Career Change

A real mentor. A real client project. A real portfolio.

A real client brief from week 1, presented back to the company's decision maker in week 9. A weekly industry mentor session, AI-first, and a portfolio from real client work. A UX course, not a UI course.

Duration

10 weeks

Deposit

£99 (14-day refund)

Price

£1,500 early bird, then £2,000

Next cohort

12 Jan 2027

Cohort size

Max 10

Schedule

Evenings 6-8:30pm UK

A live UX Academy class on Zoom, with the instructor speaking and the small group listening in the gallery grid.
Why we teach it this way

The process hasn’t changed. Every step of it now involves AI.

Research, personas, wireframes, testing, handover: same thinking, different practice.

New

You never learn it the old way

You learn how UX is done now, not how it was done before AI.

AI

The scarce skill is judging AI output

Anyone can prompt an AI tool. Judging its output takes the fundamentals this course teaches.

Past graduates came from

Marketing Manager→UX Designer3 months
Software Developer→UX Designer4 months
Secondary School Teacher→Junior UX Designer5 months
Accountant→UX Designer4 months
Graphic Designer→UX Designer3 months
Project Manager→UX Designer6 months

“The course has been absolutely fantastic. The teachers have been brilliant and very attentive. Definitely recommend for obtaining real life experience and developing a grounding in UX.”

SamSam — Market Research & Product Development Specialist → Product Designer (UX/UI) at Bluepass
A typical week

Not a video course. A live experience.

Here's what Week 3 of the course looks like in practice.

Step 1

Class night

Live class, one evening, 2.5 hours. Methods plus your client brief.

Step 2

Self-study

Reading and the session recording. Your pace.

Step 3

Mentor session

45 minutes as a team with a working industry mentor.

Step 4

Project work

Apply the week's methods to your client brief.

Step 5

Peer review

Share work with your cohort. Give and get honest feedback.

Why UX Academy

Not a video library.
A live class.

Live

Weekly mentor session

45 minutes with a different industry mentor each week, for your team.

Real

A real client project

A real brief in a team of three, from day one.

See 20+ real client case studies →
CV

A real portfolio

Graduate with a case study built on real work, not a made-up exercise.

The client project

One real client brief per cohort.

Week 1: your team of three gets the brief. Weeks 2 to 8: you research, design and test it. Week 9: you present back to the company's decision maker.

The current cohort's client is a family-organiser app from a two-founder startup.

The UX process

Work through every stage.

Each module maps to a real deliverable. By week 9 you have worked through the full process on a live client brief and presented it.

ResearchUser interviews / synthesisArchitectureSitemaps / flowsWireframeLow-fi / prototypeTestUsability / sessionsIterateRefine / ship

See exactly how the course works

The weekly mentor session

Your team, your project, every week.

45 minutes each week with a different industry mentor and your whole project team, on the brief you were given in week one.

A weekly team mentor session on Zoom: a mentor reviews a booking-flow user journey with a project team of three, with sticky-note comments on the shared screen.
Is this right for you?

Built for career changers.

This course is for you if…
  • You're switching careers with no prior design experience
  • You want live accountability, not more videos to watch alone
  • You can commit 5 to 6 hours per week for 10 weeks
  • You want to graduate with a real portfolio piece
  • You're serious about getting a UX job, not just learning about UX
This course is NOT for you if…
  • You already have 1+ years of UX experience
  • You want self-paced with no fixed schedule
  • You want theory without applying it to real work
  • You need a full-time immersive bootcamp

Already working as a UX designer? The Advanced Agentic (UX) Design course is for you →

Price-match guarantee

Find a comparable live UX course for less? We’ll match it.

Same live instruction and named instructors as courses costing several times more. See the full UK comparison.

Live UX coursePrice
UX Academyfrom £1,500
BrainStationNot published
UX Design Institute~€2,995
General Assembly£9,000

London courses, verified June 2026. Price-match applies to comparable live, multi-week, mentored UX courses.

Want to see the full curriculum?

Week-by-week breakdown, learning outcomes, and tools covered.

See the curriculum ↓
Taught live

The fundamentals, taught by a person.

Every session is live. You can ask a question in the moment and get an answer in the moment.

A live UX Academy session on Zoom: the instructor teaches a user experience framework from a shared slide, with the small group listening in the participant grid.
What you'll learn

10 weeks. One client project.

Tap any week to see what you'll cover. Want it as a PDF? Get the brochure.

Week 1Your Client Brief & UX Fundamentals

Receive your live brief from a real company on day one, in a project team of three. Learn the core principles of human-centred design and run your first heuristic evaluation against the client's product.

FigmaHeuristic eval
Week 2User Research

Plan and run interviews and surveys for your client project, then synthesise what you hear into actionable insights about real user needs and behaviours.

User interviewsResearch plan
Week 3Information Architecture

Structure your client's content and navigation so users always know where they're and how to get where they need to go.

Card sortingIA
Week 4Wireframing & Prototyping

Turn your research into digital wireframes and an interactive prototype for your client project in Figma before a line of code is written.

FigmaJourney mapping
Week 5Usability Testing

Design and moderate usability tests on your client prototype with real users; identify and prioritise the issues that matter most.

Usability testing
Week 6Iteration & Presentation Prep

Refine your client project on real testing feedback and prepare the team presentation.

Client projectPresentation
Week 7Portfolio Case Study

Package your client project into a portfolio case study.

Portfolio
Week 8AI Tools in UX Workflows

Use AI assistants to accelerate research synthesis, ideation, and content generation, and build the judgement to evaluate what AI gives you against your target user, business goal, and user need.

AI tools
Week 9Client Presentation

Your team presents the finished work to the company's decision maker.

Client projectPresentation
Week 10Career Support Lesson

One lesson on presenting your case study and searching for work. The UX Career Track goes deeper.

Career
What comes after

UX design is a viable career.

According to ITJobsWatch, the median advertised salary for a UX Designer in the UK is £55,000 (2026-06). Entry-level roles start at £28,000–£38,000.

£28k-£38k

Junior UX Designer

Entry level

£45k-£60k

Mid-level UX Designer

2-3 years

£60k-£75k

Senior / Product Designer

3+ years, London

Your instructors

Named. Accountable.

Natalia Veretenyk

Natalia Veretenyk

Lead Product Designer

Natalia is Lead Product Designer at Carbonia Web, with 20 years of experience covering user research through to interaction design. She is curious about human behaviour and how people’s minds work, and is a recipient of the Adobe XD London award. In her free time she writes about design and mentors emerging talent.

KPMGAdobe XD London AwardDesign systemsFigma
Jonathan Hill

Jonathan Hill

Senior Product Designer

Jonathan is Senior Product Designer at localhost.company. He was previously Corporate UX Design Lead at the Kistler Group, leading that organisation’s design strategy, and before that a UX Researcher at the University of Vienna Applied Sciences. He specialises in influencing project teams to make user-centred decisions that serve both business and user goals, and is especially interested in the value of design and the scaling of design systems.

Kistler GroupUniversity of ViennaDesign systemsCorporate UX strategy

Graduate outcomes

People who made the leap

Not a highlight reel. Real transitions, real timelines.

Sam, UX Academy graduate, now Product Designer (UX/UI) at Bluepass

Sam

Market Research & Product Development SpecialistProduct Designer (UX/UI)

Bluepass

The course has been absolutely fantastic. The teachers have been brilliant and very attentive. Definitely recommend for obtaining real life experience and developing a grounding in UX.

4 months to first role
Vita, UX Academy graduate, now UX Designer at Airbnb

Vita

Marketing DesignerUX Designer

Airbnb

Moving from marketing design to UX felt like a huge leap, until I realised how much I already understood about what people need. The course gave me the language and the portfolio to prove it.

Chrysanthi, UX Academy graduate, now UX Writer

Chrysanthi

Customer Service Coordinator & TrainerUX Writer

Coming from a customer service background, I never thought UX was something I could do. UX Academy showed me that understanding people was already my strength: the course gave me the tools and portfolio to make it a career.

Daisy, UX Academy graduate, now UX Designer

Daisy

Career changerUX Designer

Working in customer support gave me insight into user pain points, but I didn't know how to translate that into UX. This course showed me how to structure research and turn insights into action.

Rory, UX Academy graduate, now UX Researcher and Designer

Rory

Career changerUX Researcher and Designer

I already understood how products are built, but not always why decisions were made. The course gave me a stronger foundation in design thinking and helped me connect technical skills with user experience.

