Discover the Best Online UI Design Courses of 2021
Aspiring graphic designers and system designers can benefit from user interaction (UI) design online courses. Many of the best online UI design courses allow students to use free UI design tools, improve their design skills, and adapt a signature UI design process. Read about some of them in this guide.
What Is UI Design?
User interface design, or simply UI design, refers to the design of the space where software, machines, and computerized devices interact with users.
A professional UI designer creates website buttons, color palettes, typography, animations, and imagery. They also optimize visual touchpoints to engage the interest of users and allow them to seamlessly navigate the interface with ease.
Breakdown: The Top 15 Online UI Design Courses
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Below are the best UI design courses in 2021. If you’re planning on taking any of the following courses, make sure your choice suits your level of UI design experience and covers the skills you want to hone.
| Provider and Course | Certificate | Length | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| BrainStation User Interface Design Certificate Course |
Yes | 3 months | $3,250 |
| Coursera Introduction to UI Design |
Yes, for a fee of $50 | 4 weeks | Free |
| Coursera Visual Elements of User Interface Design |
Yes, for a fee of $50 | 4 weeks | Free |
| DesignLab UI Design Course |
Yes | 4 weeks | $499 |
| Experience Haus User Experience and Interface Design |
Yes | 10 weeks | £990 (approx. $1400) |
| Fashion Institute of Technology UI Design Certificate Program |
Yes | 8 weeks | $2,440 to $2,710 |
| Interaction Design Foundation Web Design for Usability |
Yes | 8 weeks | $192 per year for the Professional Plan $200 per month for the Design League Plan |
| PHP Kingdom UI Frameworks Online Training |
No | 25 days | $400 |
| Pluralsight UX Fundamentals |
Yes | 1 hour | $30 per month for the Standard Plan $45 per month for the Premium Plan |
| Skillshare User Experience Design Essentials- Adobe XD UI UX Design |
No | 12 hours | $8 per month |
| SuperHi Intro to User Experience Design |
Yes | 12 hours | $149 |
| Teamtreehouse Designing Interactions |
Yes | 64 minutes | $25 per month for the Courses Plan$50 per month for the Courses Plus Plan |
| Udacity Product Design |
No | 8 weeks | Free |
| UX Academy Beginner UX Design Course |
Yes | 8 weeks | £1,050 (or approx. $1,400) one-off |
| UX Design Institute Visual Design |
Yes | 3 months | €1,650 (or approx. $2,100) one-off |
What Can I Learn in a UI Design Course?
A UI design course teaches components of design like the psychology of color, layout balance, contrasting and organizing information, and topography. You’ll also learn how to remain consistent in your designs, how to build interactive prototypes for your designs, and how to create wireframes.
The Best UI Design Courses of 2021
Below are the best UI design courses for 2021 to help you fast-track your UI career. UI design courses can help you attain the skills you need through high-quality instruction and resources. Practice your skills and become a professional UI designer.
Subjects Covered: Sketching, wireframing, visual design, app design, interaction design, prototyping
BrainStation offers a highly personalized learning platform for online students. Its UI design course also boasts a comprehensive curriculum that covers typography, UI design tools InVision, design patterns, and vital UI elements. After this course, you can design and build an immersive web or mobile application prototype and test your design.
Many of the instructors leading this course are from top-tier companies like IBM, Amazon, Shopify, Spotify, and Microsoft.
Key Takeaway: This is a part-time course delivered fully online. The format makes this course ideal for parents and working adults.
Subjects Covered: UI design process, usability engineering, design principles, conceptual methods, psychology, and human factors
Offered by the University of Minnesota, this is one of four courses in a user interface design specialization. You’ll have four weeks of free access to this course, and you can complete it within 14 hours.
This course covers basic UI design concepts like design theory, user personas, common design elements, and design-centered approaches. Students will also complete exercises and quizzes to hone their skills.
