Diploma Program
This program can be offered at the campus(es) below. Please contact the campus of your choosing for program availability and delivery methods.
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Winnipeg, MB
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In Class
Online
Blended
Median Wage
$31 /hour
*Jobbank.gc.ca; 2025
User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UI) Designers are among the most in-demand and rapidly growing professions.
Most companies have integrated the UX design process into their application development lifecycle, and businesses are focusing on the accessibility and usability of digital products by conducting user research, analyzing results, and applying findings to improve the user experience.
CDI College is registered as a private vocational institution under The Private Vocational Institutions Act.
Learners will examine inclusive, accessible design systems and UX management to create a responsive and usable website. Through exploring information architecture and design systems students will work to develop a professional portfolio.
Request InformationUpon graduation, not only will you have a fantastic portfolio to show to potential employers, but you will also have 80 hours of hands-on experience completing a capstone project starting with research, ideation, prototyping, and ending with testing, mockup design and web design.
This program is ideal for those who enjoy research, design and innovation. In this program, students will understand basic concepts of UX and UI, conduct user research and create wireframes, user flows, site maps, customer journey maps, and graphic mockups.
Request InformationStudent Success Strategies [SSS4]
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and study techniques to help foster effective learning and a positive educational experience. This course explores two components of learning styles, Multiple Intelligence-based theory and Personality Spectrum – MBTI-based theory, and how learning styles and personality types affect learning. The course will cover the importance of values, their relationship to goals and goal setting. Strategies for setting personal goals, prioritizing tasks, managing time, and the stress that results from study or work situations will be explored and practiced through active participation in learner-centred activities. Effective study habits, techniques for preparing for tests and productive note taking strategies are key topics of this course that will provide the students with the necessary skills and attitudes to be successful in school. Having a sound understanding of financial, money, credit and debt matters and their implication on our lives is critical knowledge to have. Students taking this course will benefit from completing the Financial Management Workshops, which provides comprehensive coverage of financial and money management skills that will allow them to better save, budget, and manage their money and financial situations.
Adobe Photoshop [CA-PTSHP]
This course begins with covering the key techniques for working with Photoshop. