IBM SkillsBuild - User

Experience Design
Fundamentals
Course 1 : Introduction to UX Design

IBM SkillsBuild - User Experience Design Fundamentals 1

 🎓 Course 1: Introduction to UX Design
📘 About This Course
This foundational course introduces you to the world of User Experience
(UX) Design. You’ll learn:

What UX design is and why it matters

How UX differs from UI (User Interface)

The User-Centered Design (UCD) process

How to design for diversity, inclusivity, responsiveness, and

adaptability

What makes a great UX designer

How to analyze and build a UX design case study, using an example of

a plant-selling e-commerce website

🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
✅ Explain the fundamentals of UX Design
Understand its purpose, value, and key principles

Recognize what contributes to a great user experience

✅ Differentiate UX vs UI Design
Understand the unique focus and roles of each discipline

✅ Describe the User-Centered Design (UCD) process

Learn the iterative steps that place users at the heart of design

✅ Identify the skills of a great UX designer

Empathy, collaboration, adaptability, and inclusive thinking

✅ Compare adaptive vs responsive design

Know when and why to use each approach for various devices

✅ Explain what a UX case study is

IBM SkillsBuild - User Experience Design Fundamentals 2

 Understand its purpose and structure in showcasing UX work

✅ Review and reflect on a sample UX case study

Analyze a project example to understand defining requirements

🧠 Key Concepts Covered

Topic Description

UX focuses on the whole experience; UI focuses on the

UX vs UI
visual interface

User-Centered An iterative process that prioritizes user needs at every

Design stage

Designing for a diverse range of users, including

Inclusive Design
accessibility and equity

Adaptive vs Adaptive uses fixed layouts for devices; responsive fluidly

Responsive adjusts layout

A structured presentation of a design project, from problem

Case Study in UX
to solution

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 📘 Module 1: Overview of UX Design
Introduction to UX Design_Common UI Design Elements.pdf

🧭 Introduction
This module introduces the foundational principles of User Experience
(UX) Design. It covers what UX design is, how it differs from User Interface
(UI) design, the key concepts that make for excellent user experiences, and
the structure of the User-Centered Design (UCD) process.

🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

1. Define User Experience (UX) design and its core purpose

2. Distinguish between UX design and User Interface (UI) design

3. Identify and explain the core principles of great UX design

4. Describe the User-Centered Design (UCD) process and its stages

🧠 1. What is UX Design and Its Purpose?

➤ Definition:
User Experience (UX) design is the discipline of designing digital products,
systems, or services that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to
users. It involves planning and structuring the entire interaction process
between the user and the product.

➤ Key Components:
Interaction design

Information architecture

Usability

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 Accessibility

User research

➤ Purpose:
The purpose of UX design is to make products usable, useful, and
desirable for users while achieving business goals.

🧠 2. UX Design vs. UI Design

➤ UX Design (User Experience):
Focuses on the full experience a user has with a product or system. It
involves understanding user needs, designing intuitive workflows, and
optimizing satisfaction.

➤ UI Design (User Interface):

Involves the visual layout of a product’s interface. It includes elements such
as buttons, icons, spacing, typography, and color schemes.

➤ Key Differences:
Feature UX Design UI Design

User experience and

Focus Visual interface and interaction
functionality

Research, structure, flow, Colors, layout, fonts, visual

Involves
usability style

Wireframes, user flows, High-fidelity screens and

Output
prototypes mockups

🧠 3. Core Concepts of Great UX Design

Great UX design is guided by a set of principles that ensure products are
functional, intuitive, and pleasant to use.

➤ Key Concepts:
Usability: The ease with which users can complete tasks.

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 Accessibility: Ensuring that users of all abilities can access and use
the product.

Consistency: Providing a uniform experience across different sections

and platforms.

Feedback: Giving users clear signals about their actions (e.g.,

confirmation messages).

Clarity: Keeping content and actions easy to understand and navigate.

User Empathy: Designing with an understanding of the user’s needs,

goals, and frustrations.

🧠Process
4. User-Centered Design (UCD) and Its

➤ Definition:
User-Centered Design (UCD) is a design framework that prioritizes the
needs, preferences, and limitations of end-users at every stage of the
design process.

➤ The UCD Process:

Stage Description

Understand user goals, pain points, and behaviors through

1. Research
observation and interviews.

Analyze research to create personas, user stories, and define

2. Define
requirements.

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 Develop concepts, wireframes, and prototypes based on user
3. Design
needs.