Key Takeaway: Students will swiftly learn the foundational concepts of UI design. The course is entirely online and free.
Subjects Covered: Graphic design, Adobe InDesign, UX, user research, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, website wireframes
The California Institute of the Arts offers this one-month course through Coursera. You’ll learn about the relationship between UI and UX, formal UI design elements, active UI design elements, and creating complex design structures.
You can complete the course material in 20 hours. Completing this course will give you a substantial start to developing your UI design skills further.
Key Takeaway: This online course is economical, short, and ideal for beginners. It covers the most basic principles of UI design.
Subjects Covered: Interactive patterns, brand identity, visual hierarchy, layouts, topography, prototyping
Within a month, students will learn how to apply complex visual design skills, how to identify and copy key design patterns, and how to create a fidelity prototype. This UI Design Course is ideal for mid-level designers looking to improve their skill set.
Students can look forward to four hours of mentor sessions. Your mentor will review your work and provide you with invaluable feedback. You’ll also have to complete a real-world project.
Key Takeaway: Mid-level designers can upgrade their skills through this comprehensive course that also offers valuable guidance from a designated mentor.
Subjects Covered: Design process, user research, stakeholder management, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, ideation
The User Experience and Interface Design course teaches students how to create a customer-centric design process, how to develop buyers’ journeys, and how to lead an entire design process from prototyping to testing and analyzing.
Beginners can attend this course. Expect to take part in live workshops, interactive interview sessions, and real-world client briefing.
Key Takeaway: Students will learn how to create, direct, and analyze a design process from building prototypes to presenting it to stakeholders.
Subjects Covered: UI design tools, micro-interactions, design considerations for mobile apps, design considerations for each type of website, prototyping
Comprising a small class of 14 students, this course is completely online. Students will learn about the role of a UI designer, navigate the UI design workflow, and understand essential UI design components.
There is also a workshop available for students to gain practical experience. You don’t need a vast background in UI design to secure a seat for this course. However, you should have a firm handle on using Adobe Creative Suite, typography and layout.
Key Takeaway: Through online learning, students will learn the core concepts of UI design and what it takes to become an expert in this field. You will also gain practical experience while developing an outstanding portfolio.
Subjects Covered: Principles of usability, evaluating usability, creating conceptual models, basic usability and accessibility guidelines
In this UI Design course, students learn the fundamentals of usability and accessibility and how crucial they are to UI design. You can access this course on any device.
Both newcomers and experienced practitioners can benefit from this course. They can attend online meetups to interact with fellow students and seasoned instructors.
Key Takeaway: In this brief program, the course provider encourages interaction between course participants and instructors, resulting in a strong online community.
Subjects Covered: Design patterns, JavaScript, Git, JSX, React JS, Red UX, Bower, ES6, Gulp, Express JS, TypeScript
The UI Frameworks Online Training course emphasizes teaching technology solutions for UI design. Students will learn Git for beginners, advanced JavaScript processes, and how to create and replicate design patterns.
You’ll gain hands-on expertise by developing and designing a web or mobile app. This course only teaches the technical end of UI design. So, you might need to attend another short course for user-centric and visual techniques.
Key Takeaway: Students will only learn essential technology solutions for UI design with programs including JavaScript, Git, and React JS.
Subjects Covered: UX elements, research techniques, business goals, technical limitations, business requirements
This short course covers how to perform user research, determine SMART business goals, and choose accurate technology solutions for UX.
As UX and UI are so closely related, this course will help newbies gain a fundamental understanding of how UX and UI work together. Although students can learn a lot from this course, they will need more training to become UI designers.
Key Takeaway: This course focuses on the relationship between UI and UX design and the basic UX processes for businesses.
Subjects Covered: Wireframes, Adobe XD, interactive prototyping, creating and using design elements, navigation tricks, sharing wireframes, custom icons, creating pop-ups
From working with complex prototyping tools to using a simple drag-and-drop editor, this UI design course covers all the essentials. You’ll learn the most advanced techniques for Adobe XD and how it serves UI design in multiple ways.
