21 Top UI Design Courses to Know – Built In

When it comes to taking the next step in your career, a UI design course can make all the difference. UI design courses equip students with new skills that allow them to build impressive portfolios and become more valuable prospects in the job market.
Through the products they create, UI designers impact the everyday lives of consumers. Mobile apps, company websites and software all rely on sound UI design principles. A professional who knows how to navigate this field can develop products that attract customers and spur business growth, making UI designers even more vital contributors.
Below are 21 of the top UI design courses that share the skills, principles and tools students need to develop into high-performing UI designers.
 
Thinkful offers a UX and UI design online bootcamp that covers the basics, including user empathy, wireframe prototyping and interactive design. Each student is paired with a professional mentor from whom they receive advice and feedback, and the bootcamp culminates in a capstone project meant to build out students’ portfolios. Students may choose between full-time and part-time options, completing the bootcamp in five to six months. While the course costs $13,500 total after monthly installments, Thinkful lets students settle into their new careers before making regular payments. 
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Noble Desktop leads a UI design certificate program focused on designing elements for websites and mobile apps. Both in person and online, this course reviews typography, color, composition and other UI design elements that go into developing responsive web pages. In addition to interactive lessons, students have eight one-on-one mentoring sessions at their disposal and can retake the course for free within a year of completing it. Tuition for the course is $3,995, but students can select the payment plan that accommodates their timelines and budgets. Students can also set the pace of their learning, choosing either a six-week full-time schedule or a five-month part-time option.    
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One of the most noteworthy names in the broader digital-upskilling groundswell, General Assembly has global locations ranging from Singapore to New York City. The company delivers an eight-week visual design course that teaches important principles like design discovery, color strategy, fonts and typefaces and more. Students can join sessions in person or online while selecting General Assembly’s payment options that welcome employer sponsorship to cover the $2,800 tuition. 
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With tuition starting at $16,900 at most locations, Flatiron School represents one of the pricier coursework routes. But its strong reputation, enviable alumni list, deep curriculum and money-back guarantee helps assuage potential sticker shock. Flatiron School’s immersive UX and UI design course spans 40 weeks under the part-time plan and 15 weeks with the full-time one. Note that the full-time plan offers lab time for in-person attendees, cohort support and instructional staff. Regardless of the plan, students gain an understanding of areas like ethical design, animation and cross-team collaboration.  
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Available online anywhere and onsite in several North American locales (Chicago, NYC, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver) BrainStation’s UI design course covers an extensive range of core concepts and industry-standard tools. Students learn wireframing, sketching, design analysis and color theory while using tools like Figma, Stark and Tota11y. Dedicated units also cover app and mobile design and visual theory foundations. Scholarships are available, part-time and online formats are offered, and BrainStation partners with some of the leading tech brands for hiring, including Cisco, Adobe, Deloitte and Google. 
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The UX Design Institute caters to those with a design background and professionals looking to upskill with its UI design certification program. The course starts at a discounted price of $1,750 and takes 12 weeks to complete. Students become familiar with tools like Adobe XD and Sketch while diving into topics like branding, layout, iconography, typography and design principles. To cap off this course, participants complete a project that prepares their portfolios for the job search process.   
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The University of Denver offers a UX/UI Bootcamp that covers both the theoretical and technical aspects of UI design. Over the course of 24 weeks, students learn how to follow research best practices, use tools like InVision and code in languages like HTML, among other skills. Students can then apply their knowledge to projects like AI sketches and responsive web pages. Additional support comes from tutor networks, one-on-one career coaching and soft skills training. Students can submit a request to DU to learn more about tuition and other program information.  
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The full roster of courses included in this University of California, Irvine seven-month specialization, offered online via Coursera, may include more programming than strictly UI design paths require or desire. But its Best Practices for iOS User Interface Design lesson, available a la carte, covers important precepts for Apple-focused UI designers, including the Human Interface Guidelines and UITableView. And those who do want to press into the full development course load will appreciate how it incorporates a range of the iPhone’s hardware. This beginner-level course comes in an online format and allows students to follow flexible schedules. Participants receive a shareable certificate upon completion. 
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Led by University of Minnesota professors, this four-month, four-course online Coursera sequence starts off with basics — like the difference in approach when tweaking an existing design versus developing a brand-new one — and culminates with a group-project capstone. In between, the program covers user research, prototyping and usability evaluation. Students can expect to dedicate about three hours per week to watching videos, completing readings or taking quizzes. This course is listed at an intermediate level, but students can tailor it to their needs with flexible scheduling and online course options. 
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Northwestern University provides training in areas like wireframing, UI design methodology and user-centric design research through its UX/UI bootcamp. Besides UI design principles, students can learn techniques like storyboarding and coding in popular languages like JavaScript. The bootcamp complements technical skills with a real-world focus, offering career coaching sessions and advice on how to craft social media profiles. NU presents this online bootcamp as part-time and full-time options, with the part-time route lasting 24 weeks and featuring classes held three weekday evenings each week. Those interested should submit a request for more information on the program.  
