprints in a class called Software Engineering where teams create applications and go through the phases of a software application and I’m interested in what similarities the sprints have between that class and this one.
4. I consider this website a portfolio, but as a working website, I’m working on how I can upgrade this site and add more to this.

“You’ll complete the assignments related to Project 1 (Mobile App) in Courses 2 through 5, Project 2 (Responsive Web Design) in Course 6, and Project 3 (Design a User Experience for Social Good) in Course 7. By the time you have finished this certificate, you’ll have designed two mobile apps and two responsive websites.”

-Google UX Design Certificate: Your UXD Portfolio Roadmap

Week 1

What I’ll be learning:

1. Definition of UX design and why it’s important for consumers & businesses
2. Different roles within the field of UX
3. What makes user experience good or poor
4. Responsibilities of entry-level UX designers
5. How UX designers work with cross-functional teams
6. Differences in UX design jobs depending on company size & industry
7. How to pursue a career in UX design

I will be creating separate blog posts for each of these topics and linking them to this blog post as I progress toward my certificate.