Learn More About UX Design Classes in Philadelphia
For anyone who has been curious about getting involved with how a user experiences websites, apps, or digital media, becoming a User Experience (UX) Designer can help make web navigation and interfacing more efficient during online engagements. However, UX design should not be confused with UI (user interface) design. Basically, UX Designers must focus on what results from any user’s engagement on a website or with an app, while UI Designers are more concerned with handling the look and feel of websites with an emphasis on the interaction, no matter what the results. Basically, UX design concerns the success of a user’s experience, while UI design strictly focuses on the interface regardless of the experience. For people who find the design and development of websites, apps, or digital media compelling, a UX design course, bootcamp, or certificate program could be the solution for initiating the career change that a person may have been searching for.
Fundamental UX design courses, bootcamps, or certificate programs can provide an effective method for acquiring new skills through courses that prove a more efficient approach to learning than traditional classes, yet involve a more compact timeframe than pursuing a college degree. UX design programs offer skills-focused programs that may include monitoring and counseling, along with the training.
What Can You Do with UX Design Training?
For people who are interested in how users engage with websites, apps, or digital media, UX design courses can provide training for designing content or products aimed at appealing to audiences or customers. Any Designer can benefit from learning UX design to help in establishing a career for optimizing efficiency and productivity in any working environment or with any project. Training in UX design includes learning a variety of web and visual design tools for creating a wide range of content and media focused on the user experience through knowledge of design, as well as being able to collaborate with other Designers and Developers.
Training in UX design includes learning skills such as Figma, which is a vector graphics tool used for creating wireframe layouts for viewing content on a variety of devices. UX Designers often use Figma in prototyping for testing user interface and interactive elements such as scrolling and hovering. UX Designers must work closely with other web design and development professionals, including UI Designers, in creating visually appealing interfaces for creating efficiently functioning websites and apps that provide users with a satisfying online experience.
UX design training often includes working on projects in courses and bootcamps that can lead to finding work in web design and development. This training prepares prospective UX Designers for being able to work right out of the chute. A UX bootcamp provides an efficient method for gaining new skills through training programs that offer a more detailed learning approach.
What Will I Learn in a UX Design Class?
UX Designers have, for a long time, been responsible for work related to producing consumer products, but in today’s digitally-dominated world, UX design has become more generally associated with technology related to creating websites, smartphone apps, or developing software. Specific skills associated with UX design can range from basic skills with front-end web development or web design. An ambitious UX Designer can find basic formal training or gain professional certification related to UX design to establish expertise for impressing potential employers. And while becoming a UX Designer may not require professional certification, acquiring certification in UX design will certainly enhance prospects for gaining employment. However, basic training in UX design can also help prospective UX Designers gain a foundation for working in the profession that allows them to jump right into a new job. Several skills related to UX design have been listed below that describe what’s needed for starting a career in the field:
UX Design and UI Design
UX design helps in making web design more engaging and efficient for users in navigating websites or apps. However, UX design should not be confused with UI design. UX design focuses on what results from a user’s engagement with a website or app, while UI design focuses on the interface and navigation of websites. UX design concerns what results from using a website, while UI design strictly deals with the interface.
Web Design
Web design involves designing and maintaining websites by using front-end coding (HTML and CSS) combined with visual design tools. UX Designers can use skills in web design for handling the user experience and user interface, which are compatible responsibilities that include web architecture, information architecture, and web development.
The purpose of web design is to create and develop visually appealing websites that make it easy for users to access information or perform tasks such as shopping, paying bills, or applying for jobs. Skills in web design have to evolve along with advances in technology, along with trends that may emerge, which means that Web Designers need to possess a high level of creativity, technical skills, and experience for designing and developing websites that fit the specifications dictated by an organization or client.
