Introduction to UX Design for Beginners by a New York Product Designer

UX Design, Learning Knowledge That Comes Alive!
We'll help you get a proper introduction to UX with solid fundamentals & practical know-how.

Hello, I'm Eric! 😀

I came to study abroad at a design graduate school in New York (School of Visual Arts, majoring in Interaction Design) and am currently working as a product designer in New York, doing UX, UI design, and user research together. Before coming to New York, I worked as a UI planner in Seoul, planning and creating smartphone apps.

Since I entered the UX field, I've witnessed tremendous changes over the past 10 years. One of them is that after the iPhone came out, people started using the internet much more, and accordingly, the importance of UX design has grown more than ever before. People are solving so many aspects of their daily lives through smartphones and the internet. As a result, it has become possible and extremely important to create apps and websites scientifically through experimentation and data to meet people's needs. Accordingly, the demand for UX designers who can understand users, experiment, and iteratively improve designs is continuously growing. So if you're considering entering UX or have already made the decision, I'd like to say it's a good consideration for the future.

Through this class, I'll help those who haven't majored in design and those who are just starting to study UX to enter this field easily and enjoyably. I'll share with you the essence of UX and UX design, as well as the know-how I've gained over the years working in various environments - from corporations, startups, tech companies, to freelancing. I'll also share my knowledge and experience on how UX designers identify problems and create solutions in practice, and how they collaborate with developers and PMs, so you can design your UX career on a solid foundation. 💪

1. Course Introduction 👋

'Easy and Fun UX Design Introduction: Learning from Practitioners'

People may feel inconvenience when using products or services. Where does the cause of such problems lie? Is it because people are not tech-savvy?

That's not the case. In the world of UX design, this is viewed thoroughly as the responsibility of designers and architects. When creating a service, it's seen as a result of insufficient or absent consideration of the user's perspective. UX designers exist to empathize from the user's perspective, not their own, and to solve their problems. This can even connect to the core of business success.

Do you see what these products have in common? Regardless of aesthetics, they are inconvenient for users to use. In UX, it's not enough to just design beautiful products.

Airbnb, Uber, Pinterest, Facebook... The reason these well-known services succeeded is no different. They didn't just create pretty and cool apps and websites, but continuously understood the difficulties and problems users faced and solved them.

For example, Airbnb was born because founder Brian Chesky, who had just graduated from college, discovered the need to make money by utilizing his spare room space in San Francisco, and the needs of travelers in situations where accommodation was scarce due to conferences and other events. UX design is at the center of the ongoing process of understanding these user needs.

Airbnb's early design (Source: fueled.com)

To understand user needs, UX designers continuously repeat the process of forming hypotheses, coming up with solutions to solve them, and verifying whether these solutions actually solve users' problems. This process requires important collaboration with related team members such as developers, PMs, and marketers. This process can be challenging. And the approach to UX design can vary depending on the company's size (whether it's a startup or large corporation), the company's problem-solving methods, and the nature of the product.

Therefore, to enter the field of UX design, you must ask questions about the essence of UX. What is UX, and what is the role of a UX designer? In a constantly changing environment, what are the unchanging core competencies of a UX designer, how should one adapt to change, and how should one communicate with colleagues? You must be able to find answers to these questions.

Through this course, I will share the knowledge and experiences that have been practically helpful to me as a working professional, so I can help you find those answers more quickly.

And bonus "Designer's Mindset"! 🎁

There's a mindset I discovered while working as a UX designer in the United States. Since learning about this concept, I've been working with a mind that's 100 times, even 1,000 times more at ease and with much more joy. Even though I work with a relaxed mindset, I'm actually growing more than before, and I feel much more fulfillment in my work. Let me share this mindset I discovered and how it can be tremendously helpful for UX designers!

2. Target Audience: We prepared this for these people. 👨👩

I have been conducting introductory UX design lectures for beginners through various channels including Taling (related link). Most of the students who attended my lectures commonly asked the following questions.

"What does UX design do?"

"Can I become a UX designer even though I'm not a major in the field?"

"I'm not sure if I have a good visual sense, but can I enter this field?"

I was able to help you get answers to this part based on my experience and knowledge. Since I first entered the UX field and up until now working in the industry, I've worked in various professional environments - from Korea to the US, from startups to tech companies, and even as a freelancer - and it seems that sharing the knowledge and experiences I've accumulated from these diverse work environments has been helpful to beginners.

I believe the most effective way to get started in UX design is to learn from practitioners. Even if you study a lot of theory, if you don't know how it applies in real work situations, the value of that learning diminishes. In other words, studying living, breathing knowledge is more important than anything else.

