Frequently Asked Questions

Don't worry if you missed the course. We will re-run it shortly. One of the reasons we continually open and close courses is in order to control the classroom size.

Networking is a large part of our value proposition, so we want just the right number of people inside the courses. That is also why we display the "XX % percent booked" on our course icons.

No. You can set your own study schedule. There are no "live sessions" since we have members from all timezones around the world. We are a truly global community.

Thus, once you are enrolled, you can take all the time to complete a given course. Every "classroom" in each course will never close, so you’ll have permanent access to your classmates and your course material (as well as your own answers).

The Professional membership doesn't have requirements, and any person interested in becoming a member can purchase it. The Student membership is available for only full-time students at a school, college, or university.

As a student member, you'll receive the very same benefits as you would with a Professional membership - except for 2 things:You will appear as a "student" to the other members. If you want to use your membership to network and get a job, we suggest you go for the Professional membership. You can take a maximum of two courses at the same time. You can still take all courses you want during your membership period, with no extra charges – as long as you finish or drop them so that you don’t have more than two courses going on at the same time.

Yes! Once you have paid for your membership, you can take as many courses as you would like with no additional cost. No hidden fees—just pure learning and networking.

We’re a community and not a money machine. And, yeah, we hate hidden fees just as much as you do!

Start Learning

Yes. You will get a digital industry-recognized course certificate every time you complete a course. Certificates never expire and can be saved as a .jpg file, so it's easy to be shared. Also, there is no limit to how many certificates you can earn during your membership.

You can see an example of a Course Certificate at the bottom of the Course Catalogue.

We accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards — both debit cards and credit cards. Depending on which country you live, you should be able to use your debit or credit card using PayPal checkout (even without having a PayPal account). 

Is your card getting declined?

Possible reasons

The IxDF is registered in Denmark, and that could make the transaction appear as an "overseas charge". This could cause your bank's security system to block the transaction.

• Your account is lacking sufficient funds.

• There is a temporary technical problem between your bank and the payment gateway.

Possible ways of fixing it

• Try using another credit card.

• Simply go through the process again but choose PayPal as the payment method. You do NOT have to have or create a Paypal account — you can simply let Paypal process your credit card and that will likely solve the problem.

• Call your bank to check if the "overseas charge" has triggered the security system and blocked the transaction. You can request the bank to approve the transaction before making another attempt.

Go ahead and try again:

Join us

Yes! Please contact our member support at hello@interaction-design.org and they will provide all the information you need to do a wire transfer to our account in Denmark.

If you want to take courses just for yourself, then you’ll need an individual/professional membership, not a company membership. Company memberships are only for groups of people within the same company.

You will need approximately 5-8 hours to complete one lesson. Each course has between 3 and 16 lessons.

Once enrolled in a course, you will gain access to a new lesson each week, which you are free to complete without any deadlines and no end date, either.

Absolutely! Among many other perks of being part of our community, IxDF members also get to avail a whopping 90% discount on our monthly Master Classes hosted by UX experts. Aspiring designers use these wonderful resources to stay current in the UX industry. Check out our upcoming and on-demand masterclasses here: https://www.interaction-design.org/master-classes

Furthermore, we’ve partnered with the popular UI/UX design tools to give our Members exclusive discounts and you can learn more about it here: https://www.interaction-design.org/product-partners

Don't worry, we're always happy to help! If you deleted your IxDF membership by mistake and would like to reactivate your account, please send a quick email to hello@interaction-design.org and our Support Team will do their best to sort this out for you.

Many exciting things are coming at the IxDF and this is the perfect time to join our ever-growing UX community. We continuously expanding our course catalog and library of UX resources to support our learners. We also run special promotions/campaigns throughout the year, so keep an eye on our social media channels or send an email to our support team at hello@interaction-design.org to see if there are any special deals/discounts offered at the moment of your visit.

You can change your password by going to Profile > Edit Profile, and scroll to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find a link to change your password. Alternatively, you may simply change your password here.

Congratulations—you graduated! To upgrade to professional membership, click the button "Change membership type" in the tab "Personal billing" of your profile page.

We send you an email with the login link about 3 seconds after you have successfully paid. Can’t find the email in your Inbox?

• Did you sign up with another email address?
• Did you check your Spam folder?
• Use Gmail? Then also check the 'Promotions' tab.

If you still cannot find it, you can always get your account info resent to you by contacting hello@interaction-design.org.

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to add your Interaction Design Foundation course(s) to your LinkedIn profile: 

1. Log in to your LinkedIn account, then go to your profile.

2. Below your profile description, click on the button Add profile section, choose Recommended and then select Add license or certification.

   

3. In the following fields add: 

• Name – Membership Certificate

• Issuing organization – The Interaction Design Foundation

• Check the field "This credential does not expire"

• Issue date - Input the date when you joined our community (e.g., May 2019)

• Credential ID – Your membership ID number (it's written on your certificate)

• Credential URL: Input the certificate URL provided on your profile page

4. Click the Save button.

It is as simple as that. Now, anyone who visits your profile can see your certificate! 

We accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards — both debit cards and credit cards. Depending on which country you live, you should be able to use your debit or credit card using PayPal checkout (even without having a PayPal account). 

Is your card getting declined?

Possible reasons

The IxDF is registered in Denmark, and that could make the transaction appear as an "overseas charge". This could cause your bank's security system to block the transaction.

• Your account is lacking sufficient funds.

• There is a temporary technical problem between your bank and the payment gateway.

Possible ways of fixing it

• Try using another credit card.

• Simply go through the process again but choose PayPal as the payment method. You do NOT have to have or create a Paypal account — you can simply let Paypal process your credit card and that will likely solve the problem.

• Call your bank to check if the "overseas charge" has triggered the security system and blocked the transaction. You can request the bank to approve the transaction before making another attempt.

Go ahead and try again:

Join us

Yes! Please contact our member support at hello@interaction-design.org and they will provide all the information you need to do a wire transfer to our account in Denmark.

1. We're registered in Denmark. Your bank might have blocked your transaction as an overseas charge.
2. Temporary technical problem between your bank and the payment gateway.

1. Check your credit/debit card information is correctly entered, and try again with the same card.
2. Try again with another credit/debit card, or use your credit card through PayPal instead.
3. Call your bank to find out the reason for the decline.

Don't worry if you missed the course. We will re-run it shortly. One of the reasons we continually open and close courses is in order to control the classroom size.

Networking is a large part of our value proposition, so we want just the right number of people inside the courses. That is also why we display the "XX % percent booked" on our course icons.

No. You can set your own study schedule. There are no "live sessions" since we have members from all timezones around the world. We are a truly global community.

Thus, once you are enrolled, you can take all the time to complete a given course. Every "classroom" in each course will never close, so you’ll have permanent access to your classmates and your course material (as well as your own answers).

Yes. You will get a digital industry-recognized course certificate every time you complete a course. Certificates never expire and can be saved as a .jpg file, so it's easy to be shared. Also, there is no limit to how many certificates you can earn during your membership.

You can see an example of a Course Certificate at the bottom of the Course Catalogue.

Don't worry; once you change your name, your certificate will be updated automatically in the next 48 hours.

Sure! We will be marking all your answers for as long as you are an active member.

You will have access to the course materials for the entire duration of your membership. So, if you pay for a one-year membership, you will have access for one year. Renewing your membership for a second year means you will have access to one more year, and so on.

No, you will not be locked out of any lesson or course. You will have access to all course materials throughout your membership, so there is no pressure to keep at the same pace as the specified lesson release dates.

All we recommend is that you try to stick to the same schedule as other participants. The reason is they may have moved on to other lessons, thereby meaning you could miss out on the social aspects of the course(s).

No, you can generate your certificate as soon as you score at least 70% of the total course points.

Course certificates will be given to participants when they have scored more than 70% or more of the total course points. For example, if a course contains ten lessons each with ten questions, you will receive a course certificate when the instructor has awarded you at least 70 points (70% of the total course points).

There is no specified time that certificates will be awarded — instead, they are given to participants as and when they have answered all questions, even if this is long after the official end date.

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to add your Interaction Design Foundation course(s) to your LinkedIn profile: 

1. Log in to your LinkedIn account, then go to your profile.

2. Below your profile description, click on the button Add profile section, choose Recommended and then select Add license or certification.

   

3. In the following fields add: 

• Name – Course name

• Issuing organization – The Interaction Design Foundation

• Check the field “This credential does not expire”

• Issue date - Input the date written on your certificate (e.g., May 2021)

• Credential ID – Your membership ID number (it's written on your certificate)

• Credential URL: Input the certificate URL provided on your course page

4. Click the Save button. 

Congratulate yourself! Earning the certificate is a great accomplishment and now you can share it with the world! 

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to add your Interaction Design Foundation course(s) to your LinkedIn profile: 

1. Log in to your LinkedIn account, then go to your profile.

2. Below your profile description, click on the button Add profile section, choose Recommended and then select Add license or certification.

   

3. In the following fields add: 

• Name – Membership Certificate

• Issuing organization – The Interaction Design Foundation

• Check the field “This credential does not expire”

• Issue date - Input the date when you joined our community (e.g., May 2019)

• Credential ID – Your membership ID number (it's written on your certificate)

• Credential URL: Input the certificate URL provided on your profile page

4. Click the Save button.

It is as simple as that. Now, anyone who visits your profile can see your certificate! 

After you pay for your membership, you can take as many courses as you want with no additional costs. There are no further charges on top of the membership fee.

You will need approximately 5-8 hours to complete one lesson. Each course has between 3 and 16 lessons.