This course also covers animation and design elements for web and mobile apps. Nothing is missing from this comprehensive course, and it’s suited to both beginners and professionals.
Key Takeaway: Students will learn several vital UI design functions on Adobe UX and how to create advanced design elements.
Subjects Covered: UX design processes, user testing, user personas, user research, wireframes, prototypes, hand-offs to stakeholders
Students in this UI design online course will work on real-world projects. This course compares traditional graphic design with UX design. It also includes creating user maps and site flows as well as the basics of consistent design elements.
You should have some prior experience to take this course, and you’ll have access to SuperHi’s intelligent code editor.
Key Takeaway: You can improve or expand your current skill set. This is ideal for students who don’t need a comprehensive course.
Subjects Covered: Sensation and perception, mental models, IxD, five dimensions of IxD
IxD is a significant aspect of UI design. Students will learn the key principles of design interactions, such as cognitive psychology, and interaction models. You’ll also learn how to create micro-interactions, and how sensation and perception influence UI design. You can download the course and complete it within two hours.
Key Takeaway: This online course teaches advanced IxD interactions and philosophy. This is ideal for newbies or professionals who need practice in IxD.
Subjects Covered: Ideation, validation, material design, user flows, user personas, UX design, design sprint, key design metrics
The Product Design course by Udacity covers basic and core concepts to learn UX and UI design. Students will learn how to refine their ideas according to the market, successfully conduct user research, and prototype. With these skills, you can launch a career in UX or UI design.
If you’re considering online colleges over online courses, this course will make you reconsider. Students will learn from senior designers at Google, and they can complete exercises to practice what they learn.
Key Takeaway: For beginners, this course has a generous range of job-ready design skills. Students will learn much more than only UI design.
Subjects Covered: User research, UX principles, user-centric designs, prototyping, wireframes, user testing
By completing the Beginner UX Design Course, you’ll learn how to map consumer journeys and identify an ideal buyer persona. You’ll also gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of creating a successful UX design and how to iterate your design based on user insights.
You don’t need any experience for this online course, but you will need tools like Figma and Invision. UX Academy allows you to pay the course fee in three installments.
Key Takeaway: This course focuses on the foundation of building a user-centric UX design, without expanding into other skills like communication.
Subjects Covered: Brand and personality, layout, typography, interactivity, iconography, imagery, color, shapes, effects, presenting designs
Within three months, the Visual Design course will teach you how to create interactive designs that capture a brand’s voice through an accurate choice of typography, layout, color, and animation.
Students will learn visual design and soft skills, rather than technical expertise like designing and developing a mobile app. This course is perfect for beginners and professionals.
Key Takeaway: As this course is primarily on visual design, participants won’t focus on the relationship between UX and UI design.
Professional UI Design Certifications
You don’t need to earn any professional UI design certifications or licensing to become a professional UI designer. Rather, earning experience and further learning are great ways to increase your job guarantee in this field.
Learn from as many online courses and resources in UI design as you can. A portfolio of your designs is also a great way to show what you can do for prospective employers.
How Much Can I Earn as a UI Designer?
The average UI designer salary in 2020 was $77,200, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS reports that the job growth for this profession is eight percent, which is much faster than the average job.
To earn more money, many UI designers create digital products and sell them online. Others design products for companies like T-shirt designs, for example. Many UI designers also do freelance gigs to expand their portfolio, improve their skills, and build a network of industry connections.
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Should You Learn UI Design in 2021?
It’s a fantastic idea to learn UI design in 2021 as the job growth for this profession is incredibly high. Anybody who has a passion for technology and graphic design could benefit from attending any of the best online UI design courses available.
These UI design online courses will equip you with essential skills to become a UI designer. Learning UI design in 2021 is ideal for innovative, technologically inclined students who want a promising career in tech.
