UX-60-2 Design Thinking: User Research and Strategy

UX-60-2 Design Thinking: User Research and Strategy

  • Course description
    • Course Code
      UX-60-2
    • Level of Study
      5.1
    • Program of Study
      UX/UI Design
    • Credits
      10
    • Study Plan Coordinator
      Candice Krüger
Teaching Term(s)
2027 Autumn
About the Course

This course introduces students to user research and design thinking as a foundation for UX/UI design. Students explore how research can support understanding of users, contexts, and design challenges through methods such as personas, user journeys, problem statements, and opportunity areas. The course also addresses research ethics, responsible data handling, and the role of design thinking in digital product and service development.

Through planning, research activities, analysis, and synthesis, students learn to translate findings into clearer design direction. The course supports a user centred approach to design by helping students identify user needs, frame problems, and communicate insights in ways that can inform later design work.

Course Learning Outcomes
Knowledge

The candidate

  • has knowledge of user research, design thinking, human centred design, personas, user journeys, problem statements, and opportunity areas in digital product and service development.
  • has insight into relevant regulations, standards, agreements and quality requirements, including GDPR, informed consent, confidentiality, and responsible handling of research data.
  • has knowledge of the UX/UI industry and is familiar with the field of work, including how user research and design thinking are used in digital product and service development.
  • can update their knowledge in user research by using relevant methods, digital tools, AI supported methods, case studies, and professional resources.
Skills

The candidate

  • can apply knowledge to practical and theoretical problems by planning and carrying out simple user research, analysing findings, and developing personas, user journeys, problem statements, and opportunity areas.
  • can apply relevant tools, materials, techniques and styles to collect research data, structure insights, create journey maps, and sketch low to mid fidelity solutions.
  • can find information and material that is relevant to a problem by using secondary sources, benchmarks, existing research, and domain knowledge to understand user needs and context.
  • can assess a situation, identify subject related issues, and identify what measures need to be implemented by examining services or interfaces, identifying user pain points, and recommending areas for further design work.
General Competence

The candidate

  • understands the ethical principles that apply in the trade and field of work, including informed consent, confidentiality, responsible data handling, and respectful interaction with participants in user research.
  • has developed an ethical attitude in relation to the practice of their discipline, showing awareness of bias, inclusion, and power dynamics in user research.
  • can carry out work based on the needs of selected target groups by translating research findings into personas, problem statements, and opportunity areas that reflect user needs and challenges.
  • can build relations with their peers, also across discipline boundaries, and with external target groups through collaborative research activities and clear communication of insights and recommendations.
  • can develop work methods, products and services of relevance to practising the discipline by producing research documentation that can support later design work.
Learning Activities

Digital Learning Resources
The learning management system (LMS) is the primary learning platform where students access most of their course materials. The content is presented in various formats, such as text, images, models, videos or podcasts. Each course follows a progression plan, designed to lead students through weekly modules at their own pace. Exercises and assignments (individual or in groups) are embedded throughout the courses to support continuous practice and assessment of the learning outcomes.

Campus Resources
In addition to the digital learning resources, campus students participate in physical learning activities led by teachers as part of the overall delivery.

Guidance
Guidance and feedback from teachers support students' learning journeys, and may be provided synchronously or asynchronously, individually or in groups, via text, video or in-person feedback.

Assessments
Form of assessmentGrading scaleGroupingDuration of assessment
Course Assignment
Pass / Fail
Reading List

Teaching materials, reading lists, and essential resources will be shared in the learning platform and software user manuals where applicable.