Once enrolled in a course, you will gain access to a new lesson each week, which you are free to complete without any deadlines and no end date, either.

Yes! Everyone's learning journey looks different, and we'd never stop our members from trying again. To retake a course, just follow these steps:

1. Go to your profile and click on the relevant course you'd like to retake.

2. Underneath your progress bar, you'll see a phrase "UX Courses" with an arrow (>) pointing to a clickable landing page of that course. Click on that link.

3. Once on the landing page, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a red button, which you can simply click to drop the course.

4. Head back to our main list of UX Courses, and re-enroll yourself in the course. You'll all set to try again!

Please note that when you drop a course, you will lose any answers and progress you submitted. We advise that you screenshot or save any answers you'd like to reuse.

In some cases, we can open up lessons for members who are retaking a course, so that they don't have to wait for familiar lessons to unlock each week. If you'd like us to do this for you, please get in touch with our support team at hello@interaction-design.org, and we can help you out.

After you pay for your membership, you can take as many courses as you want with no additional costs. There are no further charges on top of the membership fee.

Start Learning

1. Get approval from your manager (e.g., using the email template below).
2. Pay with your credit card (either your own or your corporate credit card).
3. Your invoice will be ready instantly — and we can modify it to meet your manager's requirements.
4. Our 14-day money-back guarantee protects you and your manager.

1. I can enroll in all the IxDF’s self-paced, online courses (in my spare time), which will help me complete current projects with better results.
2. I can network with peers from all over the world and find out how others have addressed issues we are currently facing.
3. I will be able to continuously educate myself on UX topics through the IxDF's courses and eBooks. 
4. Because of the breadth of educational materials, I will learn how to solve specific design problems.
5. I want to offer to share the key takeaways from the courses with my team.

Don't worry if you missed the course. We will re-run it shortly. One of the reasons we continually open and close courses is in order to control the classroom size.

Networking is a large part of our value proposition, so we want just the right number of people inside the courses. That is also why we display the "XX % percent booked" on our course icons.

Absolutely! The IxDF is founded on principles of open content, and you are more than welcome to use our data. For us, it's a matter of making research accessible.

Just remember to place a link to our site — that's our only condition.

Take a Screenshot — with a PC

• Use the PRT SCR or PRT SC button to capture the screenshot.
• Open Paint (or in early versions of Windows MS Paint).
• Click CTRL + V to paste the screenshot into Paint.
• Save the screenshot in Paint.

Note: You can use any art package on your PC instead of Paint if you wish. We have chosen Paint because it comes as a standard part of the operating system.

Take a Screenshot — with a Mac

• Press Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot.
• The screenshot is saved on the desktop as a .PNG file.

Use the Snipping Tool — on a PC

• Search for ‘Snipping Tool’ inside your computer.
• Press ‘New’ (see screenshot below).
• Your screen will freeze and you’ll be able to select the area that you want to create an image from.
• Once you've selected the image, select File > Save As to save what you’ve captured as an image.

1. Click the Insert Image button on the header row of the discussion comment box.
   
2. Either drag the file to the Insert Image box or click "Choose File" and select the file from your local drive.
   
   

While the Master Class webinars aren’t free, they are open to both members and non-members of Interaction Design Foundation. While non-members pay $50 per webinar, members pay only $5. We charge this nominal fee to cover a few costs associated with producing the webinars, including:

• The cost of using Zoom as our webinar partner. Zoom is one of the most reliable webinar hosting platforms, but it’s also one of the most expensive. We chose quality over affordability to bring you a better viewing experience, and the nominal fee we charge helps us cover these costs, without making the webinars expensive.

• Along with the cost of Zoom, we also cover webinar costs associated with servers, payment gateways and code maintenance. In fact, 40 cents off every dollar in a transaction goes towards just the payment gateway alone!

Charging this small fee goes a long way in helping us cover these costs and enables us to continue to bring you high-quality content with the best experts.

No, there's no limit! Feel free to invite as many friends/colleagues/acquaintances as you’d like via our Refer-a-friend scheme.

We've decided to put the IxDF Bootcamps on hold in order to turn our focus toward our core platform.

Our annual Memberships and Master Classes are the beating heart of our community, and tens of thousands of our existing members have reached their learning and professional goals via our platform. But we wanted to push the envelope to help even more people. And that's exactly what we'll be doing.

Everyone at the IxDF is fully committed to supporting our flourishing community and helping your design career reach new heights. That's why we've decided to invest in our best, most accessible, most democratic products: so we can create a design community that includes everyone.

And we hope you’ll join, too. It’s going to be a fantastic ride.

If you still have questions, don't hesitate to reach out us at hello@interaction-design.org.

No, there's no limit! As long as you keep sharing your unique referral URL, and people from your network keep using it to join our community, you'll earn a commission on each successful referral.

