UX UI Design from Scratch

S1 · Saturday

A chosen problem brief, a working grasp of the design-thinking process, and a first proper tour of Figma. By the end, "what does a UX designer actually do all day" stops being a mystery.

S2 · Sunday

The core user research methods, and more importantly, the principles that separate real research from guessing dressed up as research. Turns out asking people what they want is the easy, unreliable part.

S3 · Saturday

You run a real user interview, armed with the classic research biases that wreck data before they get the chance. Project: raw notes from your first real user conversation, including the leading question you probably caught yourself almost asking.

S4 · Sunday

Messy interview notes become a first affinity map, with groupings that are actually non-obvious rather than restating the questions you asked. Project: a completed affinity map built from your own research, patterns you likely didn't see while sitting in the interview itself.

S5 · Saturday

A user persona and experience map built directly from your affinity-mapped research, not a stereotype filled in from assumptions. Project: a persona and experience map meant to drive every design decision from here on out.

S6 · Sunday

Your persona turns into a journey map, a user flow, and a sitemap, the whole shape of the product visible before you've drawn a single screen. Project: all three, built for your capstone brief.

S7 · Saturday

A content strategy and information architecture that every screen you design from here on has to fit inside, whether it likes it or not. Screens stop floating on their own and start belonging somewhere.

S8 · Sunday

Your architecture becomes rough wireframes, with core interaction design principles applied from the start rather than bolted on later. Project: a first wireframe set that, even in gray boxes, starts feeling like a real product.

S9 · Saturday

Reusable components, affordances that actually signal what's clickable, and a first prototyped interaction. Project: an interactive low-fidelity prototype, the first one you click that actually does something back.

S10 · Sunday

Grid systems and the laws of visual communication, applied until a screen looks properly aligned instead of just close enough.

S11 · Saturday

A working process for gathering inspiration and translating it into original decisions instead of a copy. The best sign it worked: pulling ten references, using none of them directly, and ending up with a better screen anyway.

S12 · Sunday

Genuine fluency in Figma's fundamentals and the plugin workflow professionals actually use day to day. This is usually where hunting for buttons stops and actual designing starts.

S13 · Saturday

Components, variants, and auto layout, mastered to the point where you start thinking in systems instead of one-off screens. Project: a small reusable component library, and the moment one edit updates every instance is usually when design systems finally click.

S14 · Sunday

A mood board and color palette grounded in color psychology, not just personal preference. Project: a mood board and palette for your capstone, backed by a reason beyond "I liked this blue."

S15 · Saturday

A real typescale and visual hierarchy applied so screens read clearly at a glance, no explanation required. That's the actual test: can someone tell what matters most without you standing there to point it out.

S16 · Sunday

Considered iconography and imagery, and the harder lesson of when less is genuinely more rather than just a design cliché. For most people that means deleting half a screen and watching it look more professional immediately.

S17 · Saturday

Shadows for real depth instead of everything sitting flat on one plane, plus a tighter day-to-day UI workflow built for speed. Project: a visually polished capstone screen, ready to put in front of a usability test.

S18 · Sunday

Designing and running a real usability test, qualitative and quantitative both. Project: results from an actual participant session, usually including at least one spot where the design broke in a way you never would have predicted.

S19 · Saturday

A full heuristic analysis using Nielsen's principles, findings turned into concrete fixes rather than a list of vague complaints. "Is this design good" stops being a guess and becomes something you can actually evaluate.

S20 · Sunday

Your portfolio gets started here, alongside a first draft of the capstone case study. Project: that first draft, the point where the project starts sounding like a story instead of a list of screens you made.

S21 · Saturday

Storytelling applied to your case study, a standout resume, and a real social presence built to match. What usually changes most is the resume, from a template everyone else is using too, to something that actually sounds like you.

S22 · Sunday

Publishing a finished case study, ready for recruiters, peers, and the jury to actually read rather than skim a PDF. Project: a live case study at a real link you can send to anyone.

S23 · Saturday

You present your portfolio and get direct, actionable feedback before it ever reaches a real interview. Hearing it from someone other than your mentor tends to be exactly the gut check that makes it land.

S24 · Sunday

Preparing for design interviews and take-home tasks with a clear, repeatable approach instead of winging it each time. A design task stops feeling like a trap once you know exactly what it's testing for.

S25 · Saturday

A concrete job-search plan and the confidence to actually walk into a real interview instead of dreading it. The shift here is from hoping to find a job to knowing exactly where to look and how to prepare.

S26 · Sunday

Demo day: your finished case study, presented live to a jury of practicing designers and evaluated on the spot. Project: your completed, jury-evaluated capstone case study, and the certificate that comes with it.