--- title: "A complete UX/UI design guide, from zero to advanced" date: 2025-04-10 description: "A study path for digital product design: eight modules with lessons, references and exercises at every step." tags: ["design","ux","ui","career"] lang: en source: https://www.lincoli.me/articles/complete-ux-ui-design-guide/ author: "Lincoli Xavier" --- Besides software, I have worked with design since 2014. It always helps to have a guide of topics to steer your studies. I gathered lessons, practical tips, references (books, videos, articles) and suggested exercises for each stage. The idea is to give you a solid journey, theoretical and practical, toward becoming a digital product designer with real command of UX and UI. --- # Module 0: introduction to UX/UI design ## Goals - Understand what UX and UI are. - Tell the roles in digital design apart. - Understand why user-centred design matters. ## Lessons 1. **What is UX Design?** 2. **What is UI Design?** 3. **Design Thinking, Agile and Lean UX** 4. **The difference between UX Designer, UI Designer, Product Designer and Service Designer** 5. **The hard skills and soft skills you need** ## References - [*The Design of Everyday Things*](https://amzn.to/44i4nOE), Don Norman - [Nielsen Norman Group: the definition of UX](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience/) - [*Don't Make Me Think*](https://amzn.to/42mH1F1), Steve Krug ## Exercises - Write your own definition of UX and UI. - List five digital products you use and analyse the user experience of each. --- # Module 1: psychology fundamentals and cognitive design ## Goals - Understand how people think, feel and behave in front of an interface. - Use principles from psychology to build better experiences. ## Lessons 1. **Gestalt and visual perception** 2. **Memory and cognitive load** 3. **Mind maps and mental models** 4. **Human factors and usability** ## References - [*100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People*](https://amzn.to/3Genzml), Susan Weinschenk - *Laws of UX*, Jon Yablonski (also at [lawsofux.com](https://lawsofux.com/)) - [Principles of Visual Design, NNGroup](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/principles-visual-design/) ## Exercises - Rebuild the interface of an app using at least three Gestalt laws. - Create a mind map for a checkout flow in an e-commerce site. --- # Module 2: UX research ## Goals - Learn to collect real data to inform design decisions. - Validate ideas with users. ## Lessons 1. **Types of research: qualitative vs quantitative** 2. **User interviews** 3. **Personas and proto-personas** 4. **Empathy maps** 5. **User journey maps** 6. **Usability testing** ## References - [*UX Research*](https://amzn.to/425p1QF), Brad Nunnally and David Farkas - [*Validating Product Ideas*](https://amzn.to/3RbrXFa), Tomer Sharon - *UX research methods*, NNGroup ## Exercises - Interview at least three people about a digital product. - Build a persona from those interviews. --- # Module 3: information architecture and UX writing ## Goals - Organise information logically. - Write text that guides and helps the user. ## Lessons 1. **Sitemaps and content hierarchy** 2. **Card sorting** 3. **Wireframes and navigation flows** 4. **Microcopy, UX writing and action-oriented content** ## References - [*Information Architecture for the Web and Beyond*](https://amzn.to/4jk7iL2), Louis Rosenfeld - [*Strategic Writing for UX*](https://amzn.to/3E2oZQx), Torrey Podmajersky - [UX Writing, UX Collective](https://uxdesign.cc/tagged/ux-writing) ## Exercises - Run an open card sorting session with friends. - Write the microcopy for a login and sign-up screen. --- # Module 4: UI design and visual design ## Goals - Learn the principles of visual design applied to UI. - Build interfaces that are both good looking and functional. ## Lessons 1. **Visual design principles: alignment, contrast, proximity, repetition** 2. **Colour theory and accessibility** 3. **Typography in the interface** 4. **Design tokens and design systems** 5. **Mockups and prototypes in Figma or Sketch** ## References - [*Design Systems*](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/printed-books/design-systems/), Alla Kholmatova - [Figma Crash Course, freeCodeCamp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTFaQWZBqQ8) ## Exercises - Rebuild the UI of a well-known app in Figma. - Assemble a mini design system with colours, buttons and typography. --- # Module 5: prototyping and usability testing ## Goals - Build navigable prototypes. - Test hypotheses with real users. ## Lessons 1. **Prototyping: low vs high fidelity** 2. **Tools: Figma, Framer, ProtoPie** 3. **Planning a test** 4. **Moderated and unmoderated testing** 5. **Nielsen's heuristics** ## References - [*Rocket Surgery Made Easy*](https://amzn.to/3RFSudM), Steve Krug - [*Handbook of Usability Testing*](https://amzn.to/3YqxPOJ), Jeffrey Rubin - [Nielsen's usability heuristics, NNGroup](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/) ## Exercises - Prototype a simple app in Figma. - Run a test with two users and write down every problem you see. --- # Module 6: tools and professional workflow ## Goals - Learn the designer's full workflow. - Collaborate with product and engineering teams. ## Lessons 1. **DesignOps and handoff to developers** 2. **Annotation and documentation** 3. **Tool integration (Zeplin, Storybook, Jira)** 4. **Versioned design: Figma, Git and shared libraries** 5. **Working in agile teams (Scrum, Kanban)** ## References - [*DesignOps Handbook*](https://stephaniekabi.com/designops-handbook-summary/), InVision - [Figma dev handoff](https://www.figma.com/community/file/864753203644502361) ## Exercises - Create a Figma file with documentation clear enough for developers. - Simulate a sprint cycle with user stories and wireframes. --- # Module 7: final project and portfolio ## Goals - Consolidate everything you learned in a real project. - Build a portfolio that lands work. ## Lessons 1. **Choosing a problem and validating it** 2. **Research, personas and journeys** 3. **Wireframes, UI, prototypes and tests** 4. **Presenting the case** 5. **How to put together a good UX/UI portfolio** ## References - *Case Study Manual*, UX Collective - [How to build a UX portfolio, UXNOW](https://www.youtube.com/@uxnow) ## Exercises - Pick a real problem: an app for mothers, a pet shop, local delivery. - Go through every stage and build your first case in Notion, Behance or your own site. --- # Final notes for the journey - Always validate with users. Intuition comes after experience. - Test constantly. Everything is a hypothesis until a user interacts with it. - Read a lot, but practise more. - Design is not art. It is solving problems with empathy and clarity. - Join communities: UX Collective, ADPList, design Discords. - Never stop learning. Design keeps moving. --- There is a [repository](https://github.com/lincolixavier/guia-final-ux-ui/) I update whenever I can with new material. Enjoy, and good studies.