Our free cancellation period is 14 days from the date a person signs up for a membership. Therefore, if someone cancels their membership within 14 days of signing up, you will forfeit the referral commission you earned from that person. However, if the person cancels their membership beyond 14 days since signing up, you'll still get to keep your referral commission!

You can pay via Credit Card, PayPal, or — upon request, Wire Transfer. Google Pay and Apple Pay are also available in certain locations. 

And self-evidently:

• Once you have paid the annual membership, there are no hidden charges/fees, no up-selling, cross-selling, or the like.
• You do not have a limited cancellation period and can thus walk away at any point.

No problem at all. Even after setting up your Company Membership, you can assign a new account administrator(s), and add new members whenever you want — If you send an email to hello@interaction-design.org we will walk you through it all.

For Company Memberships, the unique dashboard provides the assigned administrators with an overview of the progress of all enrolled employees, including:

• total number of seats used

• total accumulated learning hours

• total course enrollments and completions

• total of how many members have enrolled in local groups

Additionally, the built-in leaderboard shows the rankings within your team or enterprise on:

• total learning hours

• total course points

• total course completions

For a more in-depth view of a member’s progress, a detailed dashboard allows administrators to see per-member learning hours on a weekly basis and in total. The advanced dashboard also details course enrollments and completions.

The account administrators can additionally check the compliance of members and their activity level through course certificates and distinctions.

For each course that a member of your account completes, we list the relevant course certificates on their public profile page. Courses they are in the process of completing are displayed under a section titled "Courses this member is taking".

Furthermore, If a member of your account has achieved a particularly good result on a course, the course certificate will include a distinction—e.g. "Top 10% course taker." Distinctions are also awarded for being highly active – eg. “Top discussion contributor” is awarded to those who use forums to seek advice and stimulate conversations.

Account Administrators cannot read the individual course answers submitted by an employee, or see their day-to-day progress in a given course, but the result of their activities, i.e. course certificates and distinctions, is always visible on the dashboards.

Conclusion:

The features above make it possible for administrators of Company Memberships to see:

• how many courses an employee is taking

• how many hours an employee has spent learning

• how many courses an employee has finished

• which courses an employee is taking

• if an employee has finished a course in the top of his/her class (i.e. a distinction on the course certificate)

• if an employee has earned other distinctions, e.g., when being proactive in the discussions on the Interaction Design Foundation platform

To get the best benefit from a Company Membership, you should sign up at least 5 colleagues. However, the minimum number of people for a Company Membership is 2.

If multiple colleagues have existing individual memberships within our community, we can easily merge these accounts into a Company Membership – just reach out to us at hello@interaction-design.org to set this up for you.

As soon as your Company Membership is set up, you can assign Account Administrators, who can use the comprehensive dashboard to:

• Add more colleagues to the Membership
• Promote any enrolled colleagues to Administrator level
• Remove colleagues from the Membership if they leave your enterprise or switch roles within teams
• Manage all billing activities — e.g., add or delete a payment method

Furthermore, you can send us an email at hello@interaction-design.org and we will help you with any aspect of your account.

During training at the Interaction Design Foundation, we design courses that encourage you and your colleagues to complete exercises within the context of your current work, rather than relying on ‘textbook examples’. This way, our training material constantly pushes members to apply new-found knowledge to daily business challenges. 

Every Company Account is entitled to priority support where you can ask for help with any aspect of your account. You may contact support to get help in developing training plans for everyone in your membership, assist you with billing and membership inquiries and offer helpful suggestions to maximize the benefit from your membership.

Sure, we will provide you with many resources to keep all enrolled members motivated and on track with their respective agendas. Your Account Administrator will also be able to see the progress made by every employee enrolled, so you'll never be left wondering how much your account is being used.

As much time as you need. After you and your colleagues enroll in a course, a new chapter is released every week, but there are no deadlines or course end dates, so you can complete any course at your own pace. Your courses won’t get in the way of your busy schedule, and vice versa.

If you are an Administrator of a Company Membership, you can promote (or demote, add or remove) other members of the account. Regular members of a Company Account cannot perform these tasks.

As an Administrator, that member will be able to perform the same administrative tasks as you—for example, promote, demote, add or remove other members of the Company Membership.

After you demote a member, they will become a regular member of your Company Membership. That member will no longer be able to perform administrative tasks.

We will send a polite email to inform the person about the change of status.

For Company Memberships, the unique dashboard provides the assigned administrators with an overview of the progress of all enrolled employees, including:

• total number of seats used

• total accumulated learning hours

• total course enrollments and completions

• total of how many members have enrolled in local groups

Additionally, the built-in leaderboard shows the rankings within your team or enterprise on:

• total learning hours

• total course points

• total course completions

For a more in-depth view of a member’s progress, a detailed dashboard allows administrators to see per-member learning hours on a weekly basis and in total. The advanced dashboard also details course enrollments and completions.

The account administrators can additionally check the compliance of members and their activity level through course certificates and distinctions.

