Where Can I Learn UI/UX Design For Free?

UI/UX design is a big deal for Shopify designers and developers. If you’re going to excel in creating high-quality apps themes, and websites for your clients, you need to know how to deliver amazing experiences. In fact, UX/UI skills are likely to be one of the top things your clients look for.

The trouble is, if you’re just getting started with UX/UI design, it can be difficult to know where to dive in. There are a lot of different components involved in creating a fantastic user experience, from usability testing, to examining a website’s “desirability”. 

Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need to spend a fortune to get a head-start in your education. There are some fantastic locations out there where you can begin learning the basics of UX design without spending any money at all. Today, we’re going to look at some of your top options.

1. CareerFoundry

CareerFoundry has a brilliant reputation for helping students develop the skills and hands-on experience they need to thrive in a range of different industries. The company offers a host of “short courses” specifically intended for beginners looking to boost their UI/UX knowledge. 

In every course, students learn basic elements of UI and UX design from accredited experts. There are several daily lessons for each module, which take around 15 minutes to complete on average. Plus, you can do practical tasks to test your skills. Some of the top short courses for UI/UX design on CareerFoundry include:

• UX Design short course: A comprehensive insight into UX design and its processes, combined with tips on how to enter the UX job market and develop a portfolio.
• UI Design short course: This course covers everything you need to know about the basics of UI design, creating websites, apps, and even themes for your clients.
• Web development short course: The web development short course is likely to be a good choice if you want a complete overview into website development, and how concepts like UI and UX design are involved in this space. 

All CareerFoundry short courses are curated by experts and designed for complete beginners, so you don’t need any prior knowledge to get started. 

2. Coursera

Coursera is one of the better-known educational platforms on the market today. It offers a host of fantastic lessons taught by market leaders, and produced by experts like Google and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Technically, the courses here aren’t completely free, as you need to pay a monthly subscription fee for long-term access. 

However, there is a free trial available which you can take advantage of if you’re willing to invest the right amount of time into your study. You can find a bunch of courses that take two hours or less, which are a great way to take advantage of your free trial. 

One of our favorite courses, which only takes around 7 hours to complete is the Introduction to User Experience design course created by Georgia Tech. If you’re willing to invest a bit more time and money into your education, you can try the UI/UX specialization by CalArts. 

3. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is a brilliant place to top up your knowledge as a designer, or expand your skillset. Once again, there is a price to pay for a long-term subscription here, but you can access 30 days of content for free, which is more than enough time to take some of the most popular UX and UI courses. Some of the most popular options include:

• Become a User Experience Designer: This course takes about 12 hours to complete and covers everything you need to know about how to create a stunning UX design experience. There are 13 chapters in total, covering everything from user-centric design principles, to how you can create an audience persona. 
• UX Design: 1 Overview: A popular course offering all of the basic knowledge you need about user experience for intermediate learners. 
• Adobe XD Essential training: This course offers a complete guide on how to use Adobe tools to create user interfaces prototypes. It’s excellent if you’re getting started with website or app design, as well as theme design. 

4. General Assembly

General Assembly offers a bunch of free workshops and live streams you can log into throughout various periods of the year. The great thing about this website is you’ll be able to interact with other students, and your teacher in real-time. The courses only take around 2 hours to complete too, so you don’t have to dedicate a lot of time to learning.

The most popular online UX/UI course from General Assembly available right now is the “Intro to UX Design” course. This offers a behind the scenes insight into the process involved in building a product, and the different roles in UX/UI design. You’ll also learn how to create a profile to make yourself stand out to clients and agencies. 

We also love the “Press Play: Getting started with User Experience Design” course, which provides a more general introduction to all of the UX strategies you might use as a designer. This course even teaches you how to create prototypes with InVision.

5. Future Learn

Future Learn is a Massive Open Online Course learning platform with a ton of great courses to choose from. You’ll find a range of free and premium courses available here, just like you would on many other MOOC websites. You can also earn “micro credentials” if you’re willing to invest a little more money into developing your skills. 

One of the top UX/UI courses from Future Learn is the “Digital Skills: user Experience” course, which takes around 3 weeks to complete. The classes cover everything from visual design, wireframes in UI testing, and user journeys. 

It’s definitely worth checking out some of the other courses available for a premium price too, as you can sometimes join and take some of the lessons with limited access. For instance, you can access some of the components of the “UX Design Fundamentals” course for free. 

6. Udacity

Another phenomenal resource for online learners, Udacity offers a range of courses which are free to begin with, and have an option to upgrade later. While you will need to consider upgrading to get the full content from some courses, there are plenty of options which cost nothing at all.

Some of the best free-to-access courses from Udacity include:

• UX design for mobile developers’: You can take this course without paying anything. This is an excellent tool if you’re especially interested in app design with UI/UX strategies. The course takes around 6 weeks to complete, and is built for beginners.
• Product design: This free course teaches you all about UI/UX design from a product perspective, with tips on learning product validation, Google Sprint design, and setting and tracking actionable metrics. 
• UI Kit fundamentals: This course offers an introduction to designing apps for the iOS landscape, which is crucial if you’re planning on building anything for mobile. You’ll cover skills like table views, navigation and automatic layouts. 

Learn UI/UX Design for Free

Learning the basics of UI/UX design doesn’t have to be as challenging, time-consuming or expensive as most people think. There are a variety of great options out there to help you start working on your skills and discovering the industry. You might even get an opportunity to design assets to add to your portfolio along the way.