Interaction Design for Usability
How this course will help your career
What you will learn
- An understanding of the basics of usability, including visual design, navigation and menu design, search engine optimization, and accessibility
- How to design for efficiency and persuasion
- What lean and agile processes are
- How to integrate user-centered design into lean and agile development
- How to make a case for user-centered design
- How to engage the whole team in user-centered design
This course will teach you fundamental usability concepts and methods and will tie them together with interaction and visual design. By completing the course, you will become equipped with the tools required to create products with outstanding user experience and usability. Your newly acquired knowledge will also enable you to reduce the costs, risk, and time required to design and implement such products.
You’ll learn to adopt a user-centered approach to UX design and usability so you can create user-friendly products that people love to use—for example, by allowing for user errors and providing timely feedback messages. More importantly, it is crucial that your entire team—developers, project managers, and product owners alike—adopt this holistic, user-centered mindset. This course therefore aims to provide any team member with just that: it will not only equip you with fundamental usability and design concepts, but also introduce you to lean and agile processes that will allow your whole team to become design-centric.
You should take this course if you belong to a team whose goal is to create a great product—whatever role you play in that. The fact of the matter is that usability experts and UX designers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the people who influence the design of a product. A sound understanding of user-centered design processes is thus greatly beneficial whether you’re a UX designer, developer, or a newcomer to design who wants to be part of a product team one day.
Gain an industry-trusted UX Course Certificate
You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight them on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or your website.

Our courses and Course Certificates are trusted by these industry leaders, who have taken up company memberships with the IDF:
Who should take this course
This is a beginner-level course recommended for anyone involved in building interactive systems:
- UX, UI, and web designers keen on building interactive systems with users in mind
- Project managers interested in keeping their products focused on the user
- Software engineers looking to build upon their understanding of how apps, systems and websites can be built with the user in mind
- Entrepreneurs who want to ensure their entire outlook and team remain focused on user-centered design
- Marketers interested in incorporating a user-centered perspective across all touch-points
- Newcomers to design who are considering making a switch to UX, UI, or web design
Courses in the Interaction Design Foundation are designed to contain comprehensive, evidence-based content, while ensuring that the learning curve is never too steep. All participants will have the opportunity to share ideas, seek help with tests, and enjoy the social aspects afforded by our open and friendly forum.
Learn and work with a global team of designers
When you take part in this course, you will join a global multidisciplinary team working on the course and the exercises at the same time as you. You will work together to improve your skills and understanding. Your course group will be made up of an incredibly diverse group of professionals, all of whom have the same objective—to become successful designers. It’s your chance to learn, grow, and network with your peers across the planet.
This course is taught by William Hudson, a leading expert in user-centered design who consults and teaches internationally. The lessons have a practical focus but also incorporate background and theory to help you understand the more complex issues involved. On top of this, you will be able to enhance your learning through the (optional) related reading—this consisting of over 40 titles across a broad array of subjects.
Lessons in this course
- Lessons become available at a schedule of one lesson per week.
- Lessons remain open for you forever and have no deadlines.
- There is no time limit to finish a course.
- You have permanent access to your course material, answers, and classmates for the entire duration of your membership.
- Estimated time to complete: 18 hours 12 mins spread over 17 weeks.
Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 39 mins.
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0.1: An introduction to IDF courses (14 mins)
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0.2: Let our community help you (1 min)
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0.3: How to earn your Course Certificate (4 mins)
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0.4: Meet your peers online in our discussion forums (6 mins)
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0.5: Meet and learn from design professionals in your area (1 min)
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0.6: Gain Timeless Knowledge Through IDF Courses (11 mins)
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0.7: Mandatory lessons vs. Optional lessons (2 mins)
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0.8: A mix between video-based and text-based lesson content (2 mins)
Lesson 1: User-Centered Design Boot Camp
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 52 mins.
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1.1: Introduction (44 mins)
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1.2: Mind the Empathy Gap (36 mins)
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1.3: The Art/Science of Programming (14 mins)
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1.4: Human Centered Design (11 mins)
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1.5: Discussion Forum (6 mins)
Lesson 2: Visual Design for Usability
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 9 mins.
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2.1: Visual Design Versus Usability (24 mins)
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2.2: Principles of Visual Perception (17 mins)
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2.3: Layout and Grids (20 mins)
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2.4: Colour, Fonts & Images (35 mins)
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2.5: Form Design (28 mins)
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2.6: Discussion Forum (6 mins)
Lesson 3: Navigation & Menu Design
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 54 mins.
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3.1: Designing for Users' Goals (40 mins)
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3.2: The Scent of Information (34 mins)
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3.3: Mega Menus & Faceted Search (20 mins)
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3.4: Menu Design for Mobile Devices (13 mins)
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3.5: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 4: Designing for SEO & Accessibility
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 36 mins.
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4.1: Basics of SEO and Accessibility (29 mins)
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4.2: Good Page Structure and Markup (21 mins)
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4.3: SEO and Accessiblity Tools (13 mins)
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4.4: Legal Aspects of Accessibility (13 mins)
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4.5: Completing the Accessibility Puzzle (13 mins)
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4.6: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 5: Human Error, Messages & Feedback
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 10 mins.