For each course that a member of your account completes, we list the relevant course certificates on their public profile page. Courses they are in the process of completing are displayed under a section titled "Courses this member is taking".

Furthermore, If a member of your account has achieved a particularly good result on a course, the course certificate will include a distinction—e.g. "Top 10% course taker." Distinctions are also awarded for being highly active – eg. “Top discussion contributor” is awarded to those who use forums to seek advice and stimulate conversations.

Account Administrators cannot read the individual course answers submitted by an employee, or see their day-to-day progress in a given course, but the result of their activities, i.e. course certificates and distinctions, is always visible on the dashboards.

Conclusion:

The features above make it possible for administrators of Company Memberships to see:

• how many courses an employee is taking

• how many hours an employee has spent learning

• how many courses an employee has finished

• which courses an employee is taking

• if an employee has finished a course in the top of his/her class (i.e. a distinction on the course certificate)

• if an employee has earned other distinctions, e.g., when being proactive in the discussions on the Interaction Design Foundation platform

The major difference is that with the Design League you will have a personal coach. Your coach will help you:

• Set your learning objectives so that you would gain more value over a shorter period of time.

• Boost your career by building a solid professional portfolio and reaching out to the right audience.

• Like the Student and Professional memberships, the Design League also gives you unlimited access to all our courses and textbooks.

Some of the reasons to work with a coach are:

• Something urgent, compelling or exciting is at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity)
• A gap exists in current knowledge, skills, confidence or resources
• A desire to accelerate results
• A lack of clarity with the choices that need to be made
• Success has started to become problematic
• Work is out of balance, creating unwanted consequences
• Core strengths need to be identified, along with how best to leverage them

• Discover, clarify, and align with what you want to achieve
• Encourage your self-discovery
• Elicit your own generation of solutions and strategies
• Hold you responsible and accountable, for both your achievements and areas requiring improvement

• Study their profiles. Check their areas of specialization, native language, time zone, and availability. Choose those who seem to fit well with your preferences and life schedule.
• Look for stylistic similarities and differences between yourself and the coach, and how these might support your growth as an individual or the growth of your team, for example.
• Discuss your goals for coaching within the context of the coach's specialism or the coach's preferred way of working with an individual or team.

• Open your profile by clicking the “Profile” link on the Interaction Design Foundation navigation bar.
• Click the “Interaction Design Foundation Design League Control Panel” link at the top of your profile page.
• On the Interaction Design Foundation Design League Control Panel, scroll down to the “Choose Your Activities" section.
• Explore available activities and courses to get an idea of what you could do. Take note of those that might be of interest to you.
• Talk to your coach to discuss your goals and the upcoming actions that you are plan to take in order to achieve them.
• Open each activity that you have decided to perform, and then click “Save to my activities” button.

• Training courses and self-study materials that you might benefit from
• Certification targets and requirements
• Preparation of articles and conference talks
• Project and professional activities personally recommended for you
• Targeting specific job positions or employers and meeting corresponding requirements
• Positioning and pitching yourself as a professional within the industry

Technically, we do not limit the number of times you can change your coach. However, if you want to change to a second coach within a single month, we highly recommend contacting us before doing so. This may mean that you are having difficulty selecting a coach that meets your specific needs. In this case, you might benefit from our advice.

• Read literature on coaching – see our recommended reading list;
• Learn from other Interaction Design Foundation coaches – e.g., through meetings or online discussions;
• Learn from international professional communities – for example, groups on LinkedIn or Facebook

There is no limit to how many students you can handle at the same time. It may depend on multiple factors, such as

• how much spare time you have every day?

• how flexible is your schedule so that you can adapt to your students' needs (e.g., for Skype meetings)?

• how many career stories do you think you can remember without mixing them up?

When the number of students approaches your limit, you can prevent new students from coming to you by switching off your visibility as an available coach on the Coaching Control Panel.

• WHAT you are going to discuss with your student. Time is limited, so make sure you have a clear agenda
• WHY it is important to discuss THIS subject rather than something else
• HOW you are going to contact (Skype, chat, phone call)

• Start your meetings exactly as scheduled. Do not allow yourself longer than a one-minute delay.
• Set a clear agenda for each session together with your client, keep coaching sessions short and focused.
• Ensure a good internet connection speed. Breaking voice, stuck videos and loading pauses are very disappointing and time-consuming.
• Keep your information organized in such a way that it never gets lost, and you can quickly find and access it. We recommend using the private chat on the Design League Control panel.
• Keep track of your coaching activities and work hours as explained in the answer to “How I should document my coaching work?”. You may extend or format your tracking worksheet upon your convenience, but make sure that it at least captures all the data elements present in the template.
• Record your coaching sessions upon permission of your client. This is not necessary, of course, but later you may benefit from these recordings in many ways. For recording Skype sessions, you can choose appropriate software from this list: https://support.skype.com/EN/faq/FA12395/how-can-i-record-my-skype-calls. If you want to record the session, you must always inform the person that the session will be recorded and have his/her agreement explicitly confirmed.

