Top UX Design Certificates & Certifications in NYC

User experience design is the art and science of building user interfaces for digital platforms and products that are accessible, intuitive, responsive and easy to use.

Many excellent web platforms, apps and products have failed because their user interface made them difficult to use, and potential users were turned away. This is especially important given how competitive many markets are, users have no reason to stick with a difficult-to-use interface when they can move on to another one incredibly easily. Thus, companies are investing more and more in the development of user interfaces.

Unlike user interface design, which primarily focuses on creating an interface that looks appealing, UX design emphasizes how the interface feels when it is in the hands of real-world users. UX Designers will spend most of their time testing and iterating on designs created by user interface designers, with goals set out for them by team leaders or clients. They will need to understand how to create surveys, run real-world user tests, conduct focus groups and learn how to parse feedback on sample designs. They will also need to learn how to communicate that feedback to other team members working on projects. One way to learn all of the necessary skills (both technical and interpersonal) that a professional UX Designer needs is by enrolling in a certificate program.

Noble Desktop: UX & UI Design Certificate

Key Information: Noble Desktop’s UX & UI Design Certificate program is a career-oriented part-time training program that runs for 24 weeks with multiple evening classes each week. Students will spend the program working on hands-on exercises to create an application-ready design portfolio. Students enrolled in the course will receive one-on-one career development mentoring, and all enrolled students can retake the class within one year.

Noble Desktop offers a professional UX & UI Design Certificate program that aims to teach students the ins and outs of interface design and testing. Students will learn how to use tools like Figma to design wireframe prototypes of web interfaces, and they will learn the basic principles of graphic design that are essential for creating a visually appealing interface. This course will give students hands-on experience creating interfaces on their own and collaborating on interfaces with other designers, giving them a full picture of the kind of work they can expect to do in a professional environment. This course will help students understand the foundational principles of interface design, and they will learn how to use the most common user interface design tools.

Once students understand the basics of design, they will start to learn the most common methods that UX Designers use to test their interfaces. Using Figma, students will create working prototypes (with limited JavaScript functionality) of their interfaces and practice the art of testing those interfaces with their peers and classmates. Students will learn how to ask the right questions of a focus group, how to perform A/B testing and how to analyze the data that you receive when performing testing. Then, students will return to Figma and begin iterating on their designs with their new knowledge of how their users actually responded to the interface. Then, students will repeat the process until they are comfortable with their final design and have the user data and feedback to back up the decisions they will present to their clients.

This career-focused course emphasizes hands-on, practical training using real-world exercises to prepare students for work in the fields of UX and UI design. Classes are available in-person at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus or through live online instruction. Regardless of your modality, you’ll receive instruction from experienced experts in UX design. Students in online classes will be able to interface directly with their instructors, ensuring that they can succeed. All of the work that students do in the classroom will be geared toward producing sample projects that they can add to their professional portfolios, meaning that students will be building their job applications as they learn. In addition, all students enrolled in the course will have the opportunity to attend one-on-one career mentoring sessions with their instructors, giving them an opportunity to tailor their questions to the challenges they are facing in their job search. All students who enroll in the class will receive a free retake of the program, giving them even more chances to learn from experienced instructors in a practical, hands-on setting.

Columbia Engineering: UX/UI Design Bootcamp

Key Information: In this 24-week, part-time certificate program, students will learn the theories and practices professionals use to create responsive, accessible designs. The course runs three days a week during the evenings, and students will be able to attend the course in-person or online. Students enrolled will receive one-on-one job coaching assistance, and they will work on practical projects that can become part of their professional design portfolio.

The Columbia School of Engineering offers an immersive, 24-week UX/UI Design Bootcampthat is available to students in-person or online. In this class, students will get hands-on training from expert instructors in processes of user-centric design research, design thinking, prototyping, interface design, storyboarding, visual design theory, web prototyping with HTML5 and CSS, interaction design with JavaScript and jQuery and other skills vital to UX Designers. All of the lessons will include hands-on exercises that will see students doing everything from planning out the visual appearance of a web interface to coding that interface and making it a reality.

The lessons that students learn in this bootcamp are designed with the desires of real-world employers in mind, meaning that students will be well equipped to enter the job market immediately after completing the program. In this class, students will receive focused career-training support, and once they complete the program, they will earn a certificate of completion acknowledging their training. All of the exercises students complete are geared toward helping them build their own digital portfolio of interface designs to help employers see the skills they have developed. In addition, students will receive tailored career support from experienced UX design instructors who can help students navigate the often challenging job market.