Conduct usability testing to gather feedback and discover

4. Test
usability issues.

Refine the design based on feedback; repeat design and testing

5. Iterate
as needed.

📌 Summary Checklist
✔ UX design focuses on creating meaningful, user-friendly experiences
✔ UI design is a subset of UX that handles the visual interface
✔ Great UX follows core principles: usability, clarity, accessibility,
consistency, empathy
✔ User-Centered Design involves research, testing, and iterating with the
user in mind

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 📘 Module 2: Think Like a UX Designer
🧭 Introduction
In this module, you’ll explore the mindset and skills required to become a
successful UX designer. You’ll learn how UX designers create inclusive,
user-centered designs by understanding the needs of diverse users,
including different age groups, physical abilities, and digital habits.
The module also introduces two essential design approaches: adaptive
design and responsive design—key to ensuring accessibility and usability
across various devices and platforms.

🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

1. Describe the skills that help UX designers create user-centered digital

products

2. Explain how empathy, creativity, and accessibility enable inclusive UX

design

3. Identify the guidelines for designing UX across different platforms

(web, mobile, tablet, etc.)

4. Describe the characteristics of adaptive and responsive designs

5. Identify how adaptive and responsive designs support a diverse user

base

🧠User-Centered
1. Skills That Enable UX Designers to Create
Digital Products
UX designers use a blend of technical, analytical, and soft skills to design
user-centered experiences.

➤ Key Skills:
User research – Understanding user behavior and needs

Problem-solving – Translating user pain points into solutions

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 Information architecture – Structuring content in logical, intuitive ways

Interaction design – Designing how users interact with a product

Prototyping and testing – Building and refining designs through user

feedback

Collaboration – Working with developers, product managers, and other

designers

🧠Inclusive
2. Empathy, Creativity, and Accessibility in
Design
➤ Empathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and
experiences of users.

➤ Creativity
The skill to generate innovative solutions to user challenges and
constraints.

➤ Accessibility
Designing in a way that allows people of all abilities, including those with
disabilities, to fully use the product.
These three elements combine to ensure that designs are inclusive —
meaning they work well for the widest possible audience.

🧠Platforms
3. Guidelines for Designing Across Different

When designing for multiple platforms (like desktops, tablets, or

smartphones), UX designers follow specific platform-based guidelines:

Platform Common UX Guidelines

Mobile Prioritize touch-friendly elements and vertical scrolling

Tablet Use a hybrid layout with scalable UI elements

Take advantage of screen space, keyboard, and mouse

Desktop
input

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 Designers may also refer to platform-specific documentation, such as:

Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)

Google Material Design

Microsoft Fluent Design System

🧠 4. Adaptive and Responsive Design

Video transcript_Responsive and adaptive UX design.pdf

➤ Adaptive Design
Uses multiple fixed layouts tailored to specific screen sizes

The system detects the screen size and loads the appropriate version

Common in mobile websites or apps that target specific devices

➤ Responsive Design
Uses a single flexible layout that adjusts dynamically to any screen
size

Content resizes, reflows, or stacks based on the viewport

Feature Adaptive Design Responsive Design

Layouts Multiple fixed layouts One flexible layout

Device
Required Not required
detection

More control, but more Easier maintenance, but less

Development
work precision

🧠User-Centered
5. Role of Adaptive and Responsive Design in
Products
Both adaptive and responsive design techniques ensure that products are:

Accessible on all devices (smartphones, tablets, desktops)

Usable for users with varying device types or limitations

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 Flexible to accommodate screen size, resolution, and interaction mode
(touch, mouse, voice)

By using these approaches, designers create user-centered digital

experiences that adapt to real-world usage conditions.

📌 Summary Checklist
✔ UX designers rely on both technical and human-centered skills
✔ Empathy, creativity, and accessibility are essential for inclusive design
✔ Different platforms require different UX guidelines
✔ Adaptive design = multiple fixed layouts
✔ Responsive design = one fluid layout
✔ Both design types help serve diverse users effectively

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 📘Design
Module 3: Case Study for a UX
Project
🧭 Introduction
A UX design case study is a structured narrative that showcases a
designer’s problem-solving process, design thinking, and final outcomes. It
helps demonstrate a designer's ability to apply UX principles in real-world
scenarios. Case studies are essential for portfolios, job interviews, and
professional development.
In this module, you’ll learn:

What makes a strong case study

How to build one step by step

How to analyze a sample case study by starting with the project

requirements

🎯 Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:

1. Explain the purpose and significance of a case study in UX design

2. Explain the steps and components involved in creating a UX case

study

3. Analyze a case study example by reviewing the project requirement

definition stage

🧠UX1.Design
Purpose and Significance of a Case Study in

➤ What is a UX Case Study?

A UX case study is a documented walkthrough of a UX project, showing
how the designer identified a problem, designed a solution, tested it, and
reflected on the outcome.