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The Georgia Institute of Technology offers many online courses, including this free, five-week overview, via edX, of what’s now among the most chattered-about concepts in UX and UI design: personalization. That’s the near-ubiquitous design element of self-customizing an app or a website’s experience based on data like location and preference history. Students will engage with topics like the difference between adaptable and adaptive user interfaces, approaches to UI personalization and accessibility issues in UI design. Participants should expect to dedicate about three to four hours per week to this introductory edX course.  
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California Institute of the Arts is helping students gain a quick understanding of UI design through this beginner-level UI design course. Students learn how to combine images, icons, colors and typography to produce crisp interface designs. Throughout the course, students can track their progress as they navigate online lectures, practice quizzes and graded assignments with feedback. Part of Cal Arts’ UI/UX design specialization, this course takes 16 hours to complete and comes in an online format with adjustable deadlines.      
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DesignLab enhances the design knowledge of participants with this intermediate UI design course that requires previous software experience. Students can refine their skills in imagery, color and typography while building interfaces with bold gradients and geometric layers. For additional help, students can leverage four mentor sessions with a vetted professional designer. The course takes four weeks to complete for those who spend 10 to 15 hours per week on course materials, and students earn a certificate of completion at the end. 
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This nine-month course by Springboard offers a high degree of human support, including weekly calls with industry experts and an unlimited number of career-coaching calls. Students learn design fundamentals like design thinking, user research and interaction design; are exposed to real-world guidelines like Google and Apple platform specs; and get face time with Sketch, Adobe XD and Figma. Students can choose between upfront, monthly and deferred tuition plans. And Springboard’s job guarantee means a student gets a full refund if they don’t secure a UX/UI design job six months after graduation. 
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The Interaction Design Foundation gets professionals up to speed with the latest design methods in this beginner UI design course. Students receive an overview of ways to organize content, simplify data entry, clean up their interface design and perform other UI design tasks. Online lessons include discussion forums, with answers graded by design experts. The course is estimated to take up to seven weeks to complete, but students can go at their own pace since there are no hard deadlines. With a membership that costs less than $20, students can sign up for the course and gain permanent access to all course-related materials. 
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This top-rated UI design course by Skillshare drills deep into UI design theory while also offering practical strategic advice. The course encompasses 51 video lectures spanning over five hours from UX design and development coach Joe Natoli. The lessons touch on UI elements like colors, icons and typography while teaching UI design principles and techniques to follow. Students can then practice what they’ve learned by completing a hands-on class project. A Skillshare membership costs $32 per month, making it an affordable option for those looking to strengthen their UI design knowledge.  
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Another highly-rated Udemy bestseller, this app design course offers an enticing option for beginners with a mobile focus. The 60-plus lectures run more than three hours and include sections on color theory, typography essentials, text overlaying and vertical and horizontal alignment. It’s led by the London-based App Brewery, which has a roster of app development online courses that may also be of interest. (App Brewery is also an official partner of Flutter, Google’s UI platform.) Students can purchase access to this Udemy course for an upfront payment of $119.99 or $16.58 per month.
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One of the most respected online-only tech learning platforms, Berlin-based CareerFoundry has earned high marks for its highly-vetted mentors who help with portfolio development, tutors who provide daily feedback and student advisors for general assistance. Students can get a feel for the company through a UI design mini-course that contains seven 15-minute lessons. Prospects can also participate in a free consultation to learn more about the UI design program. This experience serves as a stepping stone for CareerFoundry’s UI Design Program, which lasts 15 hours a week for nine months.
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This video-driven online course by DesignerUp caters to the self-paced learner. It includes 11 modules with various lessons, plus quizzes and assignments, which add up to a three-month course for full-time participants and a six-month course for part-timers. Even though the focus is on independent learning, mentors are available through one-on-one strategy sessions and upon students’ request. While there’s a one-time payment of $1,997 for lifetime access, prospects can submit a request to discuss payment options or get their employers to cover the costs. 
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Despite the site’s title, Learn UX actually focuses more on interface design than user experience — although both get attention. The free video collection appears to be a particularly attractive option for those homing in on specific programs, with tutorials available for Sketch, Framer, Abstract, Adobe XD, Flinto, Zeplin, Figma, Principle and InVision Studio. Students can also dabble in HTML and CSS coding, webflow techniques and UX/UI basics like usability and user testing. The animated site was nominated for an Awwward, which spotlights the best in web design, so you know they walk the walk in terms of aesthetics.
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Another self-paced video-course option, this course is broken down into 53 manageable lessons — 35 hours of demo-focused video in total — with a series of downloadable assignments and a collection of PDF “cheat sheets.” The curriculum kicks off with a Sketch introduction, then moves on to aesthetic fundamentals, color, typography, interface components (including dataviz, photography selection and vector editing) and real-world tips for things like building a portfolio and finding clients. The course was created by Seattle-based freelance UX/UI designer Erik Kennedy, whose clients include Amazon and Soylent.
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