General Assembly: User Experience Design Immersive

Key Information: This immersive, career-focused training program runs full-time for three months and aims to provide students with all of the skills they need to begin a career in user experience design. In addition to immersive training, students will be able to attend General Assembly sponsored networking events and receive one-on-one career mentorship assistance.

General Assembly, located in the heart of NYC, offers a User Experience Design Immersive course for students looking to learn how to design responsive and accessible interfaces and web applications. This course will see students learning the design process from the beginning, designing sample interfaces in Figma and converting them into working prototypes for future testing. In this course, students will get hands-on experience performing a range of different testing methodologies, giving students a broad grasp on all of the major skills they will need to work with users, gather feedback and implement that feedback in the design process. Students will get practical experience working on real-world design projects, and they will learn the theoretical skills they need to approach complex design problems that are likely to arise in their professional careers. Students will also spend the course building a job-ready design portfolio that will highlight their unique skills and voice as UX Designers.

This course provides students with an immersive, career-focused education. Students will learn more than technical fluency as they receive practical training in skills like live testing, feedback hand-off, team presentations and practical collaboration techniques. The goal of this program is to prepare students for a career in user interface design and General Assembly aims to ensure that students have knowledge of the interpersonal and professional skills they will need to succeed in the field. In addition to high-quality professional training, students will also receive access to General Assembly’s career networking services and one-on-one career coaching sessions. Graduates will receive a certificate of completion that they can take with them onto the job market, alongside all of the projects that they have finished as part of their training.

BrainStation: UX Design Bootcamp

Key Information: BrainStation’s UX Design Bootcamp is an immersive career-training program that is offered in-person in NYC or online in live digital classrooms. Students can enroll in a part-time (six-month) or full-time (three-month) version of the course. BrainStation works with numerous corporate sponsors to tailor the course to focus on real-world user experience problems, and all enrolled students will be able to take advantage of the career services offered by BrainStation.

BrainStation, in partnership with a range of corporate sponsors, hosts an immersive UX Design Bootcamp for students looking to learn how to design, test, iterate upon and complete user interfaces for digital products and web applications. In this course, students will learn the basics of designing first drafts of user interfaces, and they will receive training in the use of Figma to turn those drafts into working prototypes. Once they have a prototype in hand, students will learn the process of live testing that application through a range of different means (including focus groups, individual experience testing, A/B testing and formal survey responses). During this program, students will get hands-on experience iterating and modifying their designs with the help of user feedback, and they will learn how to best parse and communicate the feedback they receive to produce actionable implementations. This course aims to provide students with practical training in the art and science of user experience design, and all of the projects students complete will be used as part of a final portfolio project.

This course is a career-focused training program designed in tandem with some of the country’s largest corporations and employers. BrainStation boasts a nearly 90% job placement rate and has worked alongside partners like MasterCard, Meta, Microsoft and even companies like Johnson & Johnson. During this course, students will receive guided career development instruction, and they will work on projects designed with the needs of their real-world partners in mind, giving students a practical introduction to the kinds of problems they will be tasked with solving once they enter the workforce. Students will regularly have the opportunity to work with guest lecturers who work as professional UX Designers, and students will receive tailored career support and one-on-one assistance during the program.

Pratt Continuing and Professional Studies: UX/UI Design

Key Information: Pratt’s UX/UI Design program offers students the opportunity to learn user interface design in-person in Brooklyn or online in a live digital classroom. This course runs for 16 weeks and covers four required classes plus a collection of elective classes. Students will receive access to all of the necessary software and will receive personalized career mentorship training.

Pratt’s Continuing and Professional Studies program offers a UX/UI Design certificate course for students looking to learn in-demand career skills and practical problem-solving skills. Pratt’s courses offer students the chance to learn design and user behavior testing skills that companies are seeking to help them perfect their digital designs. Students will learn how to construct working user interface prototypes in Figma, and they will get hands-on experience designing these applications from scratch. Then, students will spend time learning foundational user experience design principles, including well-established techniques for ensuring that a web application is responsive and accessible. Finally, students will learn how to conduct valuable user research to see how real-world users engage with the interface once it is in their hands. Then, students will learn how to parse this feedback and create actionable plans to implement the useful feedback they receive.

