Subject Overview

An advanced, practice-oriented study of user interface design, user experience strategy, accessibility, responsive front-end development, research, analytics and design governance. The subject integrates human-centred design with modern web technologies to create usable, inclusive, performant and commercially effective digital products.

Learning Goal

Students will be able to research, design, prototype, implement, evaluate and govern responsive digital experiences; make evidence-based product decisions; lead cross-functional design–development workflows; and critically apply AI, analytics, accessibility and emerging technologies.

Syllabus

1. Foundations of UI, UX and Human–Computer Interaction

Learning Objective: Differentiate UI, UX, interaction design, service design and customer experience; apply usability principles, mental models, affordances, feedback, constraints, cognitive load, Gestalt laws and established HCI heuristics.

Category: foundation

2. Human-Centred Design and UX Strategy

Learning Objective: Apply design thinking, double-diamond, Lean UX and agile discovery processes; connect user needs with business goals, value propositions, product strategy, KPIs and digital transformation priorities.

Category: core

3. User Research and Requirements Discovery

Learning Objective: Plan ethical qualitative and quantitative research using interviews, observation, surveys, contextual inquiry and competitive analysis; develop research questions, sampling plans, personas, jobs-to-be-done and validated requirements.

Category: core

4. Information Architecture and Interaction Design

Learning Objective: Design content hierarchies, taxonomies, navigation, search, user flows, task models and journey maps; evaluate structures through card sorting, tree testing and cognitive walkthroughs.

Category: core

5. Visual Interface Design and Content Design

Learning Objective: Apply typography, colour theory, grids, spacing, hierarchy, iconography, imagery, brand systems, microcopy and interface states while accounting for perception, readability, localisation and cross-cultural use.

Category: core

6. Wireframing, Prototyping and Design Tools

Learning Objective: Produce sketches, wireframes and low- to high-fidelity interactive prototypes; select appropriate prototyping methods, document design rationale, conduct stakeholder reviews and support developer handoff.

Category: application

7. Web Platform Foundations for Interface Development

Learning Objective: Build standards-compliant interfaces using semantic HTML, modern CSS and essential JavaScript; explain the DOM, events, browser rendering, progressive enhancement, component architecture, version control and development tooling.

Category: foundation

8. Responsive and Adaptive Web Development

Learning Objective: Implement mobile-first layouts using intrinsic design, Flexbox, Grid, media and container queries, fluid typography, responsive images and breakpoint strategies across devices, orientations and input modes.

Category: core

9. Design Systems and Scalable Component Engineering

Learning Objective: Create and govern reusable components, design tokens, pattern libraries and documentation; manage variants, states, theming, consistency, framework integration, technical debt and designer–developer collaboration.

Category: strategic

10. Accessibility, Inclusive Design and Responsible UX

Learning Objective: Apply WCAG principles, semantic structure, keyboard interaction, focus management, assistive-technology support and accessible forms; address privacy, consent, bias, dark patterns, sustainability and legal or organisational obligations.

Category: core

11. Usability Evaluation and UX Analytics

Learning Objective: Plan moderated and unmoderated usability tests; apply heuristic evaluation, accessibility audits, A/B testing, funnels, behavioural analytics and experience metrics; interpret evidence while avoiding statistical and measurement bias.

Category: application

12. Performance, Quality and Cross-Platform Assurance

Learning Objective: Optimise Core Web Vitals, loading, rendering, media and asset delivery; test responsive behaviour, browsers, devices and networks; use automated testing, validation, debugging and continuous integration to assure interface quality.

Category: application

13. UX Leadership, Operations and Product Decision-Making

Learning Objective: Estimate and prioritise UX work, manage research and design operations, communicate with stakeholders, evaluate build-versus-buy choices, measure design-system adoption and use evidence to resolve product, resource and governance trade-offs.

Category: strategic

14. AI-Enabled Design and Emerging Web Experiences

Learning Objective: Critically use generative AI for research synthesis, ideation, content, prototyping and code assistance; assess hallucination, intellectual-property, privacy and bias risks; evaluate conversational, multimodal, spatial, personalised and privacy-preserving web experiences.

Category: contemporary