You will be paid for 2 hours of coaching (including the actual meetings, preparation and emailing with your coaching client). Your personal rate is a subject of negotiation based on your level of expertise and other factors. Payments will be made upon your billing report at the beginning of each month following the month of service.

To simplify things, we suggest using the same format for both keeping record of your work and reporting it. Use a simple tabular format in Excel spreadsheet

• Date
• Student name
• Start time
• End time
• Total time (minutes)
• Billable time (hours)
• Brief description of the activity or the subject(s) of discussion

While you report on your coaching work once a month, we highly recommend recording your activities every day. Usually, it takes no more than 15 minutes, but ensures that you do not forget what you did during the day. If you did not have time to record your activities at the end of the day, start the next day with it.

The decision on whether to record or not each coaching session is totally up to you and the student. It is not a requirement. However, keeping and analyzing such recordings may have many benefits. For example, you can use them to improve your coaching practice, cite in your publications, or to prepare your conference talks. In addition, you will have to have a particular amount of recorded and transcribed coaching session time if will you decide to proceed with certification as a professional coach.

Your billable time is, essentially, the one that is confirmed by your coaching student. Usually, it is a time you spend directly communicating – either on a video conference or in a message chat. If your coaching includes the substantial exchange of e-mails, you can also report the time that you spend composing and reading those e-mails.

The coaching time does not include the time that you spend on keeping your records and the time that you spend, for example, on conducting information research that may apply to other students. It also does not include the time that you spend composing some e-mails, such as the welcome e-mail and the e-mails requesting general information. To make efficient use of your time, we recommend you assemble a collection of e-mail templates, which you can reuse for multiple students.

• Starting date of the period of service – usually, the beginning of the month, unless you started later in that month
• Ending date of the period of service – usually, the last day of the month, unless your service has ended earlier
• Student name – exactly as specified on the student’s Interaction Design Foundation profile
• Spent hours – total amount of time spent on this student, including introductory interviews, planning and preparation time
• Billable hours – net billable time spent on coaching the student
• Comment – brief description of activities and subjects of discussion, as well as any other important information about your service to this student

While this is not an exhaustive list, you might be interested in reading the following.

• Coaching Questions: A Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking by Tony Stoltzfus; Coach 22 Bookstore LLC (December 8, 2013)

This book is great for coaches just starting out or for those that would like an abundance of questions. The questions are organized into specific areas of interest or niches. They are very thought provoking and we recommend that you answer the questions yourself. This way you will have a sense of what your clients will experience.

• 50 Top Tools for Coaching: A Complete Toolkit for Developing and Empowering People by Gillian Jones and Ro Gorell; Kogan Page, Second Edition (September 15, 2012)

This book serves as a great reference on professional coaching tools. It gives clarity on what processes to use when, how to use them and the types of questions to ask.

• Coaching for Breakthrough Success: Proven Techniques for Making Impossible Dreams Possible by Jack Canfield and Peter Chee; McGraw-Hill Education, 1 edition (October 19, 2012)

Written by Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach and Best Selling Author with 500 million copies sold of his book series Chicken Soup for the Soul. The book is divided into 3 parts. Part 1 covers the heart of coaching in 30 principles that explain the role and benefits of coaching. Part 2 explains situational coaching model (SCM) that covers 6 paradigms for success: goals, exploration, analysis, releasing, decision, and action. Part 3 offers many techniques for achieving benefits and overcoming barriers. You can use these techniques with a client or as a self-coaching tool if you need ways to build self-esteem or to get yourself motivated towards making action plans and finally achieving goals.

• The Completely Revised Handbook of Coaching: A Developmental Approach by Pamela McLean (Author); Jossey-Bass, 2 edition (July 23, 2012)

This compendium gives a comprehensive overview of the coaching process. It acknowledges that coaching requires a methodology to allow the coach and client to stay oriented in what can be a complicated human interaction between coach and client. Pamela McLean captures the best current thinking on what makes coaching effective, how change occurs, and the necessary skillsto become a masterful coach.

• Discussing Design: Improving Communication and Collaboration through Critique by Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry; O'Reilly Media, 1 edition (June 17, 2015)

Since you are coaching design professionals, it is important to understand how to use critique to help them strengthen their designs, products, and services. In this practical guide, authors Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry teach you techniques, tools, and a framework for helping designers to give and receive constructive critique. This book examines the good, the bad, and the ugly of feedback, and suggests strategies for dealing with difficult people and challenging situations.

• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapyby David D. Burns M.D.; Harper Reprint edition (November 20, 2012)

This book has become a classic on cognitive therapy of depressions. Even though your coaching is not supposed to be a therapy, it will give you a rock-solid approach to overcoming limiting beliefs and emotional blocks of your coaching clients.

