Which UX Design Training Format Is Right for Me?

UX design is the art of building digital applications responsive to user behavior, easily navigable, and accessible. Anyone who wants to learn how to build better digital applications that account for their use in the real world can benefit from learning UX design skills. When comparing types of UX design training, there are many factors to consider. Everyone learns differently, and choosing the right kind of training is critical to your experience.

Keep reading to find out more about the different formats of UX design training, how they compare, and how to determine which is best for you.

What is UX Design?

User experience design (UX design) is a field of web design dealing with how a website, application, or other digital product feels to its users. User experience design ensures that an application feels easy and accessible to operate. It is a heavily invested field in user behavior research, prototype testing, and data analysis. It is useful to think of it as the more hands-on counterpart to its visually-oriented sister skill, user interface design. Often, user experience design isn’t isolated to work on a single webpage or digital application and instead refers to a subset of data science that strictly examines user preference and behavior regarding web applications.

Rather than simply gauging how a digital application looks, user experience design aims to rigorously test that application to understand how it feels once it is in the hands of real-life users. Learning user experience design will involve learning how to conduct research, analyze data, and use that data to make informed decisions about the interface design process. User experience design also coincides with market research, as User Experience Designers will gauge how users perceive a web application’s desirability or how they perceive that application communicating brand awareness. UX design also covers attempts to make web applications easier to use and more accessible for users with disabilities or who have other challenges accessing and navigating digital applications.

Read more about what UX design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with UX Design?

UX design skills will allow you to build better digital applications and contribute to a larger pool of knowledge that helps other designers build better web applications. Whether one is working on individual projects or attempting to improve digital design as a whole, user experience training will help professionals build digital applications that are more user-friendly, accessible, and memorable than ever before.

Within the field of UX design, trained professionals will be able to fine-tune and iterate upon designs for digital applications to produce interfaces that respond to user behavior and feedback. This means they can apply their knowledge and expertise to a wide variety of projects to ensure that the finished product is functional, responsive, and accessible. UX design is a particularly enticing field for anyone who feels that digital applications need to be doing more to respond to the needs of their users, as this is the field that gathers the data that demonstrates these needs.

UX design is also the field that affords Digital Designers the most opportunity to engage directly with their users and customers. Between focus groups, user surveys, and interviews, many UX designers will spend more time interacting with the public than they will with their team of designers and developers. This makes the field particularly appealing to students interested in learning the difference between how we think users interact with technology and how they interact with it. For the empirically minded designer, UX design will open many doors for producing compelling research about user habits and behaviors.

Training Formats for UX Design

Several different training formats are available for students looking to learn UX design. Some courses are taught live, while others are asynchronous. Some are taught in person, and some are taught online. This section will help students understand the differences between these learning formats so that they can choose the training option that is best for them.

In-Person UX Design Training

Students who want to learn UX design may be inclined to consider in-person training courses. These courses provide students with access to expert instructors who can guide them through the challenges they face as they learn the intricacies of UX design. In addition, they provide students with valuable networking opportunities and let students socialize and learn with colleagues. The drawback to these courses is that they tend to be restricted to a few locations, often major cities, and if students can’t commute to and from an on-site location, they simply won’t be able to participate in the course.

Noble offers all its courses as in-person training seminars at its Manhattan campus. Many other service providers also offer courses at major onsite campuses in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, or Chicago. In addition, many providers, such as ONLC and New Horizons, have campuses in many smaller cities across the country. For a complete list of the available in-person UX design courses available to students, Noble’s Classes Near Me tool can help users find and compare their options.

Live Online UX Design Training

One alternative for students who cannot attend live in-person classes is live online classes. These classes hold onto many of the advantages offered by in-person instruction, as students can still interact directly with expert instructors who are there to answer questions and provide feedback. Also, since they aren’t tied to specific campuses, students can pick the class that best suits their needs and enroll regardless of location. The major drawback to these courses is that service providers won’t provide students with the hardware and software required for their training, so they will need to supply and maintain their technology.

Noble offers all of its in-person classes through a live online instruction model, so students can take these courses regardless of whether or not they can commute to Manhattan. Whether a student is hoping to enroll in a one-day UX bootcamp or a multi-week career certificate program, students will be able to take these courses from the comfort of their own homes. Plus, even online, Noble maintains small class sizes so that students can have ample opportunities to take advantage of their live instructors' time and attention. For more information on live online UX design classes, consult Noble’s Classes Near Me tool.

