Usability Course

02:05

Course intro

What will you find in this course
10:16

What is usability?

Understanding usability of interfaces
12:21

10 usability heuristics I

The 10 amendments for designers
10:06

10 usability heuristics II

The 10 amendments for designers
11:29

Gestalt principles

How do people tend to perceive objects?
12:32

Affordances and signifiers

Making interaction visible
13:23

Simplicity and focus

Don't make the user think
14:58

Understanding your users

Who will use the interface you design?
16:05

The usability of navigation

Wayfinding in the web
11:21

Search experience

Searching and displaying results
09:49

Microcopy

Tiny elements that make all the difference
10:22

Errors and dead ends

How not to annoy your users
16:10

Web form design

Making forms less of a hassle
08:34

Accessibility

Providing a good experience for all users
10:02

Animation in interface design

How can animation improve usability?
05:11

Expertise limits

Is it possible to design perfect interfaces?
07:59

Evaluating usability

Heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthrough
16:04

Usability testing

Learn how to test usability
10:54

Web analytics

Utilising web analytics for usability
01:00

Summary

Summing up

As a designer, no matter whether you’re working on UX or UI, you should always aim to design for the highest possible usability. It is something that all of your clients or team members will expect from every interface you design. A usable interface is easy to use, intuitive and does not require the users to think too much when using them. Knowledge of basic ergonomics and cognitive psychology is something that every designer should master and this course will help you start that journey, through learning:

What usability means in digital interfaces
The basics of cognitive psychology
Why understanding your users is crucial for your interface's success
Why it's important to avoid errors and overloading your users
The basic aspects of usable navigation, search, form or animation
How to check if what you designed is usable

Michal Mazur - "UX Design is my true passion and I am very fortunate to have found it so early in life. I enjoy working about projects case by case, investigating and then searching for solutions. Through my skills in user research, UX architecture and designing highly usable interfaces, I have helped many companies build real business value through good design. ‘Empathy’ and ‘user-centered design’ are the terms that make me tick above anything else! I also love sharing my knowledge with the industry through giving conference talks, conducting training sessions, creating online courses and mentoring."

Find me on Twitter and Medium: @mazi_mazur

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Why don’t you subscribe and get full access throughout the site?

This course will be a great starting point for learning about usability and user experience. If you are already working as a visual designer, this resource will be a great help and can encourage a bit broader thinking in your next projects. If you’re already working in UX Designer per se, you will probably be familiar with many of these terms and rules, however it might be good to explore the content to discover some examples of usable and unusable features or products. The course will also help anybody who is managing or recruiting for design teams in understanding what usability is and what is the extent of knowledge a person can have in terms of designing usable interfaces.

Principles of usability

Learn what are the core components and principles of usability, through reviewing numerous real-life examples I prepared for you. Understanding these rules of thumb devised by the pioneers of the industry will help you analyse interfaces and look for aspects that could be refined to achieve a better usability. It will be a great starting point for learning about all aspects of usability.

The building blocks of interfaces

There are certain ground rules of usability in digital interface design and it’s important to understand what makes in interface simple and focused, as well as how to make basic decisions to avoid distressing your users. We will cover best practice in usability for common elements such as navigation, search, microcopy, forms or errors.

Validating the usability of your solutions

Creating an interface that seems usable to yourself is relatively easy. Problems often appear when other people try to understand it or when you “let it soak” for a couple of days and review it from the perspective of usability. Over a couple of lessons we will also explore how to validate interfaces for usability with the use of expert reviews, usability testing and analytics.

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