Week 1-2

Competency 1: Research and Strategy

Project 1: Build a client dossier and project plan

Goals: Discovery and research to gather information about clients, business, and users. Build a design brief and project strategy, including product mapping and information architecture.

Weeks 3-5

Competency 2: Identity and Foundations

Project 2: Create a visual language for an online learning product

Goals: Evaluate the identity needs and design principles of a client. Explore and ideate on design foundations. Create a typographic identity. Create a robust color palette. Understand and create useful design tokens. Explore written tone of voice

Weeks 6-8

Competency 3: Components and Patterns

Project 3: Design, document, and use a system of components

Goals: Work through a complete component design process, including ideation, design, and testing. Consider states and interaction. Consider accessibility. Design for contexts and variations. Design for user interactivity.

Weeks 9-12

Competency 4: Responsive Layouts and Grid Systems

Project 4: Design a multi-page website with a consistent responsive layout system

Goals:  Understand responsive design at scale. Make use of repeatable responsive grids. Plan for successful page composition and variation.

Week 12-16

Competency 5: Create and Test a Feature

Project 5: Design, prototype, and test a new product feature

Goals: Practice working with and handing off designs to developers. Create a new product feature based on an existing product ecosystem. Plan for user flows. Visualize complex information. Verify design success with user testing.