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 ➤ Purpose:
To showcase your design process

To highlight your problem-solving and decision-making skills

To communicate your understanding of UX methods

To support your UX portfolio and job applications

➤ Where it’s used:

UX portfolios

Job interviews

Personal websites

Team presentations

🧠Case2. Steps
Study
to Create the Components of a UX

Creating a strong UX case study involves clearly documenting each stage

of the project. Here's a common structure:

Step Description

• The selected project

1. Define the Identify the design challenge or
• Potential user
Problem opportunity.
challenges

2. Project Clarify user needs, business • Goals as a UX

Requirements goals, and technical constraints. designer

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 • Data gathered from
researching users
Conduct user interviews,
3. Research • User personas
surveys, or competitor analysis.
• Insights from
competitive analysis

4. Insights & Analyze research findings and • User stories

Personas build user personas.

• User journey and user

5. Ideation & Create user flows, information
flows
Planning architecture, and sketches.
• Solution sketches

• Information
architecture (IA) and
sitemaps
• Paper and digital
6. Wireframes & Design interactive layouts at
wireframes
Prototypes different fidelity levels.
• User interface (UI)
design
• Paper and digital
prototypes

• Usability testing plan

Test with users and iterate based
7. Usability Testing • Test report and results
on feedback.
• Revised prototypes

Present the polished solution and

8. Final Design
key improvements.

• Details of project team

members
• Methods to
collaborate with
Summarize what worked, what
9. Reflection & developers
didn’t, and what you’d do
Learnings • Design artifacts
differently.
handed off to
developers
• Review feedback to
refine the digital product

Each of these components should include visuals (like screenshots or

diagrams), brief text explanations, and your reasoning for design choices.

🧠Project
3. Review an Example Case Study: Defining
Requirements

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 In this step of the sample case study, the project is focused on designing a
plant-selling e-commerce website. The first task is to define the project
requirements.

UX Design Fundamentals_Example Case Study.pdf

➤ What “Defining Project Requirements” Means:

It involves identifying:

User Needs – What problems are users trying to solve?

Business Goals – What does the company aim to achieve (e.g.,

increase online sales)?

Constraints – Technical limits, timeline, budget, or platform

considerations

➤ Example Components:
Problem statement: "New plant buyers find it difficult to choose the
right plant online without guidance."

Target audience: Millennials, urban dwellers, beginner plant owners

Business objective: Increase product conversions through educational

product pages and simple checkout flow

This foundational step shapes the direction of the design process that
follows.

📌 Summary Checklist
✔ A UX case study showcases your full design process
✔ Case studies are essential for UX portfolios and job interviews
✔ A well-structured case study includes: problem, research, design,
testing, results

✔ The first step is defining clear project requirements (users, goals,

constraints)

IBM SkillsBuild - User Experience Design Fundamentals 15

 ✅Fundamentals
Key Points to Remember – UX Design

1. User-Centered Design
UX design focuses on creating user-centered solutions for both digital
and physical products (e.g., websites, apps) to improve user
satisfaction and usability.

2. Accessibility and Usability

UX design aligns user needs and preferences with product functionality
to ensure accessibility and ease of use for people with different
physical and cognitive abilities.

3. UI vs. UX

User Interface (UI) design is a subset of UX design. While UX handles

the full experience, UI focuses on the visual and interactive elements of
the interface.

4. Core Concepts of UX Design

Key elements include:

User-Centered Design (UCD)

Usability

Information Architecture (IA)

Visual and Interactive Design

User Feedback and Testing

Accessibility

Iterative Process

1. User-Centered Design (UCD)

UCD places the user at the heart of the design process, incorporating
their needs, preferences, and feedback at every stage to improve
outcomes.

2. UCD Process Steps

The UCD process includes four iterative steps:

IBM SkillsBuild - User Experience Design Fundamentals 16

 Analysis

Design

Evaluation

Implementation

1. Essential Skills for UX Designers

Successful UX designers rely on:

Problem-Solving

Communication

Critical Thinking

1. Inclusive Design Principles

Empathy and creativity help designers serve a wide range of users.
Accessibility is a core concern when designing for inclusion.

2. Design Approaches for Multiple Devices

UX designers use two approaches to design across platforms:

Responsive Design

Adaptive Design

1. Responsive Design
Responsive design automatically adjusts to different screen sizes and
orientations, offering a consistent and seamless experience across all
devices.

2. Adaptive Design
Adaptive design uses predefined layouts customized for specific
screen sizes or devices, offering tailored experiences for each one.

3. UX Case Studies
Case studies showcase a designer’s skills, problem-solving process,
and design thinking. They provide detailed insight into how a UX
problem was solved.

4. Value of Case Studies in Portfolios

Including case studies in a portfolio demonstrates expertise, enhances
credibility, and supports career advancement.

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