UX Design Foundations: From Zero to First Portfolio Piece

Who this course is actually for

Most people who sign up have never opened Figma before. Some are switching careers. Others are developers who want to understand why users behave the way they do. A few are graphic designers who want to add UX thinking to their work. All of them share one thing: they want practical skills, not just theory.

What the work looks like week to week

You will conduct your first real user interview in week two — with a brief, a recording setup, and a debrief session afterward. The feedback from that single exercise tends to shift how people think about design permanently.

From there, the course moves through information architecture, wireframing, and basic usability testing. Each module ends with a deliverable you keep. By the final week, you have a small but complete case study: a defined problem, research findings, sketches, a mid-fidelity prototype, and documented test results.

Tools covered

• Figma — layout, components, prototyping
• FigJam — affinity mapping and journey mapping
• Maze — unmoderated usability testing
• Notion — documentation and case study structure

A realistic picture of what you will leave with

One portfolio case study. A working knowledge of Figma at the intermediate level. Enough research skill to conduct a five-person usability test independently. And a clearer sense of whether UX is the right path for you — which is genuinely valuable information either way.

Our instructor Petra Nolvik spent eight years as a UX lead at a mid-size fintech company before moving into teaching. She brings real project constraints into the curriculum — tight timelines, stakeholder pushback, and ambiguous briefs included.

Class size and feedback

Groups are capped at 18 students so that every prototype review includes individual instructor notes. Peer critique sessions happen live, not asynchronously, which keeps the conversation honest and specific.