How is Interaction Design Foundation helping hone UX skills and cultivate a designer mindset?
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My IxDF Review.
In the world of tomorrow, the question is not if or why design matters, but how we might learn more about it. As I’ve embarked on a journey to hone my product management skills the Interaction Design Foundation and its UX courses have been among the most valuable assets out there.
In this article, I’ve shared what I’ve learned from some of the IxDF courses on the role of emotions and psychology in interaction design, and here I’ll highlight how IxDF is designed to help you understand design.
What is IxDF?
Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF) is “the world’s leading online design school”. Founded in 2002, run not for profit, with over 100k graduates and top industry experts behind it.
The Courses
IxDF offers over 30 UX courses ranging from beginner to advanced. Some of my favorites are:
- Psychology of E-Commerce: How to Sell Online,
- Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation,
- Emotional Design — How to Make Products People Will Love
- Information Visualization: Getting Dashboards Right
If you don’t know where to start, you can start with a learning path that feels closest. I’ve chosen the Product Manager one.
All courses are self-paced, which helps you fit them into your schedule. At the same time, they do require effort. Completing a course meant a commitment of 2 hours per week for 4–8 weeks in my case. Taking shortcuts not only is not recommended but also difficult. You can’t just listen to them while multitasking, because:
- Content is designed for reading, not skimming or watching as mostly in text with the occasional video. But when the video is there it’s to enrich the text material, not to replace it. I especially enjoyed those from Alan Dix in the Emotional Design class.
- Each module ends with a quiz to test what you’ve learned.
On top of the quizzes, each course module has at least one open-ended question to be answered in short paragraphs or mini-essays. I especially enjoyed these because:
- a) answers are graded by experts, typically within a couple of weeks, sometimes with feedback, but not always which definitely has to do with a huge amount of student work.
- b) open-ended questions were the best way to solidify the knowledge from the class
Certificates
Each time you answer questions correctly, you earn points. Earning at least 70% of the points grants you a course certificate. If you score 90% of the available points you get a Top 10% distinction, and if you score all the points possible you receive a “Best In Class” distinction — something I’ve managed to accomplish
One more thing — the community
Forums although optional are a super feature of each class. They offer an incredible way to see other perspectives and get out of the box, as well as have meaningful conversations on the subject.
Open-Source, Open-Access Literature
IxDF literature is a great companion if you like learning in small bites thanks to UX design articles. You can browse them by topic or as of one of the 5 open-source books that IxDF has published.
Helping you practice with tools and templates
Knowledge is one thing, but the practice is where the magic happens. It’s our responsibility to reflect and use what we’ve learned in the day-to-day, but IxDF is making it easier with tools and templates available — either as part of the course or as special bundles with great member discounts. I do keep several handy for reference.
Online Events — Masterclass Webinars
If you decide to become a member you can also enjoy a benefit UX Master Classes (live and on-demand webinars by design leaders) for just $1–3. They last around an hour, so will not replace a full course, but work well to organize thoughts, get an idea, or gain clarity thanks to Q&A. I’ve enjoyed 21st Century Design with Don Norman for inspiration or How (and When) To Run A Design Sprint with John Zeratsky when pondering on practice.
Summary
If you’re a professional dealing with any user-facing applications, either external and internal learning UX and Interaction Design should be on top of your list. If you are a curious consumer who wants to be more aware of how our brains function when interacting with products and services, knowing more about UX and Interaction Design should be on top of your list. Regardless of the case, Interaction Design Foundation is the place to consider for learning more in the VUCA world. IxDF is a great place to start your adventure with UX and Design, move towards mastery. It’s an incredible value for money given the quality. Plus, when signing up you can use this invite and get 2 months extra.
Just get started, be inspired, practice, reflect, shape it.
