Nowadays, you can master (almost) anything at the comfort of your house.
Online courses and classes gave us a chance to educate ourselves, without being obligated to physically attend them. And fortunately for you as someone interested in learning more about designing products, it applies to product design too!
In this article, I’ve compiled numerous free and paid Product Design Courses and Classes for you to step up your product design game.
Top 6 Free Product Design Courses
I’ll start with the free courses first, ones you can dig right in.
1- Product Design by Google
This free course by Google is a masterclass in product design, exploring subjects such as ideation, validation, UI/UX design, and design sprints.
Taught by full-stack engineer Chris Saden and the CPO of Reshuffle, Amir Shevat; this course offers a great overall value to anyone interested in product design.
It approximately takes 2 months to finish and is full of interactive content, videos, and helpful documents for you to master the basics of product design.
2- Creative Coding
This course is for the product designers who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty deep in programming.
Creative Coding offers a 14-week masterclass on using object-oriented programming for graphic design, digital media, and creative applications; by New York University.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this 14-week period, according to the course page:
- The fundamentals of computational thinking applied through p5.js
- Best practices for designing software within an event-driven, object-oriented, real time framework
- How to ideate, conceptualize, and design original creative works in the medium of software
- Cultural literacy of the computational arts by critically engaging with historic and contemporary practices
- Personal learning strategies, project planning and problem solving skills
3- Product Design: The Delft Design Approach
This is one of the greatest introductory courses to product design that you can enroll in for free.
Product Design: The Delft Design Approach offers 7 weeks of rich content on what product design is, and how meaningful products are created.
Taught by Delft University of Technology, this course can act as your entrance to the industry.
4- Interaction Design Specialization
Ready to learn how you can design products that bring people joy, instead of frustration?
The aim of this course is solely on creating enjoyable interactions. Taught by UC San Diego, Interaction Design Specialization will take you approximately 10 months to finish, but will provide you with a lifetime worth of understanding of user experiences.
5- Innovation Through Design: Think, Make, Break, Repeat
This quick course by the University of Sydney introduces you to design processes; and explains how you can utilize your design knowledge to rise in your profession.
It is especially great for product designers that are looking for more concrete examples from the real world.
“Through introducing theoretical concepts and examining industry case studies with leading Australian design firms, we investigate design as learning about the context (the thinking part), building prototypes as tangible representations (the making part), and testing potential solutions (the breaking part). We build on this by showing the productive value of moving through the process quickly and often (the repeating part), to improve ideas and develop new insights.”
6- UI / UX Design Specialization
This course comes to rescue specifically for software design, and teaches you the best methods for creating high-impact user experiences that generate value.
Taught by instructors from the California Institute of the Arts (CAL ARTS), this course aims to give you the skills to visually impact users.
Top 6 Paid Product Design Courses
Free courses are almost always risk-free, and perfect for those who simply can’t afford paid courses.
However, paid courses are often much more specialized, while also bringing better content to the table. Let’s take a look at the best paid product design courses, the ones that will help you elevate your career.
1- How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Interested in behavioral design practices in product design?
I’m talking about understanding the daily routines of your audience, then placing your product in these routines to make it an irreplaceable part of their lives?
If yes, Nir Eyal, the author of the best-selling book “Hooked`, has put together the best course for you.
In his course on Udemy, he explains the core concepts of what he talks about in his book: “How to Build Habit-Forming Products”. With over 15000 attendees and over 2 hours of advanced content on behavioral product design, Nir’s course is definitely worth the money.
2- Digital Design: Creating Design Systems for Easier, Better & Faster Design
“Stop reinventing the wheel, and start having more fun. The secret to easier, faster, and better design is an effective design system!”
The name of the course, and the quote above says it all!
This paid product design course is created for those who want to design much more effective products with actionable items such as different case studies and exercises.
Taught by Dan Mall, a creative director and a design advisor, this almost-1-hour course can help you gain a brand new perspective to product design.
3- Intro to UX: Fundamentals of Usability
This course is your ticket into the whole concept of Usability.
Taught by Marieke McCloskey, Director of Research at UserTesting, this course will make you an expert on usability and any term related.
And don’t worry if you’re not a product designer in the core, this course is actually aimed at a broader audience that includes marketers, product managers, and all those who has a stake in customer experience.
4- Getting Started with Agile and Design Thinking Course
“Discover how to create useful digital products using agile and design thinking”
Taught by Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, this course can be an excellent candidate for your introduction-course to agile development strategies and design thinking.
The 4 week course will bring you to an above-intermediate level around the topic of agile product development, and will be a great addition to your skillset.
5- How I designed, prototyped & manufactured my first product.
Are you more into stories, rather than boring courses?
And also, are you a one-person-army that is going to have to learn every aspect of not only product design, but product management and product manufacturing?
Is there another course that fits you better than this course by Randy Ganacias, who documented their whole journey as a one-person product team.
6- Ultimate Guide to Product Design: Design Thinking Approach
“Uncover the secrets of successful products for outstanding user experience. Design your unique product that users love!”
This is the perfect course for those who want to be challenged in identifying problems and finding solutions for them real-time.
In this 2-hour course, you’ll learn how you can remove the challenges that keep your designs boring and poor.
Anything to look out for before starting this course? Well, to quote the course instructor: “Keep an Open Mind – Because the mind is like a parachute and it works best when it is open”!
Conclusion
There are dozens of product design courses out there, each offering you the help to master a different aspect of your profession.
Hope you find the best ones that fit your interests as a product designer, and take the first step in becoming a master of your craft.
Keep Reading: 16 Product Design Tools You Need Today
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I learn Product Design?
Every tool and resource to learn product design is available online. You can take many of the online courses and classes to master different aspects of product design.
What is the best online course on Product Design?
Google’s Product Design Course on Udacity and Rob Sutcliffe’s course on Udemy are some of the best product design courses you can find online.
