How to Create Intuitive Products by Imitating Physicality
How this course will help your career
What you will learn
- What physicality is and how it affects whether a design is intuitive to use
- How to design with physicality in mind
- What is regarded as “physical” in time and space
- How to model devices for natural interactions through physigrams
- How to use feedback loops to examine and improve your designs
The iPhone, iPad, and other successful Apple products are good examples of how digital and physical design can be woven together, namely through taking something complex and making it intuitive. Not only can users transfer the knowledge they have gained from past experiences between products, but they also can do the same with the contexts in which those products are used1. This creates a need for designers to incorporate intuition into their creations; a great user experience—and ensuing product success—is more and more often the result of a perfectly designed combination of digital and physical dimensions.
This trend can be seen in all types of consumer products from toys to washing machines, which are increasingly becoming both digital and physical. Terms such as “the internet of things” and “smart cities,” as well as technologies such as wearables and self-driven cars, are examples of how the physical-digital divide is getting smaller. The interface and overall experience design of your product can follow the same approach, with your product able to meet users’ needs through intuition and exploration.
The obvious question for a designer is how to design for this ever-growing market and avoid its pitfalls in the process. You cannot, for example, claim a product is intuitive when it’s not—you will lose people’s trust ahead of your next release. In this course, you will learn how to overcome this by making the use of your product “feel right”; better still, you will learn how to incorporate existing knowledge within your designs, thereby making your product intuitive.
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 an advanced-level course recommended for anyone involved in the product design and development process:
- UX, UI, and web designers who want to create designs that are intuitive for users
- Project managers interested in ensuring that the product development process is run with physicality in mind
- Software engineers looking to expand their knowledge on applying physicality and making products intuitive
- Entrepreneurs keen on understanding what makes products “just work,” and how to replicate that in their own products
- 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.
1 Alethea Blackler, Vesna Popovic & Doug Mahar, Designing for Intuitive Use of Products: An Investigation.
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: 4 hours 3 mins spread over 3 weeks.
Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 39 mins.
Lesson 1: Designing for Physicality
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 8 mins.
Lesson 2: What is physical?
Available anytime after Dec 25, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 50 mins.
Lesson 3: Physicality and devices
Available anytime after Jan 01, 2020. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 25 mins.
Lesson 4: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
Available anytime after Jan 08, 2020.
How others have benefited

Pierleone Loreti, Italy
“Thanks for this course: I find it really stimulating and it gives lots of insights in what human expects from machines and objects.”

Ana Rajner, Germany
“I love it. And Alan is so great. It is my first time to take his course, but I will dig for more of his courses. He takes so simple examples, but explains a lot. Thank you IDF for this experience.”

Mehmet Berk Bostancı, Spain
“Our brains have been hardwired for physical interactions throughout many ages, and it is clearly important to implement the instant and ubiquitous feedback mechanisms in the physical world to the digital, for the better use of man-made objects. Understanding the essentials of the underlying principles of and what our brains expect from physical interactions is therefore critical at this point.”
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 “How to Create Intuitive Products by Imitating Physicality”. Take any other IDF UX courses at no additional cost. Take a concrete step forward in your career path today.