Congratulations! You have taken the first step to meet up with other local designers who are just as passionate about design as you are. Get ready to become inspired, discuss, learn, and meet your next employer, employee, client or friend.

If there is already a meet-up scheduled, you will be able to find it in your Local Group's calendar. If not, do not feel discouraged. You can create your very own meet-up and invite people from your Local Group to attend! Simply go to your Local Group's page, scroll down and click the blue "Create a meet-up to meet other designers" button. You'll then be able to set up an "Online hangout", a small "Cozy meet-up" or a "Large meet-up" — whichever suits you best. When any new events are scheduled in your Local Group, you will always receive an email.

• A Continent Manager should appoint Country Managers for each country in their continent. It is up to the Continent Manager to select the most appropriate person to be a Country Manager.
• A Continent Manager must continually make sure that each Country Manager in his/her continent is doing their best to keep the activity level of each country as high as possible. In the event that a country's activity level is dropping, the Continent Manager should make sure that the Country Manager is doing a reasonable effort to restore a high activity level through the motivation of each Local Leader in that country. If the Continent Manager feels this isn’t being done, he/she should appoint a new Country Manager.
• The Continent Manager should collate and filter feedback from Country Managers. That way, the Continent Managers can work closely with Interaction Design Foundation developers on improving everything from the local group management system and email notifications to the step-by-step-guides (and anything else that comes up!). Our goal is to continually minimize the amount of work needed from both Continent Managers, Country Managers and Local Leaders — i.e. we want you to "work smarter, not harder".
• Update and refine the 'Local Leader FAQ' (listed at the very bottom of this page) to make sure that the most frequently asked questions are answered. This is in addition to providing time-saving step-by-step guides for Local Leaders to support them in their work.
• A Skype call with Mads whenever there is a need for it
• Overall, a Continent's key performance indicators are: 
  • Activity level (benchmarked against the other continents)
  • Member satisfaction with events and online interaction with other local group members (this measure is yet to be defined)

• Schedule meet-ups for your Local Group. Local Group meet-ups are free, and can be attended by both Interaction Design Foundation members and non-members.
• If a Local Group member decides to create a Local Group meet-up, you can provide assistance to the member so that the meet-up runs as smoothly as possible.
• Set up and maintain a Facebook and LinkedIn group for your Local Group. This allows Local Group members to stay in touch and also facilitates the creation of meet-ups.
• Once a month, link up with your Country Manager(s), who are your first point of contact. You can do so by simply dropping them an email with brief updates on what the Local Group has been up to.

• To create a Local Group, write to mads.soegaard@interaction-design.org with the name of the city you want to create Group in—it might be good to check our Community section first to make sure your city doesn't already have a Local Group.
• If you come on board as the Local Leader of your new Group, we will tell you how to invite a few of the other Interaction Design Foundation members from your area to join your Local Group.
• As soon as you have just a few members in your Local Group, you can spread the responsibility of the Local Group by promoting one or two of the other members to Local Leaders. That way, there will be a few other Local Leaders to take over for you when you are experiencing a busy period.
• You will also have help from the Country and Continent Manager in your region.
• In conclusion: You simply have to start a Local Group today! :-)

• Connect with your Country Manager whose name you will find on your new Local Group page. If there is currently no country manager for your country, please connect with the Continent Manager so that he/she can appoint one.
• Read the 'Local Leader FAQ' thoroughly.
• Then spend 3 minutes setting up a Facebook group. We have a step-by-step guide on how to do this if you would like some help with the task.
• Join the Interaction Design Foundation Community Discussion Group. There you can share ideas, experiences and knowledge with other Local Leaders and regular members, with the goal of better serving your local group members, and ensuring success for your Local Group. What worked? What didn't? What do you plan to try next time? Feel free to share, or ask for, as much information as you’d like.
• After that, you are ready to schedule the first Local Group meet-up. Please schedule it one month ahead of time — even if there are zero members in your group. Your group will attract attention and gain members as soon as people can see that there is a meet-up to attend. Without a meet-up, things will go much slower… so it’s a good idea to get this in the calendar ASAP.
• Don't be nervous about whether enough people will show up. If you aim for a very small crowd of 4 people, you can only get positively surprised. Simply choose your favorite cafe, restaurant, or a meeting room in your company office as the location for the first meeting. Plan to take along one of your own friends or a colleague for support — Local Group meet-ups aren’t only for Interaction Design Foundation members, after all; non-members are also welcome — the more, the better! :-)
• After you have scheduled the first event you can start to invite people and reach out through your own network. When inviting people, you can remind them that it is free to attend and that they do not have to be members of the Interaction Design Foundation to show up — everyone is welcome! Remember to share the link to your Facebook Group amongst your friends. You will almost immediately see that there is a strong interest in your Local Group initiative.
• Every time you schedule a meeting, Rikke, the Interaction Design Foundation Social Media Community Manager (rikke.friis.dam@interaction-design.org) will be automatically notified. Rikke can make geo-targeted posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., with news about your Local Group and your event.