This is a career-focused training program that aims to provide students with a practical, hands-on educational experience that will prepare them for the job market. Pratt offers training courses built with employer needs in mind and attuned to the current state of the job market. This means that students will learn in-demand skills that will set them apart from other applicants. Students will receive guided career support, and they will spend the bulk of the class time working on real projects that they will compile into a design portfolio at the end of the course. Students will also receive training in interpersonal skills that professional UX Designers need such as how to give presentations on user feedback and communicate their findings to invested stakeholders. Students will receive personalized feedback on their work and will receive a certificate of completion that they can add to their job materials.

The New School: User Centered Design

Key Information: The New School’s User Centered Design program is a career-focused certificate track that allows students to attend live in-person or online courses to earn a certificate in UX Design. The track consists of five courses, each of which is expected to run between six and nine weeks. The New School anticipates that most enrolled students will complete the certificate program in about 18 months. Students enrolled in this course will receive their instructors' personalized career advice and support.

Parsons School of Design, part of the New School, offers a robust and immersive User Centered Design program for students looking to become certified in user experience design. Students enrolled in this class will learn the fundamental principles of user-centered design and how to test and collect user feedback on their designs. Students will begin by learning foundational principles of user experience design with the aim of helping them understand how to design responsive applications that users will feel comfortable with. Lessons will cover subjects including research methods and practices, gathering and interpreting user data, building interfaces on emerging platforms and performing usability tests. This course will provide students with the training they require to be ready to find work as UX Designers, and they should be comfortable immediately beginning work on real-world design projects.

This course is a career-focused certificate program that aims to provide students with the skills and training necessary to find work as UX Designers. The course is structured around practical, real-world design projects that mirror the kinds of interfaces that designers will build for companies and start-ups. Students will work on a wide range of projects and build a sample design portfolio that they can use as part of their application materials, and the skills they learn will help them expand on their existing projects to make them even more marketable. Students will receive a certificate of completion that serves as evidence of their professional development training, and students will receive guided, personalized feedback on their work, letting them know where they need to improve and what strengths they have to highlight.

Google: UX Design Certificate

Key Takeaways: Asynchronous, on-demand video modules. Consists of over 200 hours of online content. Students working part-time (10 hours per week) are expected to finish in six months. Career services available to graduates.

Google offers an immersive UX Design Certificate program aimed at students looking to learn the skills that Google designers apply when building and testing user interfaces. This course, which is offered on the Coursera platform, gives students the chance to learn UX design skills at their own pace from anywhere. This training program includes over 200 hours of video content and hands-on assignments aimed at guiding students through the UX design process. Students will learn to follow Google’s internal UX design strategy, which focuses on empathizing with users, defining pain points, ideating solutions, creating wireframes and prototypes, and testing and iterating on designs. By the end of the course, students will know how to take a UX design project from start to completion. This course aims to teach students practical, transferable skills that they can utilize in any design project.

The course is fully self-paced and offers students the chance to train their UX design skills on their own schedule. Accordingly, the time it takes to complete the course will vary depending on a student’s own time commitment, but Google estimates that students will complete the program in approximately six months if they work on material for ten hours a week, which they find to be the norm for most participants. The course covers practical design skills using Figma and Adobe XD, so students will need to acquire those applications. Students who complete the course will be to take advantage of Google’s career services and resource program, gaining access to resume review, interview preparation, and career support services.

Figma Academy: Figma Academy Certificate

Key Takeaways: Dedicated Figma training program. Asynchronous courses are offered with lifetime access to course materials. Six major modules.

Another option for students looking to become certified in UX design is to become certified in specific user interface design tools such as Figma. The Figma Academy offers a comprehensive introduction to the program for students looking to hone their UX and UI design skills. This course aims to provide students with a detailed education in the use of Figma for design and testing purposes. The course emphasizes the collaborative features available in Figma, teaching students how to use the application to streamline and improve the design process. The course also aims to teach students how to design interfaces that account for other steps in the product design process, including an emphasis on what needs to be done to prepare a project for development.

This course offers a more complete UX and UI design education for students hoping to work on interface development projects. While these skills are transferable between tasks, the main focus of the instruction is on the different kinds of work that students can do with Figma. This course will cover UX design skills, but it will also teach theories of visual composition, user interface design, and prototyping skills that aim to assist in the developer hand-off process. Students who imagine that they will be making significant use of Figma or who think that they will likely work on all elements of an interface design project should consider enrolling in this course.

FAQ for UX Design Certificates

What is the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?

