Beginner level
No prior experience required
Designing Information
Flexible schedule
Approximately 5 weeks, 6 to 8 hours per week
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*Proof of full-time student enrollment required. Acceptable forms of ID include a letter from your university’s registrar office or an unofficial transcript. Email your documents to learnlab-help@lists.andrew.cmu.edu.
What you will learn
- Analyze how the effective application of type, spacing, hierarchy, and responsive grid layouts make interfaces readable and well organized.
- Evaluate the application of visual design elements and principles, including line, shape, form, texture, scale, balance, contrast, proportion, and unity.
- Evaluate the effectiveness and accessibility of color decisions using design terminology and color theory.
- Evaluate a design’s information architecture by assessing structure, organization, navigation, and wayfinding against established information architecture principles.
Course description
Good designs communicate the right information effectively. In this course, you’ll learn how typography and hierarchy can be used to direct attention and improve readability. You’ll explore how responsive grid systems support the communication of information, and discover how designers use color and other visual design elements to organize and express information. Finally, you’ll learn the core components of and best practices for applying information architecture.
Syllabus
Module 1: Typography & Hierarchy
- Evaluate how saccades, fixations, and word shape influence reading.
- Evaluate how to apply principles of leading, tracking, and kerning to improve readability.
- Evaluate which typefaces and fonts are effective for a given context.
- Evaluate how to apply principles of emphasis and hierarchy to direct users’ attention.
- Evaluate how to organize words, lines, and paragraphs using typographic principles.
Module 2: Grid Systems
- Determine which grid types and elements are used in a given scenario.
- Given a design scenario, evaluate how to apply best practices for responsive grid layouts.
Mini-Project 1: Structure & Alignment Evaluation
- Analyze a commercial website using typography, hierarchy, and grid systems principles.
- Evaluate the application of alignment, spacing, grouping, proximity, visual hierarchy, and grid structure.
Module 3: Visual Design Elements & Principles
- Analyze how line, shape, form, and texture work together as building blocks to organize and express information in digital interfaces.
- Evaluate how to apply the principles of scale, hierarchy, balance, contrast, dominance, proportion, and unity in visual design.
Mini-Project 2: Visual Design Elements & Principles Evaluation
- Analyze a website using principles of visual design.
- Evaluate the application of scale, proportion, dominance, balance, contrast, unity, harmony, and negative space.
Module 4: Color
- Compare and contrast two or more example colors using design terminology.
- Given a design scenario, select appropriate colors by evaluating their psychological and cultural impact.
- Evaluate how to apply color theory to the creation of accessible digital experiences.
Mini-Project 3: Color Evaluation
- Analyze a website of your choosing using color theory.
- Evaluate the application of color harmonies, palette, hierarchy and emphasis, accessibility, contrast, psychology, and mood.
Module 5: Information Architecture
- Distinguish between structure, organization, navigation, and wayfinding as core information architecture components.
- Evaluate existing information architectures to identify organizational flaws and improvement opportunities.
- Evaluate website effectiveness using eight principles of information architecture to identify organizational flaws and improvement opportunities.
- Evaluate information architecture against specific user goals and organizational contexts.
Case Study: Information Architecture Evaluation
- Evaluate information architecture from the perspective of a user with specific goals.
- Analyze a website’s structure, organization, navigation, and wayfinding.
- Identify and articulate opportunities for improvement based on your analysis.
Meet the instructor
Julie Saunders
Julie Saunders is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, where she leverages over 25 years of industry leadership to teach interaction design and advise undergraduate and graduate capstone teams. Her work is driven by a deep curiosity about human behavior, with a focus on designing innovative products, services, and experiences that balance user delight with strategic business objectives. Prior to joining the faculty in 2022, Julie was an independent consultant across the retail, fintech, and Web3 sectors. She previously held leadership roles in healthcare and led innovation and new product development initiatives in sleep technology. Julie earned her MDes in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University in 2005.
Where to go next
Core Principles of Interaction Design
Learn how to break down user experiences with experience mapping, as well as the laws and principles that shape human behavior and perception.
UX Design for Better Learning Experiences
Apply multimedia principles to design digital learning experiences that improve learning, not just usability.
Universal Design for Inclusive Course Design
Create more inclusive learning experiences by applying universal design principles to course activities, tools, and assessments.