Chiara, UX Academy graduate, now UX Researcher and Designer

Chiara

Career changerUX Researcher and Designer

Transitioning from marketing into UX felt natural once I started the course. It helped me reframe my existing skills and gave me practical experience to confidently move into a design role.

Cynthia, UX Academy graduate, now Junior UX Researcher

Cynthia

Career changerJunior UX Researcher

My background in psychology gave me an interest in human behaviour, but I needed practical tools. The course provided structure, methods, and real-world application to turn that interest into a career.

Lesego, UX Academy graduate, now User Experience Design Lead

Lesego

Career changerUser Experience Design Lead

I was used to working with data and requirements, but UX brought a more human perspective. The course helped me balance analytical thinking with creativity and build a portfolio that reflects both.

Gaby, UX Academy graduate, now Content Designer

Gaby

Events AssistantContent Designer

I am excited to have learned the different processes that go into UX and the thought behind the planning stages.

3 months to first role

4.8*

Trustpilot, 43 reviews

5.0*

Facebook rating

287+

Graduates since 2020

30% scholarship available →
Where our graduates went

Our graduates moved into roles at great companies.

Our graduates have gone on to roles at companies across tech, finance, healthcare, government, and beyond.

Airbnb
Barclays
Cazoo
Citi
EY
FutureLearn
Geely
GSK
IBM
Idean
Knight Frank
Legal & General
Secure your place

£99 14-day refund

Deposit to secure your place. Course fee £1,500 early bird until 15 December, then £2,000, for the cohort starting Tuesday 12 January 2027.

Next cohort starts 12 January 2027 · Every Tuesday, 6:00-8:30pm UK · 10 places max

UX AcademyCompetitors
Price£1,500 early bird, then £2,000up to £9,000
Live teachingYes, every sessionOften pre-recorded
Cohort sizeMax 10 students50 to 500+
Real client projectIncludedRarely included
  • 10 weeks of live instruction
  • Real client project included
  • Max 10 students
  • Direct Slack access to your instructor
  • Certificate on graduation
  • Interest-free payment plans available

Balance (course fee less the £99 deposit) payable by invoice before your cohort starts: £1,401 with the early bird, £1,901 if your deposit is paid after 15 December. Interest-free payment plans available on request.

Employer paying? We invoice your company directly — no deposit needed. Book a call.

“The course has been absolutely fantastic. The teachers have been brilliant and very attentive. Definitely recommend for obtaining real life experience and developing a grounding in UX.”

SamSam - Market Research & Product Development Specialist to Product Designer (UX/UI) at Bluepass

Need a payment plan? Get in touch. 30% scholarship available.

Questions

Before you enrol.

Is the course online or in-person?

The course is 100% live online. You join small live classes over Zoom in the evening (6:00 to 8:30pm UK time) from anywhere in the UK or abroad; there's no in-person attendance and no commute. Every session is recorded, so you can catch up if you miss one.

Do I need design experience to join?

No. This course is built specifically for career changers with no prior design experience, and it stays open to complete beginners. If you have already done some free or self-paced UX learning, that's a genuine advantage rather than a requirement -- the course is intensive and practical, and people who arrive already comfortable with the basics tend to get more out of it. The only requirement is curiosity and the ability to commit to 10 weeks of evening sessions.

Is this a UX course or a UI design course?

It's a UX course. You learn research, journeys, structure, prototyping and testing. You wireframe and prototype in Figma, but it isn't a UI or visual design course.

What happens in the last two weeks?

Week 9 is your team's final presentation to the client's decision maker. Week 10 is one career support lesson. The UX Career Track is the deeper job-search support, and it's a separate four-week extension.

Why does a beginner course teach AI?

Because the UX design process hasn't changed: every step of it, from research to wireframes to testing, now involves AI. As a true beginner you never have to learn how it used to be done: you only learn how it's done today. The scarce skill is judging AI output, and that judgement comes from exactly the fundamentals this course teaches (knowing your target user, your business goal, and your user need), which is what lets you write a useful prompt and tell a good result from a bad one.

How much time will I need each week?

One live session per week (one evening, 6:00 to 8:30pm UK time) plus 3 to 4 hours of independent project work. Budget 5 to 6 hours per week total.

What tools will I use?

Figma is the primary design tool, and it's free. Maze or Useberry for usability testing; Notion for project organisation. No paid subscriptions required. UX Academy also has partnerships with design software companies, so you get free access to some paid tools while you study -- not every tool, but a genuine saving on the ones we have secured licences for.