HTML and CSS
A career in web design requires knowledge in front-end web development, which includes skills for coding with HTML and CSS. The front-end of websites is what users see on web browsers, which are built using HTML and CSS. Working in web design requires being able to create websites and apps from scratch. The front-end of websites and apps focuses on how users navigate, and HTML and CSS facilitate responsive web design to ensure that content automatically adjusts to display on different screen sizes with a variety of devices.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a popular programming language used for designing and developing interactive websites and applications. JavaScript is vital for responsive web design in being able to view websites and apps on different screen sizes on a variety of devices and platforms. JavaScript allows UX Designers to create interactive websites and apps that provide interaction for users to be able to complete a desired task. UX Designers often work with JavaScript because it is a cross-platform programming language that can be used for client-side as well as server-side web development and design.
Figma
Figma is a collaborative cloud-based graphic design application that provides interfacing and offline features that can help UX Designers create websites and smartphone apps. UX Designers can use Figma in several capacities, such as prototyping and testing interactivity with newly designed websites to ensure that everything works as expected for end users to be able to access content on desktop computers, smartphones, and laptops. Figma helps UX Designers collaborate with colleagues when designing and developing layouts for websites or apps by allowing them to work together on color, typography, and graphics, along with working on features such as scrolling, animation, and slideshows. Figma contributes to workflow efficiency by providing visibility throughout the design and development process.
How Hard Is It to Learn UX Design?
Learning UX design depends greatly on the person and that person’s goals. Training in UX design involves developing skills for identifying and solving problems through forming hypotheses, conducting research, and building prototypes, along with analyzing data for engaging users and potential customers. Becoming a UX Designer requires learning skills for working closely with customers through user surveys, interviews, and focus groups, with knowledge acquired from training and experience with marketing campaign strategies, general management, and market research. UX design can include working with digital media as well as producing physical products with an emphasis on how a user or customer will respond.
What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning UX Design?
The most challenging aspect of learning UX design may be coordinating the variety of practical and technical skills that are crucial for working as a UX Designer. Becoming a user experience professional requires comprehensive training through courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs for learning skills such as web development and visual design for handling projects involving text, images, and graphics, and for being able to craft visually engaging websites and smartphone apps.
How Long Does It Take to Learn UX Design?
The length of time it may take to learn UX design will depend on several factors, which include the experience and previous training of a student at the time of learning a specific skill. This also includes the method that a new learner has chosen, as well as the schedule involved with the training. Professional training in UX design can help with finding employment in a new area of work or advancing at a current position. Additionally, while teaching oneself skills in UX design through free video tutorials can be helpful, enrolling in professional training programs has the advantage of being able to formally document education levels and expertise to potential employers.
Should I Learn UX Design in Person or Online?
Choosing whether to enroll in an in-person or live UX design course will greatly depend on an individual’s ambitions and comfort level with web design. Some people simply prefer learning inside classrooms for being able to physically interact with instructors and classmates. However, for some people, getting back out on the road following a long day at work to find a classroom somewhere in Philadelphia might not be the most entertaining way to spend an evening, which makes enrolling in a virtual learning course a convenient option for many. Either method of training provides an effective way for learning UX design to help with either finding a new career with skills in visual design focused on the user experience or advancing in a current job.
Enrolling in either an in-person or live online training course for learning UX design requires some preparation. Learning inside a classroom means having to get to a location on time as well as being prepared to participate in class discussions.
While enrolling in a live online course may relieve students of the stress of having to get to an actual location, they still have to be prepared to participate during lectures. Additionally, anyone taking a virtual learning course will need to have a high-speed internet connection to be able to access and participate in the class. Live online students must also be able to handle basic computer functions such as booting up, logging on, and navigating an internet browser, which may seem routine for many but may be intimidating to some people. Also, for a UX design course, familiarity with web design and graphic design software may also come in handy.
Those considering online learning also have the option of choosing between live online or asynchronous training. Live online classes, of course, take place in real-time with a set schedule for when students and instructors log on to have to adhere to participating at a designated time through a live stream. Asynchronous (on-demand) courses, on the other hand, provide more flexibility with scheduling for students to access their course material and assignments at their own convenience from any location at the time that they choose during the length of the course.
