Course Description
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.
What you will learn
- The aspects of physicality and designing with them in mind
- What is regarded as physical in time and space
- Modeling devices for natural interactions through physigrams
- How to use feedback loops to examine and improve your designs
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
Note: Lessons become available at a schedule of one lesson per week. Once a lesson becomes available, it is open for you forever — you can take all the time you want to go through each lesson. There is no time limit to finish a course, and you always have access to your classmates, course material, and your answers.
The estimated time to complete this course is a total of 4 hours 3 mins spread over 3 weeks.
Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
Available anytime after Apr 24, 2018. Estimated time to complete: 40 mins.
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0.1: An introduction to IDF courses (14 mins)
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0.2: Please check your information before continuing (1 min)
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0.3: Meet your peers online in our discussion forums (6 mins)
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0.4: Meet your peers offline through IDF Local Groups (1 min)
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0.5: The Timeless Nature of IDF Courses (11 mins)
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0.6: Your path towards earning your Course Certificate (5 mins)
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0.7: Mandatory lessons vs. Optional lessons (2 mins)
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0.8: A mix between video-based and text-based lesson content (2 mins)
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Lesson 1: Designing for Physicality
Available anytime after Apr 25, 2018. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 8 mins.
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1.1: Designing for physicality: Introduction (15 mins)
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1.2: Aspects of physicality (39 mins)
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1.3: Studying physicality (9 mins)
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1.4: Discussion Forum (5 mins)
Lesson 2: What is physical?
Available anytime after May 02, 2018. Estimated time to complete: 50 mins.
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2.1: What is physical? - Kinds of things (12 mins)
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2.2: What is physical? - Rules of the world (17 mins)
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2.3: Continuity in time and space (16 mins)
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2.4: Discussion Forum (5 mins)
Lesson 3: Physicality and devices
Available anytime after May 09, 2018. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 25 mins.
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3.1: Everyday devices to physigrams (13 mins)
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3.2: Multiple feedback loops (25 mins)
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3.3: Device unplugged (42 mins)
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3.4: Discussion Forum (5 mins)
Lesson 4: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
Available anytime after May 16, 2018.
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4.1: Course evaluation (1 min)
Industry-trusted UX Course Certificate
You earn an industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course - even if you finish the course after the official end date. In other words, as long as you have enrolled in the course you will always be able to finish it and to get a course certificate. You will also have permanent access to the course material, your answers and the discussions.
Course Certificates from the IDF are verifiable and trusted by industry leaders. 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:
