Introduction to User Experience

The user experience is defined as the result of the internal states (eg expectations, predispositions) of a user, the characteristics of a system (eg complexity, usability) and the context of use of the interaction between the user and the system (eg in organization, in private).

Organizations value innovative and well-designed user experiences for their customers and employees, whether they are using their websites, mobile applications, self-service kiosks in store, or various internal interfaces. The practice of UX design uses the user-centered approach and covers 3 main activities: UX research (getting to know the users and their contexts), activities surrounding ideation (such as "design thinking" and participatory design) and prototyping. This course teaches methods, techniques and digital tools specific to UX in today's business context.

A UX professional is able to intervene in the design process of a digital product or service in order to ensure a user-centered approach. This allows the organization to respond to the expectations of its users. A UX professional mobilizes a range of interview and observation methodologies until the development of a prototyped interface.

UXPA defines user experience professionals as specialists involved in research, design and evaluation of products and services. Conceptually, this notion of user experience emerges from the human-centered design approach in the field of human machine interaction and human factors in industrial engineering.

Research corresponds to the activity of learning about user interfaces and the context in which they will be used.

Evaluation corresponds to user observation when using these interfaces, as much before, during and after the design and development of the product.

Design corresponds to the standards and principles of design of digital products or services offering optimal user experiences.

Overall objective of the MOOC:

Discuss what the user experience is in the context of business practice

MODULE 1 - What's UX and why do we need it?

• Explain what is UX

• Identify UX-related issues and the UX expertise needed to respond

• Explain the impact in terms of ROI of UX in a business context

• Recognize the business KPIs typically associated with UX

• Distinguish different contexts in which UX methods and practices can be applied (customer experience - CX, employee experience - EX, citizen experience - CzX)

• Explain the importance of considering these experiences (CX, EX, CzX) in the current economy

MODULE 2 - When do we need UX, who does UX and how do we do UX

• Distinguish the UX lifecycle from the UX project

• Describe the role of stakeholders in the UX project

• Describe the typical paths, profiles and training of UX professionals

• Explain the link between UX and the scientific approach

MODULE 3 - Show me some examples

• Discuss the UX practice in terms of commonly used tools, challenges and wins

MODULE 4 - I want to try

• Experiment the phases of a UX project (research, Ideation, prototyping and testing) and how they relate to each other