In-house UX Courses

UX training builds your team's ability to create meaningful user experiences through research, design, and strategic thinking. As Tedde van Gelderen explains in Experience Thinking, starting with the experience first rather than technology leads to better business outcomes. Training helps you avoid building products that nobody wants by teaching you to understand user needs before jumping into solutions.

Tip: Start with one or two team members taking foundational courses to build internal champions who can demonstrate value to leadership.

Our Experience Thinking framework examines four connected areas: Brand, Content, Product, and Service experiences. Training teaches you how these areas work together to create cohesive user journeys. You'll learn that none of these areas work in isolation - they team up to create one smooth experience from start to finish. This holistic approach ensures everything stays aligned and working together.

Tip: Choose training that covers multiple areas of the framework rather than focusing on just one skill in isolation.

UX design training focuses on creating experiences, wireframing, prototyping, and interaction design. UX research training emphasizes understanding user behavior, conducting studies, and gathering insights. Both are essential - as our blog notes, UX is a team sport requiring multiple specializations. Research provides the foundation for design decisions, while design brings insights to life in usable products.

Tip: If you're starting fresh, begin with UX research training to build a solid foundation before moving into design skills.

Certification programs provide structured learning paths with measurable outcomes. Our certification follows five days of intensive training with clear competency frameworks. Unlike one-off workshops, certification builds deep expertise systematically. You gain credibility within your organization and can demonstrate concrete skills to stakeholders who need to understand your capabilities.

Tip: Certification helps you gain more influence within your organization to advocate for user-centered approaches.

Teams ready for UX training typically face challenges with user adoption, unclear requirements, or disconnected experiences across touchpoints. If you're building products without user input, or if stakeholders constantly request changes mid-project, training will help. The Experience Thinking approach teaches you to delay the technology-building piece and focus first on understanding the intended experience.

Tip: Look for signs like frequent design revisions, low user engagement, or team debates about what users want - these indicate training needs.

Our courses assume limited prior UX knowledge and start with fundamentals. We've trained business analysts, graphic designers, product managers, and complete beginners. The key is curiosity about user behavior and willingness to challenge assumptions. Experience Thinking principles can be applied regardless of your technical background - it's about understanding human needs first.

Tip: Focus on your motivation to understand users better rather than worrying about technical prerequisites.

UX training helps you align user needs with business goals more effectively. The Experience Thinking framework shows how brand, content, product, and service experiences work together to drive customer loyalty and business results. Training teaches you to identify which personality traits and experience elements actually influence customer behavior and business outcomes.

Tip: Before training, document your current business challenges so you can directly apply new skills to real problems.

We combine real consulting experience with structured education. Our trainers are active practitioners who work on client projects daily, bringing current challenges and solutions into the classroom. We use the Experience Thinking framework to ensure training connects all aspects of user experience rather than treating them as separate disciplines. Theory comes with immediately applicable practical techniques.

Tip: Ask about instructor experience on real projects - this ensures you're learning from practitioners, not just theorists.

Start with Introduction to User Experience Design & Experience Thinking. This foundational course covers the business angle of UX, not just delivery techniques. You'll understand how UX fits within organizations and learn to integrate it into your culture. It provides the framework for all subsequent learning and helps you see the big picture before diving into specific methods.

Tip: This introductory course helps you build internal support by explaining UX value in business terms your stakeholders understand.

Consider your role and interests. Research certification suits those who want to understand user behavior, conduct studies, and generate insights. Design certification fits those creating experiences, wireframes, and prototypes. Many students take one track first, then return for the other. Both tracks share foundational courses, so you'll understand how research and design work together.

Tip: If your organization lacks user insights, start with Research certification to build the evidence base for design decisions.

UX Research arms you with techniques to uncover deep behavioral insights about user needs and motivations. You'll learn customer personas, journey mapping, task analysis, and various research methods. The course covers 60% theory and 40% practical application. It's essential for anyone making decisions about user needs without solid evidence to back them up.

Tip: Research skills help you move from assumptions to evidence-based decisions, which builds credibility with stakeholders.

If users can't find what they're looking for, your website or application becomes unusable. Information Architecture teaches you to organize content using users' mental models and language. You'll learn organizational principles, card sorting techniques, and how to create structures that prevent user frustration and backtracking. This course focuses 60% on theory and 40% on practical application.

Tip: Good information architecture is invisible to users - they simply find what they need without thinking about it.

Interaction Design teaches you to prioritize user needs and define optimal experiences. You'll learn design patterns, wireframing, prototyping, and how to apply principles like Fitts' Law. The course covers standards, guidelines, and proven patterns that make designs more effective. It's 70% theory and 30% practical application, focusing on the thinking behind good interactions.

Tip: Master fundamental design patterns before trying to create novel interactions - users expect certain behaviors to work consistently.

Persuasive Design teaches psychological methods to guide users toward desired actions. Whether you're designing websites, apps, or e-commerce experiences, you'll learn tactical techniques with immediate impact. This hands-on course provides methods you can implement right away to see results quickly. It's perfect for anyone who needs to influence user behavior through design.

Tip: Persuasive design works best when it genuinely helps users achieve their goals rather than manipulating them.

Journey Mapping reveals the end-to-end user experience and identifies improvement opportunities. You'll learn to map customer experiences across all touchpoints, understanding emotions and pain points throughout their journey. This connects to Experience Thinking's emphasis on connected experiences - ensuring each step logically fits the next in the customer lifecycle.

Tip: Journey mapping works best when you involve multiple departments to understand the complete customer experience.

Day one covers testing fundamentals: techniques, setup, participant recruitment, facilitation, and analysis. Day two provides hands-on practice conducting actual tests with peers and instructors. This practical experience is essential because usability testing skills require real-world application to develop confidence. The two-day approach ensures you can facilitate sessions effectively when you return to work.

Tip: Practice facilitating tests with colleagues before running sessions with external users - this builds your confidence and improves your technique.

In-person training offers direct interaction with instructors and peers, printed materials, and collaborative exercises. Online virtual training provides access to our Learning Management System and flexibility for remote teams. Both formats cover identical content with the same instructors. The choice depends on your team's location, schedule, and learning preferences.

Tip: Online training works well for distributed teams, while in-person training better suits organizations that want to build internal collaboration.

Custom training adapts our proven curriculum to your specific organizational needs and challenges. We work with your team to identify skill gaps, customize examples using your products or services, and focus on your particular user base. In-house training builds team cohesion and allows for deeper discussion of your specific challenges. We can deliver training at your location or virtually.

Tip: Custom training works best when you can dedicate a full team for the duration rather than having individuals drop in and out.

Teams of 6 and more can take courses individually based on immediate needs or complete the full certification within two years. Individual courses work well for specific skill development, while certification provides structured learning paths and credibility. Many organizations start with individual courses to test the value, then commit to full certification programs for key team member groups.

Tip: If budget is tight, start with the foundational UX course to build internal awareness, then expand based on results.

In-person participants receive printed course booklets; online participants access our Learning Management System. All courses include practical exercises, templates, and resources you can use immediately. While formal support ends with the course, many participants stay connected through our blog and professional network for ongoing learning and updates.

Tip: Download and organize all digital resources immediately after training while the concepts are fresh in your mind.

Our courses start with fundamentals but quickly move to practical application that challenges all skill levels. Mixed groups often work well because beginners learn from more experienced participants, while experienced people gain new perspectives from fresh viewpoints. Instructors adapt examples and discussions to engage everyone appropriately.

Tip: Encourage experienced team members to mentor newcomers during training - this reinforces learning for both groups.

Training effectiveness shows up in improved user research quality, better design decisions, and reduced design iteration cycles. Teams report increased confidence in user advocacy and better stakeholder communication. Long-term ROI comes from products that better meet user needs, reducing support costs and increasing user satisfaction. We can help you identify metrics that matter for your organization.

Tip: Establish baseline metrics before training so you can measure improvement in areas like design revision cycles and user satisfaction scores.

Building UX capability requires strategic planning across teams and roles. As the Experience Thinking book explains, you can organize UX teams in centralized, decentralized, or matrix models. Start with key influencers, demonstrate small successes, then expand. Training should connect to real projects so teams can immediately apply new skills and show value to leadership.

Tip: Create a internal UX community of practice where trained team members can share experiences and continue learning together.

Leadership support grows when you connect UX training to business outcomes they care about. Show how Experience Thinking principles improve customer satisfaction, reduce development costs, and increase product success rates. Frame training as building organizational capability rather than just individual skills. Demonstrate small wins first, then request investment in broader training initiatives.

Tip: Present UX training ROI in terms leadership understands: reduced rework, faster time-to-market, and improved customer metrics.

UX is a team sport requiring multiple specializations working together. One person cannot handle strategy, research, information architecture, interaction design, and testing effectively. Build UX capability across roles rather than concentrating it in one person. Train product managers in user research, developers in usability principles, and designers in strategic thinking.

Tip: Cross-train team members in UX fundamentals even if they won't become full-time UX practitioners - this builds empathy and collaboration.

