Prototyping for Digital Experiences

Low-fidelity prototyping methods for digital products and services
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You don't need to know how to code to come up with innovative digital products and services. To build the right thing—and build the thing right—you have to design for people first and use technology as a tool to meet real human needs. Prototyping is a time-tested method for generating innovative solutions by keeping humans at the center of the design process and gathering feedback early and often.

Course Outcomes
  • Shape ideas for digital products and services—from apps to websites and technology interfaces—using quick, low-fidelity prototyping.
  • Build something people will love by gathering feedback that will help you tap into real human needs and make your ideas even stronger.
  • Share a compelling vision for your digital experience through prototypes to create alignment and earn support.
  • Save time and money by refining your concepts before moving to more high-fidelity prototypes, wireframes, or coding digital builds.
Course Themes
Prototyping Human-Centered Design Digital Design
Format Online Self-Paced Course
Start Date Start Anytime*
Quantity
Time 8-10 Hours
Price
$199
$199
Download Syllabus

*90-day access from date of purchase.

What You'll Learn

Introduction

Why building great technology is really about understanding people.
Watch a sneak peek
  • Prototyping for Digital Experiences—A sneak peek of the class
     
1 Video Lesson
  • Technology Starts with People—Build digital experiences that matter
1 Assignment

  • A Digital Day-in-the-Life—Think through digital software, apps, and devices that you use every day and what makes them good or bad, and why.

Lesson 1: Dive Into Digital

Learn how technology can be more human.
2 Video Lessons
  • Designing Products We Love—Three qualities of great digital experiences
  • Design for Conversation—How can technology be more human?
1 Assignment

  • Tag, You’re It—Write the conversation for the interaction of a digital experience that you know well.

Lesson 2: Build to Think

Prototype to push your thinking and generate ideas.
4 Video Lessons
  • More Prototypes, More Potential—Prototype to push your thinking
  • Mentor Moment with Kim—Avoid jumping to one solution
  • Build to Think—Prototyping in action
  • Watch—Explore the Unknown
1 Assignment

  • Spin the Wheel—In this assignment, you will choose a digital experience and a set of users, sketch prototypes to help think about new ideas, and apply a constraint to help push your thinking even further.

Lesson 3: Build to Learn

Test your assumptions to see which ideas are the most viable.
5 Video Lessons
  • Prioritize Your Prototypes—Answer key questions and build confidence
  • A Mentor Moment with Ethan—Bring developers into prototyping
  • A Mentor Moment with Danielle—Prototyping with your users
  • Build for Feedback—Five tips for designing digital prototypes
  • A Mentor Moment with Kim—Sometimes it’s not going to be digital
1 Assignment

  • Get in Front of Users—Craft a plan and a prototype to test your digital experience with users.

Conclusion: Build to Communicate

Learn to use prototypes to help tell the story of your digital experience.
2 Video Lessons
  • Share Your Vision—Prototype to tell a story
  • Mentor Moment with Ethan—Prototypes change the conversation
1 Assignment

  • Your Turn—Quickly craft a story about your prototype from the previous lesson.

Meet Your Instructors

Chris Nyffeler

Design Director at IDEO

Chris guides a community of visual, systems, and user experience designers, as well as software developers. He has pushed the craft of interaction design forward in the consumer web, mobile, e-commerce, digital health, and social media industries, and has earned multiple patents and awards.

More About Chris
More From Chris Nyffeler
IDEO U Blog
Why Everyone Should Prototype (Not Just Designers)

Chris Nyffeler

Design Director at IDEO

With a focus on interaction design, Chris takes a lead role in providing guidance to a community of visual, systems, and user experience designers, as well as software developers. He plays an active role in shaping IDEO's portfolio of digital work and pushing the craft of interaction design both inside and outside the company in industries such as consumer web, mobile, e-commerce, digital health, and social media. He has elevated design thinking for major tech corporations and government agencies, and has helped to launch successful, design-centric tech startups in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Chris has been awarded a number of patents in the U.S. and Japan for mobile interface and interaction design. His work has been recognized by The Webby Awards, IDEA Awards, IXDA Interaction Awards, WIRED, Fast Company, Metropolis Magazineand major online tech blogs. As a faculty member in the undergraduate program in interaction design at the California College of the Arts, Chris is constantly reinforcing his philosophy of unobtrusive technology.

Deepen Your Learning

Downloadable Workbook

Receive a workbook with reflection questions, instructions for activities, and supplemental resources from the course.

Practical Activities

Learn activities and mindsets you can build into your work and share with your team to make digital ideas tangible and iterate your concepts.

Prototyping Plan

Design a prototype for your digital idea, test it with users, and reflect on what you learned, then craft a plan to communicate your idea with stakeholders.

Certificate of Completion

After completing the course, receive a certificate of completion.
Learn more about the IDEO U Learning Experience
Deepen Your Learning

Loved by Learners Across the Globe

Hiromi Sakae
Hiromi Deputy General Manager Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Trading & Investment
Susan Svensson
Susan Senior Instructional Designer Genentech
Tom Miller
Tom Manager, Connected Learning K-12 School Programs, Cleveland Clinic
Atul Deshpande
Atul Principal Consultant Wipro
Prototyping for Digital Experiences
Self-Paced Course

“This course lowered the barrier to start making prototypes and to actually feel the power of how much prototypes can communicate.”

Hiromi Japan
Prototyping for Digital Experiences
Self-Paced Course

“The courses offer knowledge and skills applicable to multiple audiences. They enable you to enhance and build upon existing knowledge and skills, think more broadly and deeply about the 'customer/client' experience, think outside your own industry, and own the belief that everyone can be creative.”

Susan Oakland, CA
Prototyping for Digital Experiences
Self-Paced Course

“I loved the workbook and will refer back to it for years to come.”

Tom Beachwood, OH
Prototyping for Digital Experiences
Self-Paced Course

“The learnings from this course are very important from a product-building perspective.”

Atul Pune, Maharashtra, India

Go Deeper with Certificate Programs

Take your design thinking skills further with a certificate program:

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Enroll As a Team

The practice and application of design thinking, innovation, and creativity is highly collaborative and team based—which is why we believe that learning is better together. Take a course as a team and develop new skills and mindsets, have deeper discussion during course kickoff and debrief sessions, and build a shared understanding.

How to Enroll as a Team