In choosing which online training method to go with for learning UX design, people can decide between live online training or the asynchronous, on-demand approach. Live online classes let instructors and students participate and interact among themselves in real-time, while asynchronous training lets individuals access lessons and material whenever they choose.
What Should I Learn Alongside UX Design?
In addition to training in UX design, prospective UX Designers can benefit from knowledge in areas related to user interface (UI) design and visual design. For example, Figma can help with work involving UX design, web design, or UI design. Additionally, professional training related to web development and computer interfacing is closely related to working in UX design.
Another skill to learn alongside UX design would be JavaScript, which is one of three coding languages essential in web development, along with HTML and CSS. UX Designers often use JavaScript for facilitating interactivity within websites through a wide-ranging library and adaptable frameworks that have made the programming language the most popular throughout the world. UX Designers may also benefit from learning front-end web development needed in web design and software development.
Philadelphia Industries That Use UX Design
Philadelphia offers an appealing place to live and work due in part to its proximity to New York City and New Jersey, for provides convenient career options within a relatively short distance. The city provides the location for a variety of industries such as healthcare, financial services, and real estate. With society’s increasing dependence on digital technology, skills that contribute to making computer use more accommodating have created opportunities for Web Designers, Digital Designers, and User Experience Designers whose job involves facilitating an effortless user experience. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment outlook for Web Developers and Digital Designers is projected to grow by 16 percent between 2022 and 2032. UX design is essential in web development for the economy of a city like Philadelphia, as it is for places like San Jose and Seattle that have a much higher profile associated with the tech industry. Because of the prevalence of web and digital technology in everyone’s day-to-day lives, the need for UX Designers and other web design-skilled professionals who are capable of helping computer users navigate seamlessly through websites, apps, and other tasks involving technology has increased. Philadelphia offers career opportunities in UX design for people with the skills to help others have a user-friendly online experience.
Financial Services
Skills in UX design can provide career opportunities in the financial services industry for UX Designers with knowledge and experience in user research, graphic design, and programming languages. UX Designers help financial organizations fulfill the needs of customers and clients with handling investment and retirement funds, or help with effectively running a business. UX Designers and related professionals can apply skills for using visual design tools like Figma or programming languages like JavaScript, which offer libraries and frameworks that can help in creating websites that offer customers an effortless user experience for access and interaction with online accounts.
Applying UX design in financial services requires cross-platform development for fast, efficient, and cost-effective processing for clients and customers using smartphone apps or websites. And, because Philadelphia remains a rather large economic hub, there are many Fortune 500 companies in the area that support the finance industry and provide more opportunities for growth in the UX design field.
Marketing and Advertising
Advertising and marketing agencies in Philadelphia hire UX Designers for their skill in creating visually appealing and engaging web pages and apps that can operate without problems on web browsers and other media platforms. A UX Designer must be able to design and manipulate websites to optimize results with promotional campaigns. UX Designers must possess knowledge of coding languages like HTML and programming languages like JavaScript to be able to create websites and applications that assure marketing and advertising agencies of satisfying user experiences that can lead to successful ROI. UX design skills can benefit everyone working in digital marketing, especially those in Philly, since the job market is so large. There is a broad range of digital and creative industries, ranging from Sparks Marketing Group to Neff Associates.
Marketing and advertising agencies seek out UX Designers and related user experience professionals who have the skill to create interactive websites and media that operate without issues on a variety of web browsers. Online marketing campaigns require effective UX design for attracting and engaging potential customers, as well as being able to collect data created using JavaScript to create forms with tracking codes. UX design includes designing content on websites to help with tracking user activities on web browsers. Effective UX design helps in marketing and advertising by providing an appealing user experience for optimizing customer retention.
Healthcare
UX Designers can find career opportunities for working in the Philadelphia healthcare industry, which is the largest employment sector in the city and accounts for roughly 21% of the total jobs, according to the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia. A UX Designer creates and maintains websites and apps with design tools that focus on the user experience. UX design includes knowledge in graphic design as well as JavaScript libraries and frameworks such as Angular or Node.js for creating healthcare billing software.