Immediate results include better user research quality and more informed design decisions. Medium-term results show up in improved user satisfaction and reduced development iterations. Long-term results include stronger market position and customer loyalty. The timeline depends on how quickly you apply new skills to real projects and whether you have leadership support for change.

Tip: Apply training concepts to current projects immediately rather than waiting for the 'perfect' project to practice new skills.

Common challenges include stakeholder resistance to user research, pressure to skip validation steps, and difficulty changing established workflows. As our blog notes, stakeholders often want to control UX processes even when they're new to the field. Training helps you anticipate these challenges and provides frameworks for managing them effectively.

Tip: Start with low-risk projects to demonstrate UX value before tackling high-stakes initiatives where stakeholder anxiety runs high.

Maintaining standards requires clear processes, shared tools, and ongoing education. Create UX guidelines, establish review processes, and ensure new team members receive consistent training. Regular skill updates help teams stay current with evolving practices. Consider certification programs that provide standardized competency frameworks across your organization.

Tip: Document your UX processes and decisions so new team members can learn from previous projects and maintain consistency.

Both approaches have value. Experienced professionals bring immediate expertise and can mentor others. Training existing staff builds on their domain knowledge and organizational understanding. Most successful organizations combine both strategies: hire experienced leaders who can establish practices, then train existing staff to scale capability across the organization.

Tip: Existing staff who understand your business often become your strongest UX advocates once they gain the skills to apply user-centered thinking.

Experience Thinking starts by mapping the complete user lifecycle - from awareness through advocacy. Examine how your brand, content, product, and service experiences connect throughout this journey. Look for disconnects where users might feel confused or frustrated. Apply the framework by ensuring each experience element supports the next, creating smooth transitions from customer to user to loyal client.

Tip: Start by mapping one complete user journey to identify the biggest gaps, then prioritize improvements that will have the most impact.

Basic UX practice requires user research capabilities, design tools for wireframing and prototyping, and methods for testing with real users. You don't need expensive software to start - paper prototypes and simple user interviews can provide valuable insights. Focus on building skills and processes first, then invest in tools that support your established practices.

Tip: Start with free or low-cost tools to prove value, then upgrade to professional tools once you've established UX practices that deliver results.

Effective user research can be done quickly and cheaply when you focus on the right questions. Simple user interviews, quick usability tests, and guerrilla research methods provide valuable insights without major investment. The key is asking specific questions that will actually influence your design decisions rather than conducting research for research's sake.

Tip: Focus research on decisions you're actively making rather than general exploration - this ensures insights directly impact your work.

Present findings in terms stakeholders care about: business impact, user satisfaction, and competitive advantage. Use clear visuals, specific examples, and actionable recommendations. Connect user needs to business objectives, showing how addressing user problems also solves business challenges. Different stakeholders need different levels of detail and different types of evidence.

Tip: Lead with the business impact, then provide user evidence to support your recommendations - this keeps stakeholders engaged with the 'why' behind your suggestions.

Great UX design finds solutions that serve both users and business needs. The Experience Thinking approach emphasizes understanding business strategy alongside user needs. Often, what's best for users also benefits the business - reduced support costs, increased satisfaction, and stronger competitive position. Training teaches you to identify win-win solutions rather than treating user and business needs as opposing forces.

Tip: Reframe constraints as design challenges rather than limitations - often the best solutions emerge from working within realistic boundaries.

Track metrics that connect user behavior to business outcomes: task completion rates, user satisfaction scores, support ticket volume, and customer retention. The specific metrics depend on your business model and user goals. Good UX metrics help you understand both what users do and how they feel about their experience with your product or service.

Tip: Choose metrics you can actually influence through design changes rather than tracking numbers that make you feel good but don't drive decisions.

Effective personas combine demographic information with behavioral insights, goals, and pain points. They should be based on real user research rather than assumptions. Good personas help teams make decisions by asking 'What would Sarah do in this situation?' rather than just serving as documentation. They need to be detailed enough to guide decisions but simple enough to remember and use.

Tip: Test your personas by using them to make actual design decisions - if they don't help you choose between options, they need more specific behavioral details.

Effective usability testing focuses on specific tasks users need to complete rather than general impressions. Test with real users, use realistic scenarios, and observe behavior more than opinions. Start with simple tests - even testing with three users can reveal major problems. The goal is identifying issues that prevent users from completing their goals, not validating design preferences.

Tip: Focus on what users do rather than what they say - behavior reveals true usability problems better than user opinions.

UX skills are increasingly valuable across industries as organizations recognize the importance of user-centered design. Training provides credible expertise that distinguishes you from others who learned UX informally. Certification demonstrates commitment to professional development and mastery of essential skills. The field continues growing as more organizations invest in user experience capabilities.