So!💡 This class was created with the following people in mind.

✔️ Those who are interested in UX design and want to know what UX designers do

Through this class, I will discuss everything from the essential definition of what UX is, to specifically what UX designers do, how they collaborate and communicate with other team members like developers and product managers. I'll also cover practical aspects like how designers increase their salaries. So I'll help people who knew nothing about this field gain a good understanding of UX.

✔️ Non-design majors who work in fields completely unrelated to UX but are considering a career transition to UX

The UX field is becoming increasingly important and the market is growing as the internet and technology become more crucial. This is a global trend, not just in our country. So I've met many people who see the potential in the UX field and are considering a career change. However, I noticed that those without a design background have some common concerns. They worry about whether they can succeed in this field since they didn't major in design and don't feel they have exceptional visual sense or the ability to visualize ideas. So in this class, I'll explain what core competencies are required for designers and what efforts are needed to develop those competencies, which should provide some answers to the question of whether non-majors can pursue UX and UI design.

✔️ Those who want to "quickly" build solid UX, UI fundamentals

To excel at UX and UI design, it's crucial to build a solid foundation. This ultimately comes down to logical thinking skills. One of the most common mistakes designers make when designing products is in explaining the reasoning behind their design decisions. UX focuses tremendously on this reasoning - why designing something a certain way is better, how it can help users, what experiments led to these conclusions, and so on. Through this course, I'll share the design principles you need to know to quickly develop this logical thinking in a short period, as well as the importance of these design principles.

✔️ Those who have a desire to learn about new fields

The UX field requires designers to constantly learn and experiment. You need to understand what users want, know how technology is changing, and understand business and business models. In that regard, the UX field can be a good fit for those who enjoy learning something new. You can also learn about the UX field itself through this opportunity.

3. What You'll Gain from This Course 🙌

① Understanding core UX concepts and how UX is created

First, after taking this course, you will understand the core concepts of UX and learn how UX is created in the field and through what processes. You will also learn what methods the current tech industry uses for product development and how the designer's role can vary according to each method. This ultimately determines how UX designers will collaborate with stakeholders such as PMs, engineers, marketers, and others they will work with, so you will also understand the collaboration aspect.

Introduction to wireframes, one of the core activities for creating UX

Introduction to UI Design: Creating High-Fidelity Prototypes and Final Deliverables

② Principles for doing UX, UI design, and user research "quickly" and well ✨

You can learn about the design principles used in the field to create good UX and UI design, and understand why you need to keep studying to become a good designer. Whatever you start, if you have solid fundamentals, you can do it faster and better. Through this class, I will help you build those fundamentals and design your career on a good foundation through those fundamentals.

The part about "consistency" among the design principles for creating good UX in classes. Throughout the lesson, I'll explain how each concept and principle can actually be applied through examples. I'll stick to case-based lessons. 🤝

Part about "Heuristic Evaluation: Status Feedback" among the design principles for creating good UI in classes.

③ Understanding UX Careers and Types

There are various types of jobs within the UX design field. UX designers, UI designers, product designers, user researchers, and many other types exist, and even with the same title, the roles given can vary depending on the nature of the company. Through this class, you can understand what jobs are available, what each one does, and think about which job would be good for you to pursue.

④ Understanding UX/UI Design Tools 🛠️

Designers need to be able to create deliverables that visualize ideas, such as wireframes and UI designs. For this, it's important for beginners to know what design tools are available in the market and understand the pros and cons of each to determine which tools they should learn.

There have been tremendous changes in UX/UI design tools in recent years. Just a few years ago, Photoshop, which most people used, has been shunned, and Sketch and Figma are emerging. I'll tell you which tools are hot right now, why they're hot, and why these tools have made it easier for you to become a UX/UI designer.

I'll tell you about the increasingly popular Figma app, why it's gaining attention from designers, and what its pros and cons are~ (Photo source: Figma.com)

⑤ Career Design and Roadmap 🚀

After taking this class, you'll be able to create a concrete plan for what you need to do for your career design and roadmap. If you decide to enter the UX design industry after taking this class, it's important to know specifically what kind of plan you should make to become a designer in a short time and achieve goals like employment or studying abroad. I will provide recommendations and tips on what activities you should engage in as your next steps to achieve your goals.

⑥ And, bonus honey tips galore🍯. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

This is a time where I'll share answers to questions that students have frequently asked me, such as what methods designers can use to "quickly" increase their salary, whether designers need coding skills, and whether large corporations or startups are better. If you have any additional questions, please leave a comment in the question section~!

See you in class! 👋