UX Designers working in the healthcare industry typically create user-friendly programs related to patient services or medical products. These responsibilities involve providing an accessible and fulfilling user experience related to healthcare. Because the healthcare industry literally deals in matters of life and death, providing an effective, safe, and secure online or digital user experience is vital for patient care. This makes UX design essential in facilitating an efficient administrative process with medical services for helping overcome challenges related to patient care.
E-commerce
UX design can be applied in e-commerce to create a problem-free user experience for customers who are looking for a particular product or online service. In Philadelphia, there’s a growing e-commerce industry with new companies appearing year after year, such as Zollective and United By Blue. UX Designers can help with building e-commerce websites using HTML for organizing content, CSS for designing the layout, and JavaScript for implementing the front-end for facilitating client-side interaction, as well as the back-end for server-side related functions. This includes promoting products and services online or through social media. Major companies like eBay, Netflix, and Microsoft hire UX Designers who are capable of designing appealing websites and apps that attract customers.
UX Design Job Titles and Salaries in Philadelphia
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment outlook for Software Developers and Quality Assurance Analysts is projected to grow by 25 percent between 2022 and 2032 for testing software and consumer goods. Companies in Philadelphia depend on web design, web development, and digital media for connecting with potential customers and are looking for UX Designers and related professionals who can help with assuring users of an effortless online or software experience. Possessing UX design skills and experience can give anyone an edge in finding work with Philadelphia’s growing technology and design workforce.
UX Designer
User Experience Designers handle interactivity and accessibility for designing websites and apps with an emphasis on optimizing the user experience. UX Designers work primarily in the tech industry with responsibilities for incorporating research focused on the user experience in developing websites and smartphone applications. UX Designers usually work alongside UX Researchers in determining what users need when engaging with websites or apps by testing, researching, observing, and analyzing user behavior to understand how people interact with web pages and other media. Working as a UX Designer can bring in a yearly salary ranging from $115,000 to $141,000 in Philadelphia for using design tools like Figma. Figma helps UX Designers with functionality for being able to create prototypes with websites for testing interactivity that assures an effortless user experience.
UX Researcher
UX Researchers collect data related to user behavior for understanding user tendencies and motivations for targeting customers. UX Researchers analyze customer feedback to chart user behavior that helps with improving UX design for attracting and satisfying customers. UX Researchers usually collaborate with UX Designers, Project Managers, and Web Developers for working together to optimize the user experience. Becoming a UX Researcher can earn a person an annual income between $82,000 and $257,000 in Philadelphia.
Digital Designer
Digital Designers design websites, smartphone apps, and online ads by applying skills in graphic design, animation, and visual effects. Digital Designers work in various areas of web design, digital marketing, social media, and print. A Digital Designer also qualifies for working in UX design, which can earn a person from $109,000 to $144,000 a year in Philadelphia. Digital Designers often use graphic design tools like Figma primarily for prototyping to test interactivity on newly developed websites and apps for ensuring that everything works as expected for users to be able to access content on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.
Product Designer
A Product Designer applies skills in visual design and UX design for designing, creating, and testing products, websites, apps, and digital media. Product Designers can work in a variety of industries to create products that include furniture, tools, and media. A Product Designer can earn an annual income ranging from $144,000 to $183,000 in Philadelphia with responsibilities for designing the look and functions of various products using skills with user research, drafting, and prototyping user-friendly interfaces.
UX Design Classes from Noble Desktop
Located on the third floor of 185 Madison Avenue in NYC, Noble Desktop offers premier in-person and live online training in design, tech, coding, and other worthwhile professional skills. The UX & UI Design Certificate provides training in UX and UI design concepts. Lessons will focus on designing apps, websites, physical products, and other design-related concepts for making user interaction as effortless as possible. This training emphasizes user interface and user design as well as learning about the visual design tools required for becoming a UX Designer or UI Designer, which includes learning Figma, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Upon completing this certificate program, students will better understand the responsibilities of UX Designers in creating apps, websites, and physical products, along with the role of UI Designers, who are responsible for interfacing when using websites or apps. This program offers additional 1-on-1 mentoring outside of class as well as an opportunity for retaking the course within one year. This certificate program can be taken full-time over six weeks or as a 24-week part-time program inside Manhattan classrooms or live online from anywhere else in the country.
