A rigorous, project-driven curriculum covering the full design discipline — from visual design fundamentals and brand identity to product thinking, wireframing, and high-fidelity UI. By Week 6, you will have a professional portfolio of real design work and the ability to take a product from idea to polished, tested prototype.
Highlights
Class 1 — The Designer's Eye
Class 2 — Typography
Class 3 — Color Theory
Portfolio Project — Visual Design Fundamentals Sheet
Design a single-page visual reference showcasing your understanding of all three topics this week: a typography scale with three paired fonts showing hierarchy, a five-color brand palette with contrast ratios verified, and a composition demonstrating at least four of the seven design principles. Delivered as a Figma file and exported PDF.
Class 1 — Brand Identity Systems
Class 2 — Logo Design
Class 3 — Layout & Graphic Composition
Portfolio Project — Brand Identity for a Real or Fictional Business
Design a complete brand identity package for a business of your choice — a Lagos food brand, a Nigerian tech startup, a community sports club. Deliverables: logo in three variations (primary, secondary, icon), a five-color brand palette, a typography pairing with usage rules, and two brand application mockups showing the identity in real-world context. Delivered as a Figma file and a PDF brand guideline document.
Class 1 — UX Research Methods
Class 2 — User Personas & Journey Mapping
Class 3 — Information Architecture & User Flows
Portfolio Project — UX Research Report & User Flow
Pick a real app or service with an obvious problem — a banking app, a local government website, a delivery platform. Conduct three user interviews (friends, family, or classmates count), build two research-backed personas, map the current user journey for one key task, identify three pain points with evidence, and redesign the user flow for that task. Delivered as a Figma presentation deck.
Class 1 — Wireframing
Class 2 — UI Design Principles & Design Systems
Class 3 — High-Fidelity UI Design in Figma
Portfolio Project — Mobile App UI Design
Design the complete UI for a mobile app — minimum 6 screens — solving the problem identified in your Week 3 research. Must include: a full design system with components and color styles, consistent use of the 8pt grid, light and dark mode, and annotated screens ready for developer handoff. Delivered as a structured Figma file with a shareable link.
Class 1 — Prototyping in Figma
Class 2 — Interaction Design & Micro-interactions
Class 3 — Usability Testing
Portfolio Project — Interactive Prototype + Usability Test Report
Build a fully interactive prototype of your Week 4 mobile app UI in Figma. Run at least three usability tests using the think-aloud protocol. Document what you observed, what broke, and what you changed. Deliver a before/after comparison of two screens you improved based on real user feedback, plus the live prototype link.
Class 1 — Brief, Research & Strategy
Class 2 — Design & Prototype
Class 3 — Present & Publish
Define a real problem and design a complete digital product to solve it — a fintech app, a healthcare tool, an education platform, a community marketplace. Take it all the way from research to a polished, tested, interactive prototype.
A published case study and live prototype link are required to complete the course.
Required:
| Week | Project | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Visual Design Fundamentals Sheet | Figma File · PDF |
| Week 2 | Brand Identity Package | Logo · Guidelines · Mockups |
| Week 3 | UX Research Report & User Flow | Research Deck · Figma |
| Week 4 | Mobile App UI Design | 6-Screen UI · Design System |
| Week 5 | Interactive Prototype + Usability Report | Live Prototype · Test Findings |
| Week 6 | Capstone Product Design | Case Study · Live Prototype |
You finish the course with a published portfolio, six documented design projects, and the ability to take any product from a blank canvas to a tested, handoff-ready prototype.
Week 1 and Week 2 are dedicated to design fundamentals and branding before a single UI screen is touched. Designers who understand typography, color, and composition build better interfaces than those who open Figma and start adding elements without a foundation.
Week 3 is entirely UX research and product thinking — no visual design at all. This is the MIT 4.01 model: understand the problem deeply before proposing any solution. Students who skip this step design beautiful products nobody wants to use.
Nothing in this course is a tutorial exercise. Every weekly project is scoped and framed as a real piece of work — the kind a design interviewer will ask you to walk through. By Week 6 you are not assembling a portfolio, you already have one.
Usability testing is a required deliverable in both Week 5 and the capstone — not an optional extra. Real designers test their work. This course teaches that habit from the start.