RealWorldUX basics: what a UX designer actually does, what you need to realize, and how to become one practically by Ryu Sakai

A simple, practical UX course. Learn directly from an expert's in-depth process walkthrough, source files, and a personalized feedback.

A course with a clear vision - to get a UX beginner ready to work on her own mock project as soon as possible so that she can start learning more by doing. That’s why it covers only the most important basics, no frills. Because all the rest should be learned by doing.

Sample video

Here you can check out a sample video, which shows a glimpse of "Module 1: What is user experience?".

Course overview

This course covers the basic strategy and skills to get you started as a UX designer in the most practical way. It includes:

20 videos total, 174 minutes, 8-week course
5 assignments in Module 2: mock project walkthrough, which walks you through 5 step process step by step, in-depth.
1 assignment in module 1
1 assignment in module 3
Mock project files: UX process documentation source file in 3 different formats - Apple Keynote, Powerpoint, PDF. 111 pages total.
Mock project files: 20+ prototype source files created in today's 8 most popular software programs including Sketch, Craft plugin for Sketch, InVision Studio, Principle, Adobe XD, Framer X, Figma and Axure
***NEW*** A personalized feedback report for your mock project (upon receiving mock project output files)
30 day money back guarantee (with a proof of completed assignments)

A birds-eye-view of the course

Testimonials

RealWorldUX basics is a fantastic course to get started in the world of UX design. As I went through the course content, everything was very easy to understand and very well explained. The course assumes the user doesn't need to have pre-requisite knowledge. It truly is a proper "bootcamp" course that is executed very well.

S.M., Montreal

Ryu provides the light at the end of the tunnel! This course is key in showcasing the necessary skills that a UX designer needs in order to be successful in this field. He exposes you to the many facets of UX while helping you find the path that may be the best fit for you. Ryu is a natural teacher and extremely passionate about UX. At the end of the course he reassures you that this is just the beginning of your UX career. By taking his course we develop and strengthen our confidence to dive right in and explore the beauty of UX. I feel motivated to be a problem solver and problem seeker.

M.G., California

RealWorldUX basics is a course that is interesting, challenging, and rewarding. The course is designed in a manner that learning is not limited. Very much valuable! Beginners will get a lot of insights on how UX really works in the organization! I would recommend this course to any one who wants to get into the world of UX!

R.T., California

The practical knowledge imparted through this course is exactly what newcomers into the field of UX need. There is immense focus on the methods and techniques of UX design in academics and other avenues to gain UX education. And while they equip a fresh UX designer with tactical skills, they largely miss the realities and nuances of the day-to-day life as a UX designer. True UX impact requires as much collaboration and understanding with your PM and engineering counterparts as it does core skills. This course focuses on the complete package in an interesting, easy-to-follow manner. Ryu is a first-class designer and he has incorporated every tip and trick he has learnt over his marvelous career into this course. Highly recommended!

Neeharika Gupta, Product Design Manager, VMware

Table of contents - Module 1: What is user experience?

1-1

Welcome (6 min)

1-2

What is user experience? (7 min)

1-3

So many job titles (2 min)

1-4

User first, not you (4 min)

1-5

UX is evolving and expanding (7 min)

1-6

UX does not exist on its own - business context (7 min)

1-7

UX does not exist on its own - engineering context (10 min)

1-8

The true value of UX (3 min)

Table of contents - Module 2: What does a UX designer do?

2-1

UX designer is a problem solver (2 min)

2-2

Mock project walkthrough - step 1: problem statement (13 min) - source files available to download

2-3

Mock project walkthrough - step 2: competitive benchmark (11 min) - source files available to download

2-4

Mock project walkthrough - step 3: concept development (23 min) - source files available to download

2-5

Mock project walkthrough - step 4: user test part 1 (15 min) - source files available to download

2-6

Mock project walkthrough - step 4: user test part 2 (9 min) - source files available to download

2-7

Mock project walkthrough - step 5: design iteration (15 min) - source files available to download

2-8

Mock project wrap-up (6 min)

2-9

A day in the life of a UX designer (12 min)

Table of contents - Module 3: What does a UX designer's journey look like?

3-1

It's OK if you don't know (5 min)

3-2

Traits of a great UX designer (6 min)

3-3

A UX designer's journey (11 min)

Here are the core 6 beliefs that you need to understand first when choosing a UX course.

