DL122 - Certificate Fundamentals of
User Experience Design
Hear from our lecturers
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What is it?
User experience design uses research, design skills and usability testing to enhance the ways in which a user can interact with a digital product. It involves varied activities, including user research, requirements analysis, user interface and interaction design, prototyping, and user testing. The demand from industry in Ireland for people with these skills has grown in response to the increasing prominence and importance of the field. This course produces skilled and knowledgeable user experience designers to fill this gap.
Future careers
A research report from the IADT ISA Software Skillnet (2016) found that employees are often working in UX roles and completing UX related tasks without any ‘real’ training. This course is ideal for such staff, because not only does it provide formal training to validate what they are currently doing, it also teaches new theory and techniques.
This course opens up a range of opportunities across a number of areas, including: digital development and production, design, project management, digital and online marketing, content management and software development.
What topics will I study?
This course:
- outlines the field of user experience design;
- explains the key stages of the UX design lifecycle;
- provides the knowledge, skills and competencies required to design and evaluate solutions to UX design problems.
Topics covered include:
- core UX concepts and theory;
- key UX activities, including user research, prototyping and testing;
- various typical UX methodologies.
Workload is designed for sustained progress: you should expect 180 hours of self-directed work across October–February (roughly 1.5 hours/day over 16 weeks, using sprint-style study blocks), in addition to the scheduled teaching.
Dates + Times
Intro, Research + Empathy
- Wed, 7th October 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Sat, 17th October 2026 (10am – 4pm | on campus)
- Wed, 21st October 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 28th October 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 4th November 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
Prototypes, Designs + Testing
- Wed, 11th November 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 18th November 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Sat, 28th November 2026 (10am – 4pm | on campus)
- Wed, 2nd December 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 9th December 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 16th December 2026 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
Presentation Preparation, Individual Report + Evaluation
- Wed, 6th January 2027 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 13th January 2027 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 20th January 2027 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Wed, 27th January 2027 (7pm – 8.30pm | online)
- Sat, 6th February 2027 (10am – 4pm | on campus)