Learn to design meaningful products, systems, services, and devices that prioritize usability, accessibility, and enjoyability with the Certificate in User Experience Design. In this program, you’ll focus on the user, working on both the look and functionality of your designs.
You might explore, for example, how to redesign everyday objects like water taps to be more accessible for people with arthritis. Courses cover topics such as software design, augmented reality, human-computer interaction, evaluating user interfaces, voice commands, colour, icons, sound, and creative thinking.
This certificate stands on its own or can be laddered into any of the Creative Technologies and Design degree programs.
What is User Experience Design?
User Experience (UX) Design is the process of designing products—like websites, apps, or devices—with the user's needs, emotions, and behavior in mind. The goal is to make interactions easy, enjoyable, and effective.
UX designers focus on how something works and how people feel when they use it. This involves researching user habits, creating wireframes or prototypes, testing how people interact with a design, and making improvements based on feedback. It goes beyond how things look—it’s about how they work and how they make people feel.
Some courses you may take as part of this program include:
CTCH 316 - Designing User Experiences Through Design Thinking and Human Centred Design Methods
Explore the five stages of design thinking to craft human-centred experiences. Learn usability, accessibility, and interaction design while mastering tools in the creative thinking process and prototyping. Through hands-on projects, you'll develop innovative workflows and strategies to create impactful, intuitive interfaces that enhance user experiences across different platforms.
CTCH 203 - Introduction to Media and Communication
Key topics in media and communication such as: theories of media and communication; technology as social practice; digital and interactive media; television and advertising; global media; online media; surveillance; alternative and tactical media; perceptual media.
CTCH 306 - Digital Storytelling and Interactive Media
This studies/ studio hybrid course explores the social, political, cultural, economic, and intersectionality of interactive media and digital storytelling. We will engage with audio (audio walking tours, music recording, podcasting, radio programming) and on-line interactive and immersive storytelling (web-projects, gaming, apps).
ENSE 271 - People-Centred Design
Psychological principles of human-computer interaction. Evaluation of user interfaces. Usability engineering. Task analysis, user-centered design, and prototyping. Conceptual models and metaphors. Software design rationale. Design of windows, menus, and commands. Voice and natural language I/O. Response time and feedback. Color, icons, and sound. Internationalization and localization. User interface architectures and APIs. Case studies and project.
See the Undergraduate Calendar for full program requirements.