Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/high-fidelity-designs-prototype

Introduction

### Course Review: Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma If you are looking to kickstart a career in user experience (UX) design or enhance your existing skills, the Coursera course *Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma* is a remarkable resource that you should consider. Being the fifth course in a comprehensive certificate program, it is meticulously designed to provide both theoretical knowledge and practical application, equipping learners with the tools necessary to create professional-grade designs and prototypes. #### Course Overview As the title suggests, this course focuses on utilizing Figma, a leading design tool in the UX community, to create high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes. The course is structured to guide students through the design process, beginning with the fundamentals of visual design and moving towards creating and testing sophisticated prototypes ready for user feedback. #### Syllabus Breakdown The syllabus is divided into five main modules, each building upon the previous one to deepen your understanding of design principles and practices: 1. **Starting to Create Mockups**: The course kicks off with an introduction to mockups, which serve as high-fidelity representations of your final product. You will explore visual design elements such as typography, color theory, and iconography, and how to apply these elements using techniques like grids and layout organization. This foundational knowledge is crucial as you develop your mobile app designs throughout the course. 2. **Applying Visual Design Principles to Mockups**: In this module, you will refine your mockups by applying critical visual design principles. You will learn to use emphasis to prioritize content, establish hierarchy among design elements, and navigate through principles like Gestalt to make your designs user-friendly. This engagement with design principles is essential for creating intuitive, aesthetic designs. 3. **Exploring Design Systems**: This part of the course introduces the concept of design systems, emphasizing their importance and benefits in creating cohesive design experiences. By examining well-known companies' design systems, you will gain insights into standard practices and have the opportunity to apply these systems in your own mockups. Creating sticker sheets in Figma also allows for efficient reuse of design components. 4. **Creating High-Fidelity Prototypes**: With your designs in place, you'll delve into the world of interactivity by creating high-fidelity prototypes. The course provides a clear six-step framework to build prototypes that mimic a live environment. You will also explore how gestures and motion can enhance user experience, creating more engaging interactions. 5. **Testing and Iterating on Designs**: The final segment is about refining your prototype through user testing. You will conduct usability studies and analyze feedback to derive actionable insights that will inform your design iterations. Additionally, you will learn how to prepare designs for engineers, culminating in a comprehensive case study for your professional portfolio. #### My Recommendation The *Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma* course is an excellent opportunity for anyone aspiring to enter the UX design field or looking to sharpen their existing skill set. The course is well-structured, with a perfect blend of theory and practical applications. The step-by-step tutorials ensure that you feel confident in using Figma, even if you are starting from scratch. Not only does this course enhance your design capabilities, but it also prepares you for real-world challenges by focusing on user testing and iteration—key aspects of successful UX design. By the end of the course, you will have a robust portfolio piece that showcases your ability to create significant designs and prototypes, making you a competitive candidate for entry-level UX positions. Whether you're a complete beginner or a designer seeking to expand your knowledge, this course offers invaluable skills and insights that can propel your career forward. I highly recommend enrolling in this Coursera course to enrich your understanding of UX design.

Syllabus

Starting to create mockups

Turn your focus to visual design, which is how a product or technology appears to users. In this part of the course, you'll start to create mockups, which are high-fidelity designs that represent a final product. To create mockups, you'll use visual design elements, like typography, color, and iconography. Elements are often arranged into layouts using methods like grids, containment, and negative space. You'll apply all of these visual design learnings to build on the mobile app designs you've been working on throughout the certificate program.

In this part of the course, you’ll use visual design principles to refine mockups. First, you'll use emphasis to guide users to the most important parts of a page. Next, you'll apply hierarchy, scale, and proportion to organize the elements on each page of your app. Then, you'll consider unity and variety to help elements of your app function together or stand out. Finally, you'll revisit Gestalt Principles, like similarity, proximity, and common region, to help users interpret your designs easily.

Come explore the world of design systems! In this part of the course, you'll be introduced to the parts of a design system, as well as the benefits of using a design system. You'll examine various companies' design systems, and you’ll have an opportunity to use them in your own mockups. You'll also learn how to use and create sticker sheets in Figma.

You’re ready to build high-fidelity prototypes in Figma! Following six steps, you'll turn your mockups into a prototype that's ready for testing. In addition, you'll explore two new concepts, gestures and motion, which can help enrich the user experience and increase the usability of prototypes.

Now that you have a high-fidelity prototype, it’s time to test your designs. To get started, you’ll conduct a usability study to test your high-fidelity prototype of a mobile app. You'll analyze the feedback you receive to come up with actionable insights and iterate on your designs. Then, you’ll learn how to hand off designs to engineers for production. Finally, you’ll turn everything you’ve learned about user research, ideation, wireframes, designs, and prototypes into a case study for your professional UX portfolio.