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5.1: Human Error (1 hour 3 mins)
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5.2: Planning for Errors (14 mins)
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5.3: Feedback and Flow (15 mins)
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5.4: Attracting Attention (8 mins)
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5.5: Error Messages (24 mins)
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5.6: Discussion Forum (6 mins)
Lesson 6: Usability Evaluation
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 48 mins.
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6.1: Introduction (33 mins)
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6.2: Expert/Heuristic Evaluation & Benchmarking (20 mins)
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6.3: Paper Prototyping (5 mins)
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6.4: Usability Testing (23 mins)
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6.5: Eye Tracking (13 mins)
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6.6: A/B & Multivariate Testing (7 mins)
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6.7: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 7: User-Centred IA With Card Sorting
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 59 mins.
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7.1: Basics of Card Sorting (40 mins)
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7.2: Terminology (27 mins)
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7.3: Cluster Analysis (22 mins)
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7.4: Other Analysis (15 mins)
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7.5: Avoiding Common Pitfalls (9 mins)
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7.6: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 8: Dynamic Web Pages: Effective Use of Ajax
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 6 mins.
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8.1: Basic Principles of Ajax (40 mins)
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8.2: Perceptual Issues (22 mins)
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8.3: Ajax Guidelines (28 mins)
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8.4: SEO & Accessibility (13 mins)
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8.5: A Worked Example (17 mins)
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8.6: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 9: Writing Effective Web & Intranet Content
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 15 mins.
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9.1: What Users Want (23 mins)
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9.2: Inverted Pyramid & Visual Structure (7 mins)
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9.3: Readability Versus Legibility (9 mins)
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9.4: Readability Metrics (29 mins)
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9.5: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 10: Designing for Efficiency
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 18 mins.
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10.1: Ease of Learning Versus Efficiency of Use (18 mins)
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10.2: Keystroke-Level Model (18 mins)
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10.3: Fitts' Law (7 mins)
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10.4: The Art of Efficient Shortcuts (15 mins)
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10.5: Micro-Usability (13 mins)
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10.6: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 11: Persuasion, Trust and Seduction
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 45 mins.
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11.1: Psychology of Persuasion (30 mins)
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11.2: Perceptions of Trust (16 mins)
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11.3: Comparative Web Credibility (22 mins)
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11.4: User Goals & Emotional Journeys (8 mins)
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11.5: Seductive Design & The Halo Effect (23 mins)
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11.6: Discussion Forum (6 mins)
Lesson 12: Making the Case for UCD in Agile
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 59 mins.
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12.1: 'Optional' User Experience (33 mins)
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12.2: Understanding Your Audience (33 mins)
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12.3: Making the Most of Metrics (17 mins)
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12.4: Building a Persuasive Case (30 mins)
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12.5: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 13: Integrating UX/UCD & Agile
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 2 mins.
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13.1: Origins of Agile (21 mins)
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13.2: Tension Between Agile & UCD (32 mins)
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13.3: Empathetic Design (10 mins)
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13.4: Parallel Streams Approach (20 mins)
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13.5: Focusing on Users (25 mins)
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13.6: Design Maps as a Collaboration Tool (7 mins)
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13.7: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 14: Agile UX: Users, Personas & Design Maps
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 15 mins.
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14.1: Psychology of Personas (58 mins)
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14.2: User Research (20 mins)
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14.3: Roles and Personas (24 mins)
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14.4: Feature & Dependency Matrices (16 mins)
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14.5: Design Maps (10 mins)
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14.6: Discussion Forum (7 mins)
Lesson 15: Agile UX: Use Cases, Stories & Scenarios
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 25 mins.
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15.1: Brief Introduction to Requirements (19 mins)
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15.2: Use Cases & Use Case Diagrams (31 mins)
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15.3: Scenarios & Story-Telling (14 mins)
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15.4: Sketches, Storyboards & Wireframes (14 mins)
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15.5: Discussion Forum (8 mins)
Lesson 16: Agile UX: Conceptual Models
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 14 mins.
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16.1: Conceptual Models & Their Benefits (16 mins)
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16.2: User Versus Domain Models (25 mins)
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16.3: Appropriate Levels of Detail (15 mins)
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16.4: Conceptual Models & Design Maps (11 mins)
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16.5: Discussion Forum (8 mins)
Lesson 17: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
To be scheduled.
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17.1: Course Evaluation (1 min)
Learning paths
This course is part of 4 learning paths:
How to advance your career with IDF courses
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Attend lessons at your own pace
Each week throughout the course, you get access to a new lesson, but you can move through the lessons at your own pace. This means you can learn before you leave for work, or in between breaks — in as little as 15 minutes per day.
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Network online and offline
Network with your fellow course-takers online, through discussion forums inside lessons. You can also connect with your peers offline via IDF’s Local Groups. Local Groups connect you with other designers around your city who share the same passion in UX design as you.
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Advance your career
Get a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve scored at least 70% on a course. Highlight your Course Certificates on your résumé, your LinkedIn profile, or your website to showcase your newly mastered skills.
Start advancing your career now
Become a member to take “Interaction Design for Usability”. Take any other IDF UX courses at no additional cost. Take a concrete step forward in your career path today.