User Experience (UX) Design - Geneva College

BS Major • Minor

User Experience (UX) Design

Transform the digital world with strong skills in UI/UX and visual design, marketing, and programming

Intent, design, and execution are evident in the fingerprints of God's handiwork. Creating engaging user experiences in software and web interfaces involves the same intentionality and thoughtful execution. Geneva's User Experience program prepares you for a career as a software or web designer/developer with a robust understanding of the importance of purposeful design aesthetics that improve the lives of others.

Geneva prepares you to make a meaningful impact in your career, community, and life.

Modern Development Frameworks

Manage the creation of a website using modern web development frameworks from ideation to coding to completion

Hands-on Web Programming

Become proficient in HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript to create powerful web applications

Visual and User Experience Design

Understand and execute principles of visual/modern UX design with biblical integrity

Key Courses

Goal-Oriented Web Design

Learn how to keep abreast of design trends and avoid the pitfalls of those trends. Manage the creation of a website from ideation to coding and develop skills in design, prototyping, optimization, and programming.

Understanding User Experience

Learn what drives product usability, the basics of User Experience (UX) design and research, and how to build wireframes and prototypes.

Communication Design: Digital

Learn how to make informed design decisions about content placement and invention and master first level content development in an industry standard content management application.

Building Compelling User Interfaces

Build effective user experiences through a rigorous process of implementing best practices, testing designs, and iterating.

Experienced & Accomplished Faculty

 Gordon Richards
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Chair, Department of Computer Science and Director, Master in Cybersecurity Program
 Nicole Muckridge
Associate Professor of Mathematics
 Curtis Songer
Associate Professor of Business
 Joel Ward
Associate Professor of Communication
 Scott Madeira
Associate Professor of Computer Science
 Paul Poteete
Associate Professor of Computer Science

Rize Education Logo

Geneva College partners with Rize Education to deliver a program that features exceptional online training from talented UI/UX and website design experts. This collaborative hybrid program gives students the advantage of an on-campus and online experience resulting the most comprehensive education available in this high-demand field.

Learn More

Web design has three key components: intent, design, and execution.

  • Intent refers to the ideas and goals of a particular website - or of a page within a website. What do you want the visitor to do? Why do you want the visitor to do that?
  • Design is the process of executing on that intent. Design is about more than just aesthetics though - successful design drives visitors towards taking desired action(s), mimizes confusion, remains consistent with the rest of an organization’s visual brand, industry, and goals, and yes, looks aesthetically pleasing.
  • Execution is the process of building a website - understanding how to use HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript, and bringing a website from goals and images to finished product.

We conducted interviews with over 20 Fortune 500 employers, numerous technology professionals, and several academics to identify key problems in web design Education. Those problems can be summarized by one central idea: Traditional web design majors often overlook the fact that this is a synthetic discipline, combining elements of programming, graphic design, and marketing. These programs often produce graduates with skills that are either half-baked, or overly narrow. Our User Experience (UX) Design major was built to produce graduates who have all of the skills necessary to be effective web designers, and have demonstrated that skill through a heavy emphasis on project-based learning. Specifically, this offering seeks to produce students with the following skills and knowledge:

  • An understanding of key marketing concepts, and the importance of intent in web design
  • Programming skills necessary to build polished, database-backed websites
  • Robust skills in visual design and aesthetics
  • A comprehensive background in user experience design, and a working understanding of how the best websites drive visitors to take desired actions
  • An understanding of the product development cycle

These skills were defined as vital to either the process of web design itself or to working in technology in general by our committee of advisors, as well as our curriculum development team. To aid students in further developing their skills this major includes two optional elective tracks, one which focuses on programming skill and one which focuses on design skill.

Learning Objectives

The User Experience (UX) program is intended to equip students with the ability to create responsive websites consistent with modern web development practices. This program promotes skills and capabilities that are core to front-end development, including hard coding skills as well as agile, iterative, user-centered design practices. At a time when demand for web development skills continues to grow, this major ensures students are able to begin a web design career with the fundamentals, as well as a critical eye for good practice.

Geneva's Web Design & UX program aims to educate students in the following ways:

  1. Students will be able to use the languages of the web and modern development frameworks to create both static sites and web applications
  2. Students will be able to build high-fidelity user flow prototypes for both mobile and desktop web apps, leveraging principles of modern UX design
  3. Students will be able to conduct user interviews in order to iterate toward and validate compelling user journeys
  4. Manage the creation of a website designed for conversion from ideation to coding to completion of viable finished product
This program is intended to provide students with analytical and critical thinking skills in the domain of web development, as well as the ability to successfully build highly usable websites. By the end of this program students will have the following skills:
  • The ability to articulate and justify bespoke web development for a given problem
  • Ability to use the languages of the web to build simple web sites
  • The ability to apply modern UI and UX principles
  • The ability to build responsive, dynamic web applications
  • Fluency in the following development languages:
    • CSS (CSS3)
    • Javascript
    • Python (3)
    • HTML (HTML5)
  • The ability to suitably handle the data generated by responsive web applications using databases and APIs
  • User experience prototyping
  • Web application development optimized for the mobile interface
  • Tracking and evaluation of developing web design frameworks and trends
  • Applying agile methodologies in order to accelerate development using iterative processes

Career Outcomes

Our User Experience (UX) program is intended to prepare students for a job as a web designer/developer. It also provides students with skills that will be vital in a variety of technical and non-technical roles. It was designed with the specific intent of producing students with strong skills in UX and visual design, marketing, and programming.

13%

Designer jobs will grow 13% over from 2020 - 2030

700k+

over 700,000 open jobs in tech

$77k

The median salary for web designers is $77,200

“A Bachelor's Degree in UX Design from Geneva College provides students with a solid foundation to build excellent websites and applications that are intuitive, effective, and beautiful. This is precisely what employers in the field are looking for in their job applicants.”

Be prepared for careers such as...

  • Digital marketing/SEO specialist
  • UX designer
  • UX researcher
  • Web designer
  • Web developer
  • Applications developer

Further your impact...

  • Start your own web design firm
  • Go on earn a master's degree
  • Work in various technology-related fields

Tell Me More

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