There is a lot of information out there on user experience (UX) design and it can be overwhelming. How do you decide which websites, publications, and podcasts come from sources you can trust? Here is a list of resources to help you stay on top of your UX design career.
Websites
These websites offer expert content by well-respected authors, as well as courses for beginners through the master level. You can also join communities of other UX Designers for networking and learning.
UX Mastery
UX Mastery was founded in 2012 and its mission is to foster and nurture good user experience design. Through a focus to “ … encourage empathy for users, teach how to create interfaces with personality, champion projects with purpose,” UX Mastery has created a supportive community for new and experienced designers alike with content that is reliable and editorially independent. Authors are experts and readers trust the information they get here.
The UX Mastery website has 54,000 unique visitors and 96,000 page views per month. It offers articles, ebooks, podcasts, in-person workshops, and an email list. There are 5,500 members in community forums, 40,000 Twitter followers, and 15,500 members on their Facebook page. Two-thirds of readers are currently working as designers, while the rest are students, interns, and people interested in UX design.
Nielsen Norman Group
One of the first design groups, the Nielsen Norman Group was founded in 1998 by UX design pioneers, Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen. NNg is a consulting group of UX researchers that publishes articles, produces videos, and runs design conferences.
Don Norman is one of the earliest designers to work in the electronics industry. When he was employed by Apple in the 1990s, he coined the phrase user experience design to describe the intersection between the emotions of people using digital products and the design of those products. Norman is the author of one of the most influential books in UX design, The Design of Everyday Things. Jakob Nielsen is widely known as a leader in web usability and the author of 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. He worked as an engineer at Sun Microsystems in the 1990s before founding the NNg.
The NNg website offers 1,500 free articles including research reports, guidelines, and descriptions of UX methods as well as books. Nielsen Norman holds UX conferences, seminars, and training sessions that have been attended by over 60,000 designers from all over the world, and they offer an examination-based UX certificate.
The Interaction Design Foundation
Founded in 2002, the Interaction Design Foundation is the largest online design school, with 122,893 graduates worldwide. IDF offers self-paced online design courses, UX bootcamps, and UX masterclasses for all levels from beginners to seasoned designers. In addition, IDF has an impressive collection of open-source design literature available to help designers advance in their careers. The community includes 459 local groups in 100 countries.
Publications
There are many UX design publications out there, and these three are well-respected. The first two are on Medium, an open-source, online writing community, and the last is a web-based publication from the United Kingdom.
UX Collective
UX Collective is a blog and design publication on Medium created to help designers and offers a weekly newsletter and articles on user experience, user interface, and product design. The group has 439,000 Twitter followers. The editors are Fabricia Teixeira and Caio Braga. UX Collective publishes on Medium and has a worldwide following of 300,000.
UX Planet
UX Planet is another Medium publication with 1,700 followers. It publishes articles on UX/UI, UX for beginners, research, and career advancement. The editor is Nick Babich.
UX Magazine
UX Magazine is a community of over 578,000 members that covers topics such as accessibility, artificial intelligence, customer experience, empathy, research, usability, and more.
Podcasts
Podcasts are growing in popularity as a fun way to learn about new subjects or take a deep dive into a favorite topic, and UX design is no exception.
Users Know
Users Know is a collection of podcasts, videos, and blogs by Laura Klein, the UX Manager at Indeed.com. Her specialties are lean start-ups and agile design. Klein is also the author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups.
UI Breakfast
UI Breakfast is hosted by Jane Portman, the co-founder of Userlist, a messaging application for software as a service (SaaS) companies. UI Breakfast includes two podcasts on UX/ UI design: UI Breakfast and Better Done Than Perfect.
User Defenders
User Defenders is a podcast hosted by UX Designer Jason Ogle. His approach comes from a life-long fascination with superheroes and the podcast is dedicated to helping people “become the best humans they can be,” which from a design perspective refers to empathy and UX design.
Where to Learn UX Design
If you would like to learn more about UX design in order to switch to a new career, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn design software and other applications. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.
Conclusion
It’s easy to learn UX design and start a new career. Check out Noble Desktop’s UX design classes. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design courses and attend from anywhere. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other UX design bootcamps in your area.