A complete UX/UI design guide, from zero to advanced
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
- What is UX Design?
- What is UI Design?
- Design Thinking, Agile and Lean UX
- The difference between UX Designer, UI Designer, Product Designer and Service Designer
- The hard skills and soft skills you need
References
- The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman
- Nielsen Norman Group: the definition of UX
- Don't Make Me Think, 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
- Gestalt and visual perception
- Memory and cognitive load
- Mind maps and mental models
- Human factors and usability
References
- 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, Susan Weinschenk
- Laws of UX, Jon Yablonski (also at lawsofux.com)
- Principles of Visual Design, NNGroup
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
- Types of research: qualitative vs quantitative
- User interviews
- Personas and proto-personas
- Empathy maps
- User journey maps
- Usability testing
References
- UX Research, Brad Nunnally and David Farkas
- Validating Product Ideas, 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
- Sitemaps and content hierarchy
- Card sorting
- Wireframes and navigation flows
- Microcopy, UX writing and action-oriented content
References
- Information Architecture for the Web and Beyond, Louis Rosenfeld
- Strategic Writing for UX, Torrey Podmajersky
- UX Writing, UX Collective
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
- Visual design principles: alignment, contrast, proximity, repetition
- Colour theory and accessibility
- Typography in the interface
- Design tokens and design systems
- Mockups and prototypes in Figma or Sketch
References
- Design Systems, Alla Kholmatova
- Figma Crash Course, freeCodeCamp
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
- Prototyping: low vs high fidelity
- Tools: Figma, Framer, ProtoPie
- Planning a test
- Moderated and unmoderated testing
- Nielsen's heuristics
References
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy, Steve Krug
- Handbook of Usability Testing, Jeffrey Rubin
- Nielsen's usability heuristics, NNGroup
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
- DesignOps and handoff to developers
- Annotation and documentation
- Tool integration (Zeplin, Storybook, Jira)
- Versioned design: Figma, Git and shared libraries
- Working in agile teams (Scrum, Kanban)
References
- DesignOps Handbook, InVision
- Figma dev handoff
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
- Choosing a problem and validating it
- Research, personas and journeys
- Wireframes, UI, prototypes and tests
- Presenting the case
- How to put together a good UX/UI portfolio
References
- Case Study Manual, UX Collective
- How to build a UX portfolio, 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 I update whenever I can with new material.
Enjoy, and good studies.