These are not a typical advice, because most of the UX courses want you to believe that their courses satisfy your entire UX education so that they can sell you expensive courses!

Belief #1: Taking a UX course does not complete your UX education, no matter how comprehensive

UX is an extremely broad field. There’s no single course that can teach you everything about UX. A UX certificate from a bootcamp doesn’t mean anything. UX is not like getting a license to become a doctor or a lawyer. UX is something that you learn the best by actually working on projects.

Belief #2: “Full-stack UX designer” is a complete illusion

Many bootcamps claim you can become a “full-stack UX designer”. For the most part “full-stack UX designer” doesn’t even exist. There are a very few UX designers who can actually code and do that, but these are very experienced UX designers anyway. In reality, majority of UX positions don’t even require coding skills.

If you see UX courses for beginners that have front-end coding as big part of their curriculums, that’s a warning sign. They are packing more stuff so that they can charge you more.

It’s a shame that many UX beginners still think that learning HTML, CSS and Javascript will turn them into UX designers. But they don’t.

Belief #3: You’d better “start working on a new UX project” than being stuck in a long course

The best way to learn UX is by doing, to work on a project, hands-on. This means you should get there as soon as possible. The sooner you start working on a UX project even if you feel you are not ready, the better off you will be. You will learn absolutely a lot more, a lot faster this way.

Belief #4: Understanding the importance of working with PM and engineer is critical

Most of the courses out there put UX in a vacuum, and don’t even touch upon this topic. But without collaboration with PM and engineers, nothing happens. This is such a critical component of becoming a successful UX designer. I’m surprised that almost none of the courses cover this.

Belief #5: Being a UX designer is a journey of continuous learning

As a UX designer, having the right mindset is just as important as gaining experiences and learning knowledge and skills. Many people tend to think that once you complete a college program or a bootcamp course, that’s the end of the learning. This is wrong. The field of UX is still evolving and expanding. In order to become a successful UX designer and stay relevant, you need to continuously learn new things. This is essential part of what UX designer is. It’s extremely important to understand this upfront and set your mindset accordingly before starting your journey.

Belief #6: Set the right expectation

Many graphic designers and web designers are attracted to become a UX designer because a salary is higher. But before jumping in, you need to fully understand what it means to become a UX designer. UX designer is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It requires a consistent hard work one step at a time throughout your entire career. You need to set a realistic, right expectation. Don’t be fooled by hyped-up marketing messages out there. They try to sell you expensive courses that are unnecessarily bloated up.

About your host Ryu

Ryu is a skilled and creative User Experience Designer with a successful history of leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver engaging UX designs - physical and digital - that enhance customer adoption and satisfaction. Industry expert with 10 utility patents filed. Adept in providing hands-on guidance, serving simultaneously as a contributor and leader on complex projects. Ryu is passionate about helping aspiring to-be-UX designers finding their ways to become successful.

Here's what one of Ryu's collaborators describes him...

Ryu is an extremely talented user experience professional. We worked together on the Veritas AppAssist mobile application. He is skilled both at user research and then applying that research to product and service design in a way that is intelligent, simple, yet elegant. He understands the value and role of user experience in the context of achieving business goals and bringing new products to market in a way in which they can gain traction and drive user adoption. I look forward to working with Ryu again in the future.

Catherine Gillis, Chief Marketing Officer and Founder, Mobile Composer

FAQs

How long is the course RealWorldUX basics?

"RealWorldUX basics: what does a UX designer actually do, what you need to realize, and how to become one practically" is a 8 week course. A new section is unlocked every week.

Who is this course for?

This course is originally designed for aspirational to-be-UX designers, and career switchers who is currently in a different field but want to transition to become a UX designer. However, it's also great for entry level UX designers, UX researchers, product managers and engineers who want to learn UX, as the course stresses the importance of collaboration between UX designers, PM and engineers from a larger product team perspective!

What's included in the course RealWorldUX basics?

"RealWorldUX basics: what a UX designer actually does, what you need to realize, and how to become one practically" consists of the following content:

20 videos total, 164 minutes
5 assignments in Module 2: mock project walkthrough
1 assignment in module 1, 1 assignment in module 3
Mock project source files available for download in Module 2 (UX process documentation file in Apple Keynote, Powerpoint, PDF, prototype files in Adobe XD and Axure)

Is this course an alternative to college degree programs or a UX bootcamp?

