Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Anastasiia Grianchenko

I’ve just finished my second online course on Coursera and I’d like to share my experience with you. I am still a beginner in UX (8 months of experience by now) with a tiny portfolio (just a few projects), so I’ve decided to put in my CV something valuable — a certificate and some projects. I’ve chosen Interaction Design course by University of California, Sand Diego, on Coursera and started right from course number 5 — Research & Prototyping, just because I felt like that’s what I needed that time. It was a nice choice.

Every week I watched video-lections and interviews, read additional materials and did peer-graded assignments — the most exciting part of it all. Every assignment took me longer than its creators supposed to. But the longer I did it the more I learnt. Here are 5 things I’ve learnt from this experience that are not about design, but also are an essential part of it:

You should always keep in mind your final goal and divide it into sub-goals.

I assume you’ve heard a lot about planning and reaching goals. Every goal should be subdivided — it’s easier to control your progress through the check-points. You can see the same method on Coursera: your course is divided into weeks, each week ends with an assignment, which is to be graded. After you pass all these steps you can see that the week is completed. Try and use this method in your everyday life to become a great designer who can measure the progress properly on the way to a goal.

2. Never, never watch video-lectures without your notebook and pen. Take notes, even if you have a brilliant memory — some things still can slip away. And notes will help you to keep in mind the information you need to do the assignments, and you can come back to them any time later.

3. Update your CV right after you get a new skill. Don’t wait.

What have you learnt this week? Add it in your CV before you forget. Every week on Coursera you learn some new skills or polish some skills you have already had. You’ll save your time by collecting them immediately or you’ll spend more time trying to recollect them some time later. It’s up to you.

4. Sometimes it’s okay to be late.

I won’t tell you something new by saying that hurrying leads to lack of quality and affects creativity. So if you miss deadline to submit your work — no worries, it happens sometimes when we’ve got a lot to do. Submit it when it is ready and ask your coursemates to check your assignment (you need it to get the grade and pass the course).

5. Your coursemates are also your tutors as well as you are theirs.

Time spent on checking your coursemates assignments is not wasted time. It’s a mutual teach-and-study process: you teach them-they study, they teach you-you study. Try and analyse these works using all the knowledge you got from the course — but remember to stay polite and constructive even when you criticize.

Right after finishing the course and getting the certificate I started the next course — Infromation design. I highly recommend Coursera and Interaction Design Courses by University of California, Sand Diego, in particular (they didn’t pay me for this advertisement, it’s my choise).

Thanks for reading my article! I’d love to read your stories about your way to becoming a UX Designer. Because sharing knowledge makes us more professional and helps us create better designs and improve user experiences.

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UX Design: 5 things I’ve learnt that are NOT about design was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

UX Design: 5 things I’ve learnt that are NOT about design

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