Tip: Document your UX projects and results to build a portfolio that demonstrates real-world application of your training.

UX training opens paths in research, design, strategy, and leadership roles. You might become a UX researcher, interaction designer, information architect, or UX strategist. Many professionals also apply UX skills in product management, marketing, or business analysis roles. The skills transfer across industries and organization types, from startups to large enterprises.

Tip: Focus on developing skills that interest you most while maintaining broad UX knowledge - specialization comes naturally through practice and preference.

Many successful UX professionals come from psychology, design, research, business, or technology backgrounds. Your existing skills provide valuable perspective that pure UX education cannot replicate. Focus on learning user research methods and design thinking while leveraging your domain expertise. The combination of UX skills plus deep knowledge in another area often creates the most valuable professionals.

Tip: Connect your existing expertise to UX applications - this creates a unique value proposition that sets you apart from other UX practitioners.

Generalists understand the complete UX process and can work across research, design, and strategy. Specialists develop deep expertise in specific areas like user research or interaction design. Both paths are valuable - generalists work well in smaller organizations, while specialists thrive in larger teams. Your career stage, interests, and organizational needs should guide this choice.

Tip: Start as a generalist to understand how all UX disciplines connect, then specialize in areas that most interest you and match market demand.

Strong UX portfolios show your process, not just final designs. Include research methods, design rationale, iteration based on testing, and business impact. Document challenges, solutions, and results from real projects. Even if you're new to UX, you can create case studies from personal projects, volunteer work, or redesign exercises that demonstrate your thinking process.

Tip: Focus on problem-solving process rather than visual design skills - employers want to see how you think through user problems.

UX evolves rapidly with new tools, methods, and technologies. Stay current through professional conferences, online courses, and industry publications. Practice new techniques on personal projects, participate in UX communities, and learn from other practitioners. The field values continuous learning and adaptation to new challenges and opportunities.

Tip: Set aside time each month for learning new UX techniques or tools - this keeps your skills current and demonstrates commitment to professional growth.

Present training as an investment in organizational capability rather than personal development. Show how UX skills will improve current projects, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Offer to share knowledge with colleagues or lead internal training sessions. Connect training to specific business challenges your organization faces with user adoption or product success.

Tip: Propose a pilot training program for a small group first, with commitment to measure and report results before requesting broader training investment.

Start by assessing your current UX maturity and identifying specific skill gaps. Consider beginning with one group taking foundational courses to build internal expertise. These early adopters can evaluate training quality and become internal advocates for broader UX education. Choose courses that address your most pressing user experience challenges first.

Tip: Begin with a needs assessment to identify which UX skills will have the most immediate impact on your current projects and business goals.

Consider your team's workload, project deadlines, and learning preferences. Week-long intensive training builds momentum and team cohesion but requires dedicated time away from projects. Individual course scheduling offers flexibility but may lack continuity. Custom training can be scheduled around your specific needs and availability constraints.

Tip: Block out time completely for training rather than trying to multitask with regular work - this ensures you can fully engage and apply new concepts.

Minimal preparation is required since courses start with fundamentals. However, identifying current user experience challenges helps you apply training concepts immediately. Consider documenting existing processes, user feedback, or design decisions you want to improve. Having specific examples to discuss during training makes the learning more relevant and actionable.

Tip: Bring real examples of user experience challenges you're facing - this makes training discussions more relevant and applicable to your work.

Frame UX training as building strategic capability rather than just individual development. Calculate the cost of poor user experiences: support tickets, lost customers, and development rework. Show how other organizations have achieved ROI through UX improvements. Present training as insurance against building products that fail to meet user needs and business objectives.

Tip: Calculate the cost of your current user experience problems - this makes the training investment seem modest compared to the potential savings.

Immediate results include better user research quality, more informed design decisions, and improved stakeholder communication about user needs. You'll start applying Experience Thinking principles to current projects, identifying gaps in your user experience, and making evidence-based improvements. The biggest early benefit is often increased confidence in advocating for user needs.

Tip: Start applying new skills to current projects immediately rather than waiting for new projects - this accelerates your learning and demonstrates immediate value.

Create opportunities to practice new skills through regular user research, design reviews, and testing activities. Establish UX standards and processes that reinforce training concepts. Connect with other UX practitioners through professional networks and continued learning opportunities. Most importantly, apply skills to real projects where you can measure impact and build on successes.

Tip: Schedule regular team meetings to discuss UX challenges and share learnings - this keeps skills sharp and builds internal UX community.