The answer is YES and NO.

Unlike existing college programs or bootcamps, this course is based on a clear vision and principles that the best way to learn is by doing. You need to get faster to the point where you can work on your own mock project, so that you can learn further by doing. This is why RealWorldUX basics covers only the minimum basics of UX and how to work on your mock project. So the goal of RealWorldUX basics is to get you up to speed and ready as quickly as possible to the point where you can run your own mock project with confidence. From that point, you can continue to learn by doing. And this is how you should learn UX, by doing. It's created base on a very different philosophy compared to existing courses that try to cover as much as possible within its program. On the contrary, RealWorldUX covers less, and encourage students to graduate the course faster, so that they can spend more time working on their own projects to continue their learnings by doing.

How is this course different from other online courses?

RealWorldUX basics sets it apart from any other courses because of its clear vision that the best way to learn UX is by doing. It is the best UX course for a UX beginner because...

It covers the most important minimum basics of UX in just 8 weeks.
You’ll learn how to run your own mock project effectively, so that you can continue to work on your own mock projects after the course so that you can keep learning and building your portfolio .
You’ll get instructor’s source files, where he actually worked on the same mock project professionally, so that you can examine and modify those files for your projects.
You’ll learn how to work with PM and engineers practically, which is critical for UX designer’s success.
You learn the right, realistic mindset to become a UX designer.

Will I get my dream job as a UX designer if I complete this course?

Yes, there is a high possibility that you will. However, this course does not guarantee that. It is finally up to you. But if you put in your serious effort and work hard throughout the course, you will definitely have a much better chance of future success!

What if I find out that RealWorldUX basics was not the right fit for me after purchasing the course?

No problem! We have 30 day money back guarantee. We want you to be happy, satisfied, and successful. So if you actually went though the course, worked on all the assignments, and still didn't find the course to be valuable, send us your project files as a proof of your work, and we can do a full refund. It's 100% risk-free!

RealWorldUX basics is a perfect UX course for a UX beginner because….

It covers the most important minimum basics of UX in just 8 weeks.
You’ll learn how to run your own mock project effectively, so that you can continue to work on your own after the course so that you can keep working on projects to be put in your portfolio.
You’ll get instructor’s source files, where he actually worked on the same mock project professionally, so that you can examine and modify those files for your projects.
You’ll learn how to work with PM and engineers practically, which is critical for UX designer’s success.
You learn the right, realistic mindset to become a UX designer.

The goal of RealWorldUX basics is to get students ready faster to the point where she can work on her own project with confidence, in order to continue learning by doing. Therefore, RealWorldUX basics don’t cram in too much topics. On the contrary, it only covers the basics, no frills.

Because the best way to learn UX is by doing, not by forcing a student to stay in a long, expensive course full of crap. There’s no other course that offers all 5 unique values described above with such a crystal clear vision.

This is all possible in RealWorldUX basics because all the course materials are meticulously crafted including mock project content. The mock project was created specifically for this course, and treated as if it is a real professional project. Ryu went through the entire process from step 1 to step 5, creating all the wireframes, prototypes, UX process documentation, user test protocols, user test summary of learnings, competitive analysis, just to name a few. And all these source files are included as part of the course for you to get the most out of it!

One important warning!

The goal of RealWorldUX basics isn’t to fill you in with everything you need to learn about UX, or to give you a certificate of some sort.

This is all about giving you the best, fastest, and most practical way to become a UX designer, so that you can confidently continue your path even after the completion of the course.

This is all about giving you the right mindset and expectation to be successful as a UX designer.

Therefore, I ONLY recommend that you consider a spot inside RealWorldUX basics if you can check off at least 4 of the following:

You are super-excited to become a UX designer, and want to work on challenging projects to solve various complex problems that users have.
You fully understand that becoming a UX designer is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It requires a hard, dedicated work done right, one step at a time that continues throughout your career.
You understand that being a UX designer is a journey of continuous learning, and you love to learn new things.
You’ve already been investing time and energy in researching UX courses, but having a hard time finding the right one for you.
You’re ready to go “all in” and do the work as long as you feel that every action you take is perfectly-engineered for success.
You are excited to work on various mock projects so that you can put those into your portfolio, but don’t know how to do it right, and love to learn the right way.