Announcing our 2013 Cooper U class schedule!

It’s that time again: New Years resolutions scribbled in notebooks, jammed packed yoga classes, fridges suddenly full of healthy grub to make up for creeping holiday waistlines. For most of us, those resolutions start out with a roar and end, well, with a wimpy fizzle. That’s why it’s critical to commit to specific plans now while you’ve got that New-Years-I’m-gonna-conquer-the-world hutzpah. Even if you don’t conquer your whole list by December, at least you can check a few things off with pride. The most important thing about resolutions is simply that they get us moving forward.

Enter Cooper U. We can help you with that momentum problem. We’ve got a fantastic line up of classes this year that can help you hone your design leadership, interaction design, and visual interface design chops. And, if you need practice on a real-world problem, we have an incredible lineup up of UX Boot Camps coming.

So, let us make actualizing resolutions easy for you. Try these on for size, and see which one(s) sparks your New Year’s fire most:

Resolution: Expand my influence so that I can get great design out the door.
Action: Register for 2 days of Design Leadership training.
Ever had an innovative and beautiful idea that never saw the light of day? Feel like your organization believes in the value of design, but prioritizes deadlines over fully developed ideas? These are symptoms of unhealthy communication and collaboration. Design Leadership will show you how to impact the culture of your organization, use storytelling to communicate the value of your work, and avoid common project breakdowns.

Resolution: Put new design thinking chops to the test on a real-world project (and help a nonprofit in the process).
Action: Sign up for one of Cooper’s UX Boot Camps.
Rather than applying prescribed methods by rote, learn how to use critical thinking skills to identify the right problem to solve, the appropriate tools, and the path to a stellar solution. UX Boot Camp is the keystone course in the Cooper U curriculum where participants design concepts that address a real-world challenge that a nonprofit is facing. You’ll get real-time feedback from your client and coaching from expert all along the way. This class is about getting your hands dirty, trying new things out, and taking risks. One of our UX Boot Camp alumni said it best: this is a chance to learn, fail fast, and not lose your job in the process.”

Resolution: Create a plan to express my company’s brand across digital products better.
Action: Sign up for a 2-day Visual Interface Design course.
Although the right features and behavior are essential to successful product design, the way they are presented is equally important. Our Visual Interface Design training shows you how to bring branding, detailed interaction design, and screen layout together to ensure a well-conceived, well-behaved product is also one your customers connect to.

Resolution: Fill in the gaps in my interaction design process and toolset.
Action: Enroll in a 4-day Interaction Design course.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned designer, Interaction Design reviews the foundational principles of UX design like user research techniques, personas and scenarios. You’ll then apply those tools to a class-based design project and sketch screen layouts of your final solution. This course can start you on your way toward a new career or offer you a sanity check for your current design process.

Resolution: Add interesting new peers to my rolodex.

Action: Sign up for any Cooper U class.
Designers, engineers, product managers and other design enthusiasts come from around the globe to Cooper U. Working so intensely together you can’t help but become fast friends. Who knows, that Swedish guy you sat next to might just be your next collaborator…

See how easy we made that? Now all you have to do is bite the bullet. ☺ We even have a discount carrot to offer you: 20% off our February Design Leadership class. Just use the code DL20213 when you register.

2013 COOPER U SCHEDULE