While they are both aspects of professional development, certificates and certifications are not the same thing. While they are both ways to demonstrate your skills to employers, they demonstrate those skills in different ways. Which one is best for you will depend on a number of factors.

Certificates are akin to diplomas and are awarded to students who complete industry-recognized training programs. In these courses, students will learn all of the skills they need to find work as UX Designers. These tend to be career-focused courses aimed at beginners who need to start learning user experience design principles from the beginning. These courses tend to take months to complete as they are condensed versions of advanced professional training. However, these certificates do not expire, and most certificate programs offer some amount of career assistance services for students looking to complete the programs.

Certifications are exams that professionals can sign up to take to demonstrate their skills as UX Designers. These exams test a student’s existing knowledge and proficiency, and they are most often overseen by industry-leading first-party developers or professional organizations. These exams rarely take more than two hours to complete, but they will require students to have significant pre-existing knowledge of user interface design principles. Some certifications expire after a fixed period of time, requiring the holder to go through a process of becoming recertified.

Should I Pursue a Certificate or a Certification?

The answer to this question is largely dependent on whether or not you already have significant training and experience working on UX Design projects. If you have professional experience and are looking to demonstrate that experience, you should consider taking a certification exam since these programs aim to determine whether or not your current level of knowledge is sufficient. While some professionals may benefit from enrolling in refresher courses to become more familiar with specific concepts, certification exams tend to be better options for professionals with working experience.

If you are looking for a new career and you have minimal experience in UX design, it is likely that you’ll want to enroll in a certificate-granting program. These training programs are perfect for new designers looking to learn basic and advanced skills and get the kind of practical training that certification exams test. These courses are ideally suited for students who are aiming to learn new skills, and most of the courses offer career support services for students looking to find work in the field.

Do I Need to Become Certified to Find a Job?

As a general rule, certification isn’t a requirement for most UX Design positions. Some companies may require related certifications for specific job offerings (such as cybersecurity certification for designers working with sensitive consumer information), but these are the exception rather than the rule. However, becoming certified is a good way to increase the desirability of your application since it will demonstrate to prospective employers that you are prepared to start working on UX design tasks right away. In addition, students who complete certificate programs are likely to have spent a great deal of time working on projects that they can add to their job materials. 

What Certificate Program is Right for Me?

Which is Better: In-Person or Online Classes

Students living in NYC have a wide range of options for UX design certificate courses, many of which are offered in-person and online. When choosing whether to commute to campus or attend from your home office, there are a few things you’ll want to consider. Online learning has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last few years, and many live in-person classes are just as immersive and effective as in-person classes, so you will want to seriously consider it as an option.

Students often report preferring in-person classes because they give them the chance to work face-to-face with their instructors and classmates in a space designed to help them remain focused. These courses also give students the opportunity to use campus technology, which can be very productive for students who don’t have access to that material at home. However, in-person classes come with the drawback of requiring students to commute to campus and limiting their options based on the locations to which they can physically reach, which isn’t much of a problem in NYC, but for some residents, could mean adding a lot of extra travel time.

Online classes eliminate the problem of the commute by letting students learn UX design skills without leaving their homes. Students can enroll in classes that are offered all over the country, which gives them even more options to find the UX design class that is best suited to their needs. The drawback to online classes is that students will need to provide their own technology, including a device that can run the programs they need to work on while also broadcasting a live online class. In addition, students will need to ensure that their class time is distraction-free since this can be a challenge for some students.

Which is Better: Live Online or Asynchronous Classes?

If you decide to take classes online, you’ll also have to choose whether you attend a live online class or an asynchronous online course. Live online classes operate like in-person classes, with a live instructor giving lectures and running workshops in real-time. Asynchronous classes are courses where students are able to move through course material at their own pace, which often involves watching recorded videos and working on pre-built exercises. These courses are designed to give students maximum flexibility in their work schedules.

Asynchronous courses let students work at their own pace, so they are the best fit for students whose work or family obligations prevent them from attending regular classroom meetings. This gives students who wouldn’t have the chance to learn UX design an alternate option for receiving instruction. The drawback is that without a live instructor, students will need to solve problems and overcome challenges on their own, which can be difficult, especially if the course contains outdated information. In addition, it can be easy to fall behind on your work in an asynchronous course, meaning students will have to be more self-motivated to complete their work. While asynchronous courses give students who need flexibility the opportunity to study UX design, if attending a live class is an option for you, it is likely to be the best long-term choice.