• Meet and greet: Who are the other group members?
• Why are you interested in interaction design/user experience?
• What is your job and what are your current challenges?
• How can we help each other out with these challenges?
• What do you hope to get out of this Local Group?
• How can we help each other in strengthening the local community of UX/IXD designers?
• What are the next steps; what should our next meet-up be about?

• Make a fun and relaxed professional networking session over coffee: Meet other design professionals, be inspired by the various ways interaction design is being done in your local area, get to know your future boss/employee/client/friend, and meet up with people who are just as passionate about design as you are.
• Invite professional talks by local designers where they can share their experiences. Lots of people have ready-made talks on different subjects: Just invite them to give their talk at your meeting and they will thank you. It will be great for their career.
• Discuss the local need for Interaction Design and User Experience in your city/country.
• Discuss how you can help each other — for example, if you all use your Local Group to make the local community of UX and Design Professionals more visible, more companies in your area will understand the value of UX and Design and thus invest in it.
• Discuss a specific topic or design issue which you find interesting — for example, the Psychology of Online Shopping.
• Make a study group where you follow and discuss a specific online course/topic.
• Make a book club where you read and discuss one book at a time.

Remember not to put too much pressure on yourself. You are already a first-mover in your city, and we strongly recommend that you simply pick a date approximately one month from now at your favorite local café or at your workplace if your employer likes the idea. In our experience, employers almost always support and encourage these initiatives.

• Please use this title: Interaction Design Foundation — [your city]
• For instance, you can check out Interaction Design Foundation — Bangalore
• Make good use of social media. For example, ask people in your area to “like”/join your Facebook group, and make sure you monitor interest and maintain such interest.
• Schedule and announce meetings on e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn (ask your Country Manager), Twitter, Blogs, etc., and ask people to further share the news on their own Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. pages further.
• You should use the Interaction Design Foundation logo and artwork, which you can find below this FAQ.
• You can even ask the venue to promote the event with Interaction Design Foundation posters and posts on their own social media channels. This will benefit them also by increasing, and widening, their content and engagement.

Yes, absolutely! You can ask others to help you and possibly rotate the responsibility of organizing the meet-ups. By promoting other members to become Local Leaders, you'll find that they will add their energy and all of a sudden you will have an enormously active Local Group.

You can promote a regular member and make him/her a Local Leader simply by clicking this button in the member list of your Local Group:

Other members will not be able to make a Local Group in your city when you have already made a group there. Instead we encourage other members to make contact with you and we encourage you to promote such designers to Local Leaders if they are interested. That way, you can grow the Local Group together to the benefit of all members. However, the decision regarding leadership of the Local Group is completely yours.

We are so sorry to hear that you wish to step down as Local Leader. However, we all get too busy at times in our lives, so we perfectly understand your situation.

Here is what you do: First, if you are the only Local Leader of your group, you need to find someone who can take over the responsibility and privilege of being Local Leader. You should look through the profiles of the people in your Local Group and decide who would be the best choice for continuing your great work. Connect with that person and ask if he/she is up for the challenge and the privilege. Once he/she accepts, you can then find that person in the member list of your Local Group and simply press the 'Promote to Local Leader' button:

You are then ready to step down as Local Leader. Go to your Local Group page, find your member card in the member list, and click the "Demote to regular member" button on your card.

• Schedule meet-ups for your Local Group. Local Group meet-ups are free, and can be attended by both Interaction Design Foundation members and non-members.
• If a Local Group member decides to create a Local Group meet-up, you can provide assistance to the member so that the meet-up runs as smoothly as possible.
• Set up and maintain a Facebook and LinkedIn group for your Local Group. This allows Local Group members to stay in touch and also facilitates the creation of meet-ups.
• Once a month, link up with your Country Manager(s), who are your first point of contact. You can do so by simply dropping them an email with brief updates on what the Local Group has been up to.

• Online: Join the online community in your city and network via online discussion boards.
• Local meetings: We recommend that you participate in the Local Group meetings in your area. They are usually very fun and highly inspirational, and they will help you create an even stronger local career network — whether you are looking for new job opportunities, new clients for your company, or a great new dedicated employee.

It depends on the individual group and the energy level of the Local Leaders. Some examples are:

• Fun and relaxed professional networking over coffee: Meet professionals in other industries, be inspired by the various ways interaction design is being used and implemented in your local area, get to know your next boss/employee/client/friend, and meet up with people who are just as passionate about design as you are.
• Professional talks by local designers sharing their experiences.
• Discussing the local need for, and adoption of, interaction design and user experience in your city/country.
• Discussing a specific topic or design issue which is relevant in your city/country.
• A study group where you all follow and discuss a specific online course/topic.
• A book club where you read and discuss books.