Designing for Usability and Human Perception

Description

Course description

This course examines the psychology and scientific studies into human behaviour to explain why we make decisions that are often irrational, but consistently so. It also explains how these studies have shaped popular usability principles and how to apply them when designing or reviewing interfaces.

It’s not all theory though, the course is full of practical examples of where these principles have been applied well, and not so well. You’ll also get the chance to put what you’ve learned into practice by evaluating some designs and identifying how to improve their usability.

“I enjoyed learning more about how the mind works in relation to how people make decisions. I felt positive about what I do at work and got a lot out of the day. I could see designers, marketers and UX-type people benefitting from taking this course.“

Charlotte Green
User Experience Consultant, Nationwide

Is it for you?

If you are involved in any aspect of interface design, whether it’s researching best practices and current experiences, or designing new solutions, this course will help you understand how to make your products usable. If you don’t have a formal background in psychology, but you’re interested in human behaviour, this course is for you. 

The people we see taking this course are Researchers, Product Owners, Designers, User Experience Managers, Content Providers and other creatives.

What you will learn

Topics covered in the course include:

• An introduction to usability, user experience and design
• Visual pathways and their impact on what you see
• Reading patterns and how to structure clear and concise copy
• Designing to remove distractions and reduce cognitive load
• How working memory can be improved by chunking information
• How heuristics and cognitive biases can influence your decision-making
• Applying the principles of design to improve usability and experiences

Necessary for remote learning

• Access to Zoom