Free Online Courses & Tutorials

Interested in learning more about the philosophy behind UX design but unsure if you want to enroll in a professional training course? Students can use many free online learning resources to learn UX design basics. Since UX design is such a research-heavy field, these courses won’t be able to cover everything you will need to know, particularly concerning practical issues of testing and interviewing. Still, they can give users a solid introduction to the field of UX design.

Noble provides users with many pre-recorded lecture courses that will provide users with an introduction to the concepts and tools most commonly used within the field of UX design. For example, Noble offers a Getting Started in Digital Design tutorial explaining the basic tools and career paths open to those studying digital design. For students looking for more specific user experience instruction, Noble offers a free Intro to UX Design course that will teach students the philosophy behind user research, user testing, and other important UX design concepts. These courses and many more are available on both Noble’s website and the Web Development and Development playlist on their official YouTube page.

Free online UX design courses are also available through service providers such as General Assembly, CareerFoundry, and LinkedIn Learning. These courses will all vary in content and scope, so users are encouraged to see what kinds of offerings are available.

Read about more free UX Design videos and online tutorials.

On-Demand Classes

There are many training formats for students seeking to learn UX design. These courses vary in cost, time commitment, and delivery systems, but all of them can help students better understand the philosophy behind UX design. Regardless of how a student opts to learn UX design, Noble can help them find and compare UX design classes using their Classes Near Me tool.

The most structured and immersive learning option is to learn through live instruction, either in-person or online. These courses allow students to interface directly with expert instructors who can answer their questions, provide them with feedback on their work, and go over material that is giving them difficulty. Live classes have the added benefit of providing students with valuable networking opportunities and technology support to assist their learning. Online courses come with the benefit of not being restricted geographically, giving students greater control over the kinds of programs they can access.

Some students may find that they cannot commit to a live instruction course because they cannot get their schedule to align with a live course. For these students, they may wish to consider on-demand UX training. These courses let students dictate their learning pace, and they are ideal for students with familial or work commitments that prevent them from regularly attending a live class. They also let students move ahead in a lesson or return to previous lessons as they see fit. These courses require students to be slightly more self-motivated to learn UX design, but the challenges can be well worth it.

Finally, many free resources and tutorials are available for students wanting to learn UX design. Noble’s official YouTube Channel provides users with several free video seminars in its Web Design and Development playlist. Here students will learn both the basics of UX design and the basic functionalities of several popular UX design tools. Students can also visit the UX design page on Noble’s Learn Hub to find free tutorials, seminars, interviews, and other materials to help them master UX design principles before they enroll in more advanced training courses.

Read the full guide on how to learn UX design.

Comparison of UX Design Training Formats

Once students have decided that they want to learn UX design, they may find the number of options available to them intimidating. Before choosing a training provider, students must choose whether they want to learn live or asynchronously, in-person or online. Each learning method has advantages and disadvantages, so students should know how to make an informed decision on an issue that may greatly affect their future.

Live instruction is ideal for students with the time required to enroll in a regularly scheduled training program. These courses let students interact directly with live instructors, and whether in-person or online, students will be able to receive feedback, ask questions, and get help from experienced instructors. These courses tend to be the most expensive but are also the most detailed and immersive. The only other significant barrier is that these courses require students to commit certain blocks of time to their training.

In-person training courses come with a few specific advantages. Students will have access to a computer lab and a cohort of fellow students whom they can turn to for assistance. There are also meaningful networking opportunities to be had. The drawback is that these courses are only available in fixed locations, and there are hidden costs, such as a commute. Online courses address many of these drawbacks but come with a few. Students must provide their hardware and software and lose access to many in-person socializing opportunities.

On-demand courses are ideal for students who can’t commit to the time requirements of a live instruction course. These courses let students control their learning pace, and they can pick up and put down their lessons as their schedule allows. The drawback to these courses is that without a live instructor, students will be responsible for troubleshooting their problems as they arise, which can be difficult, especially for beginners who might not be sure where to look or how to research these answers.

