What is the Fastest Way to Learn UX Design?

Are you eager to get your user experience (UX) design career started quickly? Or do you need to learn the basic concepts and a prototyping tool ASAP for a project already in progress? Whatever your reason for learning UX design fast, there is a class to help you reach your goals. This article is here to explain your options and help you decide which UX design class will help you address your specific learning needs the most efficiently.

Free Resources for Learning UX Design Basics

Busy professionals, students, and parents with minor UX design learning needs may wish to consider the myriad of free UX design learning options available online. While free YouTube videos, articles, and tutorials are among the most accessible learning solutions available for those who wish to explore UX design, they are not the ideal choice for those with more extensive learning goals. Those who want to reach a professional level of expertise to launch a career in UX design may find them effective as supportive learning resources. However, piecing together an in-depth education with free online resources is difficult, if not impossible, and certainly not a time-conscious educational choice.

That said, free UX design learning resources can be the best solution to learn UX design fast for some individuals, however. If you are simply looking for a quick introduction to the basic concepts of UX design to understand what it is and if it is a topic you’d like to explore further, Noble Desktop provides a free online Intro to UX Design seminar to help you achieve your goals fast. You can also find videos on UX design basics and others answering specific questions that may arise in your learning journey on YouTube. Noble Desktop and other professional training schools also provide tutorials on the basics of specific tools of the trade, such as Adobe XD and Figma. In short, if your UX design learning goals are on a very small scale—and you’re adept at self-directed learning—free resources like YouTube and Noble Desktop’s free seminars can be the fastest way to learn UX design. However, if your goals are more extensive, you will need to plan to make a financial investment to achieve them.

Introductory UX Design Classes for the Curious Beginner

If you are a beginner to UX design needing to learn the essentials fast for any reason, then an introductory short course format is likely the most efficient training method for you. Noble Desktop and other professional training institutions offer these under names like UX Design Foundations, UX Design - Level 1, and UX Design Essentials. Whether you enroll in a live online or in-person introductory UX design class, if it’s a quality program, you will have a live expert instructor to guide you through a proven curriculum and answer questions in real-time, ensuring you master the material. These features are just a few benefits of enrolling in an introductory class over using free resources to attempt to learn the basics of UX design. 

The length of an introductory UX design class can vary depending on the specific structure, curriculum, and scope of the course. Generally, they will run between a couple of hours to a week, most averaging between two and three days. While you may be able to complete a YouTube video on UX design more quickly, to truly learn the basics of UX design, an introductory course is a better solution for those who need to gain a working knowledge of the fundamentals of UX design fast. An introductory class can be an excellent choice for those who need to make a decision quickly about whether they wish to pursue a career as a UX Designer. However, for those who are already certain of their goal to master UX design at a professional level, a certificate program is a better alternative to help them reach their learning goals quickly.

UX Design Certificate Programs for Aspiring Professionals

UX design certificate programs and certificate-granting comprehensive bootcamps are hands-down the fastest learning option for aspiring UX Designers who are ready to launch their career ASAP. If you enroll in Noble Desktop’s UX & UI Design Certificate program, you can be career-ready in as little as six weeks. Other certificate-granting programs can run for several months to a year, especially those with a part-time schedule. As you may guess, a full-time certificate program that squeezes a full UX design curriculum into six weeks will require you to take a break from the rest of life and devote yourself entirely to your studies for that time. However, most students—especially those most concerned with the speed of their education—find this experience more than pays off when they’re able to land their dream job in a fraction of the time other options require.

While UX design certificate programs may appear to be a slower route to learning UX design than piecing together your own education with free resources, achieving a professional level of expertise in the skill set is virtually impossible relying on these resources alone. A certificate program features a live instructor who can answer your questions in real-time and help you troubleshoot minor issues as they arise before they blow up into significant problems. Most UX design certificate programs also offer some form of career support and other mentorship opportunities with a focus on helping you succeed in your ultimate goal of learning UX design when that goal is landing your dream job as a UX Designer.

On-Demand Courses: Hit or Miss for the Disciplined Learner

For a select few UX design learners, on-demand classes may be the fastest way to meet your learning goals. Professional training schools occasionally offer on-demand classes, but you’ll find the most options on platforms like Udemy and Coursera. Also known as self-paced classes, on-demand courses feature prerecorded lectures, written lessons, and exercises, all packaged so students can do the coursework at their own pace. For most learners, the lack of a live instructor and set schedule makes staying focused and completing their course challenging. However, for the highly disciplined and determined learner with a successful history of self-driven learning, an on-demand class could be a fast-paced opportunity to meet a UX design learning goal.

There are several drawbacks to on-demand classes that UX design learners should be aware of before committing to this learning path. The first is that, as a prepackaged, passive income source for the course creators, on-demand classes can quickly become outdated in a rapidly evolving field like UX design. It can be challenging to recognize this, especially if you are a beginner to UX design. Beginners should also be aware that even on-demand introductory UX courses can be slower options for learning than a live course with an expert instructor on hand to answer questions and provide feedback in real-time. On-demand classes are typically best for those with an intermediate to advanced level of mastery of UX design with learning needs limited to one particular skill or tool in the field. However, they are not the fastest option for beginners seeking a comprehensive UX design education to land their UX Designer job, as they lack the career support, instructor mentorship, networking opportunities, and portfolio-building support provided by certificate programs.

Learn UX Design Skills with Noble Desktop

Design and coding school Noble Desktop provides UX design classes of various lengths and scopes to help you meet your learning goals as efficiently as possible. Noble offers a comprehensive UX & UI Design Certificate program ideal for beginners who want to launch a UX design career. Whether you choose the full-time or part-time track, you will receive 132 hours of hands-on training, a free retake option, one-on-one mentorship, and a verified certificate of completion as a student in this UX design class. You can attend this class live online from anywhere, or if you’re in the NYC area, you can enjoy this UX design certificate program in-person. In addition to the UX design skills in prototyping, user testing, and Figma you gain in the class, you’ll also have completed a professional portfolio to showcase those skills to potential employers by the end of the program.

Noble Desktop’s UX Design Foundations is an introductory class available in-person in NYC and live online for those wishing to learn the basics of the field. No experience is necessary to enroll in this 12-hour short course. Featuring lectures, discussions, and hands-on exercises, UX Design Foundations is an ideal first step in your UX design learning journey. Whether you’re simply needing familiarity with the basics or looking for a low-commitment taste of the topic before committing to pursuing a career as a UX Designer, you’ll learn the foundational concepts and tools of UX design in this course and earn a verified digital certificate when you complete the course.

For those whose UX design educational needs include or are limited to mastering Figma, Noble Desktop offers a 12-hour Figma Bootcamp. With the guidance of an expert instructor, you’ll learn how to use the industry-standard application to create intuitive layouts and interactive prototypes using the software’s robust menu of tools. By the end of the bootcamp, you’ll be making impressive animations, using the Team library, designing with grids, and able to share your designs with both clients and designers with ease. In addition to your hands-on digital or in-person classroom experience, you’ll have the option to retake the course for free within a year should you ever need a refresher.