Likewise, the Web Design Certificate focuses on training individuals in how to code websites as well as how to include graphics in designing web pages. Students will learn about front-end web development, adaptable layout design, animation and interactivity, and graphic optimization. Lessons have been designed to help students develop skills for becoming Web Designers through gaining a comprehensive understanding of how to design websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Upon completing this certificate program, students will have gained a better understanding of designing websites with coding, programming languages, and WordPress, along with using tools like Figma for creating clickable prototypes. Students have the option of enrolling in this certificate program for learning inside Manhattan classrooms or through virtual learning from anywhere in the world.
The UI Design Certificate trains participants in fundamental skills related to UI design for creating websites and smartphone apps. Lessons will focus on graphic design and interfacing for designing, developing, and prototyping websites and smartphone apps, along with best practices for creating and testing apps and web pages. Students will also learn about composition, typography, user interface elements, and color. Upon completing this course, students will have compiled a portfolio that contains projects for showcasing skills to potential employers. Students must feel comfortable using computers. As part of this program, students will design a website and an application, and are encouraged to have a project in mind at the start of the course. This program offers additional 1-on-1 mentoring outside of class as well as an opportunity to retake the course for free within one year. Students have the option of enrolling to take this certificate program inside Manhattan classrooms or live online from anywhere they choose in either a six-week full-time or a five-month part-time format.
If you want to specialize in a particular UX design tool, consider the Figma Bootcamp. This course trains participants through hands-on instructions for learning the fundamentals of Figma, which is a cloud-based graphic design application used in a variety of visual design functions, including UX design. Training for Figma focuses on using frames for efficiently designing and developing layouts for websites and apps that users view and interface with on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Students will learn how to add animation, hovering, and scrolling, along with other interactivity. Upon completing this course, students will also be able to design prototypes for testing advanced functions on various devices. Figma has been designed to help with prototyping websites and smartphone apps for optimizing viewing and interaction on various screen sizes. While similar visual design software, such as Photoshop, which had been created for working with print, photo retouching, and illustrations, Figma focuses mainly on visual design with user interface and the user experience. The main function of Figma among Web Designers and Visual Designers is for prototyping apps and websites to make sure that everything works as intended. Students will need to have their own free or paid Figma account, along with feeling comfortable with computers. This course also offers an opportunity to retake the bootcamp for free within one year. This bootcamp can be taken inside Manhattan classrooms or live online from anywhere in the world.
Noble Desktop also has a JavaScript Development Certificate that trains students to be able to work on all parts of a website, starting from the front-end appearance through the back-end functioning, through gaining knowledge in the JavaScript programming language. UX Designers can use the popular programming language for creating dynamic websites and apps using React and Node.js, working with APIs, and incorporating third-party frameworks and libraries. Upon completing this certificate program, students will know how to use JavaScript for designing and developing the front-end of apps and webpages by constructing the visual appearance, along with the back-end for facilitating the functions in completing a website. Students can enroll to attend this certificate program in Manhattan classrooms or through virtual learning from anywhere they choose.
UX Design Corporate Training
Would you like to train your company in the key components associated with user experience design? If so, Noble Desktop offers Corporate UX Design Training that can provide your organization with instructions about how UX design works, including research insights and design concepts. This training can be conducted either at your location or virtually through a teleconferencing platform like Zoom. Your company also has the option to purchase vouchers for Noble Desktop’s public enrollment UX design courses.
If you’re interested in training your staff in fundamental concepts for UX design, contact corporate@nobledesktop.com for more information or to discuss a free consultation.