What do I get when I graduate?

A certificate confirming you completed the Beginner UX (AI) Design course, a portfolio with a real client project case study, and continued access to the UX Academy community. The certificate confirms completion; it isn't an accredited qualification.

If the project is a team project, do I still get my own portfolio piece?

Yes. Your team of three shares one real client brief and divides up the research, but each person does their own design work and writes their own case study: what you decided, what you tested, what you'd do differently. The brief is shared; the portfolio piece is yours. It also ends with something most course projects can't give you - your team presents the work back to the actual client, and their reaction goes in the case study.

Is the work peer reviewed?

Yes, in two ways. Your project team reviews the work between sessions as the project moves, and the cohort shares work for review on Fridays. On top of that, your team has a 45-minute session with an industry mentor each week, arranged separately from the weekly class, and it's a different mentor every week. It's a team session rather than one to one, which is worth knowing if a dedicated personal mentor is what you're looking for.

How much does the next cohort cost?

The next cohort starts on Tuesday 12 January 2027. The price is £1,500 early bird for a deposit paid up to the end of 15 December, then £2,000. A £99 deposit reserves your place and locks the price you paid it at.

Is there a scholarship?

Yes. UX Academy offers a 30% scholarship for designers from underrepresented groups, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, students with disabilities, and students with low income. Apply on the scholarship page.

What's your refund policy?

The £99 deposit is refundable within 14 days of booking. Cancel after that but before the course starts and the deposit is forfeited, though any balance you have paid is refunded in full. Once the course has started no refund is available, except at our discretion in exceptional circumstances.

I tried a self-paced course before and didn't finish. Will I cope with this one?

Probably better than you expect. Not finishing a self-paced course is usually a problem of accountability rather than ability - nobody noticed you had stopped. Here a named instructor sees your work every week, ten classmates notice when you go quiet, and a real client is expecting something real. Anything you covered before is an advantage: this course moves fast, so turning up already comfortable in Figma means you spend that time on the thinking rather than on the tool.

How is this different from a self-paced course?

Every session is live: a named instructor, maximum 10 students. Real feedback on your work every week, not videos to watch at your own pace.

Is a UX Academy certificate recognised by employers?

Hiring managers at agencies and in-house UX teams consistently tell us the portfolio matters far more than the certificate provider. Your graduation from UX Academy includes a real client project case study built under a live brief - the kind of work that gets you interviews. Named graduates including Alice Cunico (now Senior UX Designer at Barclays) and Kanisha Mistry (now UX Design Lead at Zone) secured roles on the strength of that portfolio. The UX Academy certificate doesn't expire and is issued by Nomadic User Ltd, trading as UX Academy. We're transparent: we aren't accredited by a government body, and most employers don't require that for entry-level UX roles. What they look for is proof you can do the work - and that's exactly what the course delivers.

Can my employer pay for the course?

Yes. Send us your company's billing details, plus a PO number if your company uses one, and we'll invoice them directly. There's no deposit when an employer is paying. Book a call at myuxacademy.com/book-a-call/ or email hello@myuxacademy.com and we'll sort it.

I'm not sure I'm creative enough for UX design.

Most of our graduates said exactly this before starting. UX is less about visual creativity and more about curiosity and empathy: understanding why people struggle with things, then figuring out how to fix it. If you have ever rewritten a confusing email, reorganised a messy drawer, or explained something complicated simply, you're already thinking like a UX designer.

What if I fall behind or miss a session?

Every live session is recorded and available the same day. Life happens; we know that. If you miss something, you'll catch up. The weekly drop-in sessions exist specifically for this: come with questions, share your screen, get unstuck. No one gets left behind in a group of 10.

I have seen cheaper courses online. Why is this one different?

A cheaper course teaches you the same material. What it can't give you is a real client project, an instructor who knows your name, or a cohort that gives you feedback on your actual work. Those are the things employers notice in your portfolio, not which platform you studied on.

Step 2 — UX Career Track

Ready to go all the way?

Extend with the UX Career Track: 4 more weeks for a second live client brief, run as a design team, plus 1:1 job support. Open to Beginner graduates — register your interest. Full path — £3,000 over 14 weeks.

Explore the UX Career Track →8 wks Beginner + 4 wks Career Track = job-ready
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Next cohort starts 12 January 2027. Limited to 10 students.

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