Finally, free UX design resources and tutorials are available for students hoping to dip their feet into the field. These tutorials are ideal for students who aren’t yet sure they want to invest in more costly training options but still want to learn the lay of the land in UX design. These courses will provide a top-down understanding of the basic elements of the field, perfect for preparing to enroll in a bootcamp or other training program. However, these free tutorials are necessarily limited, especially for learning a subject as complex as UX design. Anyone hoping to work professionally with UX design will need more professional training.

Is it Possible to Teach Yourself UX Design?

Some students may be looking at the wide range of course options available and asking themselves whether they can self-teach UX design. While students may be able to self-teach some of the basic concepts of UX design and the basic functionalities of UX design software, the most complicated aspects of UX design, particularly research methodologies, will be very difficult to self-learn, especially without the aid of an organized lesson plan to provide students with the opportunity to get hands-on experience with user testing.

UX design software, such as Figma and Adobe XD, can be self-taught to the degree that students will become comfortable with the programs and their basic features. In addition, students can likely self-teach basic UX design principles and philosophies. The challenge will be teaching oneself how to conduct and respond to that research, as this is both time-consuming and difficult to organize effectively. Students trying to self-teach UX design may be able to design prototypes and learn how to build models. Still, they will have challenges getting those prototypes into the world to receive actionable feedback.

How to Decide the Best Way to Learn UX Design

Learning UX design can be a daunting prospect, but there are many different ways that students can learn the skills they will need. Which course is best for any student will likely depend on how much professionalization they hope to receive and whether or not they are learning UX design to supplement their existing skills or are hoping to start a new career.

For students with little to no experience in UX design hoping to gauge their interest in the field, a free introductory course may be the correct decision. These brief seminars, like the free UX design seminars offered by Noble, offer students a high-level overview of the basic philosophies and practices of the field. These courses will set students up to enter into more advanced training courses with a bit of knowledge, helping them ease into those courses if they decide to continue with their learning.

Some students may know they want to work with UX design principles but aren’t sure they will change careers. For example, a Digital Designer working on user interfaces may not want to become a User Experience Designer. Still, they know they will want to have a deeper understanding of UX design in their work. These students may wish to consider a UX design bootcamp, such as Noble’s UX Design in a Day in a day course. These bootcamps are ideal for students with a background in digital design and who want to improve their designs with some UX design training.

Students who think a UX design career is right for them should look towards career-focused certificate programs, like Noble’s UX & UI Design Certificate program. These training programs will teach students the basics of UX design and a slew of complementary skills they are likely to use in their future careers. In addition, many of these courses come with one-on-one career mentorship and professional development opportunities, making them perfect for students looking to leave their training program ready to enter the workforce.

Learn UX Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers students many user experience design courses and bootcamps. These courses, available both in-person and online, offer in-depth, career-focused UX design training and are all taught by expert instructors in real-time. Even taken online, these courses will allow students to interact directly with their instructor in the classroom and during one-on-one mentoring sessions. The small class sizes ensure students won’t get lost in crowded lecture halls. In addition, students can retake any course they enroll in for free within one year. This means students can take their courses a second time to review lessons, cover material they found difficult, or get more hands-on user experience design practice.

For students looking to learn the basics of UX Design, Noble offers a UX Design in a Day, in which students will learn the basic elements of the UX design process. They will learn key terms and ideas, like personas and scenarios, and how to conduct basic user research and interview participants to receive feedback. They will also learn the basic process of sketching and building prototype applications for testing. This is an introductory course, so it will only scratch the surface of the tests and research work involved in UX design, but it is an important course for laying the foundation for more immersive training.

Students looking for a more detailed, career-focused training course can enroll in Noble’s UX & UI Design Certificate. This course prepares students for employment in the UX/UI design field and will provide students with hands-on experience building and testing user interfaces. Users will receive training in advanced research techniques, including conducting interviews, producing written user reports, and running surveys. Then, students will be taught how to interrupt this data so that they may return to their designs and iterate on them in light of the feedback. Students will also be given hands-on training in prototyping and design software, such as Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. At the end of the course, students will have the opportunity to build a portfolio of sample interface designs and user experience case studies. In addition to this portfolio, students will receive one-on-one career mentorship, and by the end of the course, they will be ready to enter the workforce in the field of user experience design.