UX Design

roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/ux-design

Suggested path through the UX Design nodes. Each node links to its lesson when written.

Nodes

Foundations

• What is UX Design?
• UX vs UI
• UX vs Product Design
• Human-Centered Design
• Design Thinking
• Double Diamond Process
• Cognitive Psychology
• Gestalt Principles
• Mental Models
• Hick’s Law
• Fitts’s Law
• Jakob’s Law
• Color Theory
• Typography

User Research

• Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
• User Interviews
• Surveys & Questionnaires
• Contextual Inquiry
• Field Studies
• Diary Studies
• Focus Groups
• Competitive Analysis
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Card Sorting
• Tree Testing
• Ethnographic Research

Analysis & Strategy

• User Personas
• Empathy Maps
• User Journey Maps
• Customer Journey Maps
• Affinity Mapping
• Jobs to be Done (JTBD)
• Problem Statements
• Point of View (POV) Statements
• How Might We (HMW)
• User Stories
• User Flows
• Task Analysis

Information Architecture

• Information Architecture
• Site Maps
• Navigation Patterns
• Content Strategy
• Taxonomy & Labeling
• Mental Models & Findability

Interaction & Design

• Sketching
• Wireframing
• Low-Fidelity Prototypes
• High-Fidelity Prototypes
• Interaction Design
• Microinteractions
• Design Patterns
• Design Systems
• Style Guides
• Atomic Design
• Responsive Design
• Mobile-First Design
• Storyboarding

Accessibility

• Accessibility (a11y)
• WCAG Guidelines
• Color Contrast
• Screen Readers
• Keyboard Navigation
• Inclusive Design

Testing & Validation

• Usability Testing
• Moderated Testing
• Unmoderated Testing
• A/B Testing
• Guerrilla Testing
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics
• Cognitive Walkthrough
• Accessibility Audits
• Analytics & Metrics

Tools

• Figma
• Sketch
• Adobe XD
• FigJam / Miro
• Maze
• UserTesting
• Hotjar
• Optimal Workshop

Soft Skills & Career

• Communication & Storytelling
• Presenting Design Work
• Design Critique
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• UX Writing
• Building a UX Portfolio
• UX Ethics

Resources

See resources.md.

Project ideas

• Redesign a flawed checkout flow: run a heuristic evaluation, prototype the fix in Figma, then validate it with 5 usability tests.
• Conduct end-to-end user research for a local business app — interviews, personas, journey map, and an information architecture validated via card sorting.
• Build a small accessible design system (tokens, components, WCAG-AA color contrast) and document it with a Storybook-style style guide.