Mobile App Design Course

Lesson 1 • Mobile Design Landscape Overview

Covers the evolution of mobile interfaces and key differences between iOS and Android design paradigms. Establishes vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Mobile User Mental Models

Explores how users form expectations about app behavior based on prior experience and platform norms. Prepares students to design interfaces that feel intuitive from first use.

Lesson 3 • Touch Interaction Fundamentals

Introduces touch targets, gesture vocabulary, and thumb-zone ergonomics as core mobile interaction principles. Grounds students in human-factor constraints unique to touchscreens.

Lesson 1 • Mobile-Specific Research Methods

Covers diary studies, contextual inquiry, and in-situ observation suited to capturing mobile usage in real environments. Highlights how context of use shapes data quality.

Lesson 2 • Personas and Journey Mapping

Transforms raw research data into personas and mobile journey maps that capture context, emotions, and friction points. Outputs serve as reference artifacts throughout the design process.

Lesson 3 • Defining Research Goals and Questions

Teaches how to translate a design problem into focused research questions with measurable outcomes. Ensures research effort stays aligned with project objectives.

Lesson 4 • Synthesizing Insights into Design Briefs

Guides students through affinity mapping and insight prioritization to produce a concise design brief. Bridges research output and the ideation phase that follows.

Lesson 1 • Core IA Concepts for Mobile

Introduces hierarchy, taxonomy, and labeling as the building blocks of mobile information architecture. Establishes how IA decisions affect navigation complexity.

Lesson 2 • Designing Search and Filters

Covers search bar placement, autocomplete behavior, and filter UI patterns for mobile content discovery. Addresses edge cases like empty states and zero results.

Lesson 3 • Sitemap and Flow Documentation

Teaches creation of mobile sitemaps and task-flow diagrams that communicate structure to developers and stakeholders. Standardizes documentation format for team collaboration.

Lesson 4 • Mobile Navigation Patterns

Surveys tab bars, hamburger menus, bottom sheets, and gesture-based navigation with trade-offs for each. Equips students to select patterns appropriate to content depth and user frequency.

Lesson 1 • Sketching and Rapid Ideation

Uses paper sketching and Crazy Eights exercises to generate multiple layout concepts quickly before committing to digital tools. Builds ideation fluency and reduces design fixation.

Lesson 2 • Screen Layout and Grid Systems

Applies column grids, spacing units, and baseline grids to create consistent, scalable mobile layouts. Connects grid discipline to developer handoff accuracy.

Lesson 3 • Wireframe Review and Iteration

Structures critique sessions using heuristic checklists to identify layout and flow issues in wireframes. Teaches students to prioritize and document revisions efficiently.

Lesson 4 • Clickable Low-Fidelity Prototypes

Links wireframe screens into navigable prototypes to simulate core user flows without visual polish. Enables early usability testing before visual design begins.

Lesson 1 • Iconography and Imagery

Defines icon style, sizing, and grid alignment alongside guidelines for photography and illustration in mobile UI. Ensures visual consistency across all graphic elements.

Lesson 2 • Typography on Mobile Screens

Covers type scale, line height, and font pairing optimized for small-screen legibility across lighting conditions. Establishes a typographic system reusable across the app.

Lesson 3 • Visual Hierarchy and Layout Composition

Applies Gestalt principles, contrast, and spatial relationships to direct user attention through screen compositions. Translates wireframe structure into visually compelling layouts.

Lesson 4 • Color Systems and Theming

Builds a structured color palette with primary, secondary, semantic, and neutral tokens for consistent UI theming. Addresses dark mode and high-contrast requirements.

Lesson 1 • Building Core UI Components

Constructs buttons, inputs, cards, and navigation elements as reusable components with defined states and variants. Establishes component anatomy and naming conventions.

Lesson 2 • Design System Fundamentals

Defines what constitutes a design system—tokens, components, patterns, and guidelines—and its value in mobile product teams. Distinguishes a design system from a style guide.

Lesson 3 • Documenting and Maintaining the System

Creates usage guidelines, do-and-don't examples, and contribution workflows to keep the design system healthy over time. Addresses versioning and deprecation processes.

Lesson 4 • Design Tokens and Theming

Implements design tokens for color, spacing, typography, and elevation to enable systematic theming and brand updates. Connects token architecture to multi-platform scalability.

Lesson 1 • Transition and Navigation Animation

Designs screen transitions, shared-element animations, and navigation choreography that orient users spatially. Covers timing curves and duration guidelines for mobile.

Lesson 2 • Micro-Animation Design Patterns

Catalogs micro-animations for button feedback, loading states, toggles, and form validation that communicate state changes. Emphasizes purposeful animation over decorative motion.

Lesson 3 • Prototyping Animations in Design Tools

Builds animated prototypes using advanced prototyping features to simulate real interaction behavior for user testing. Covers smart animate, component states, and scroll interactions.

Lesson 4 • Performance and Accessibility of Motion

Evaluates animation performance budgets and reduced-motion preferences to ensure animations do not harm usability. Connects motion design to inclusive design standards.

Lesson 1 • Moderated and Unmoderated Testing

Compares moderated in-person and remote sessions with unmoderated remote testing for mobile prototypes. Guides method selection based on timeline, budget, and research goals.

Lesson 2 • Analyzing Usability Test Data

Applies qualitative coding, task completion rates, and error frequency analysis to surface actionable usability findings. Prioritizes issues by severity and frequency.

Lesson 3 • Usability Test Planning

Defines test objectives, task scenarios, and success metrics aligned to the design brief and research questions. Produces a test plan document used to align stakeholders.

Lesson 4 • Iterating and Preparing for Handoff

Applies test findings to refine high-fidelity designs and prepares a complete developer handoff package with specs and assets. Closes the design loop before engineering begins.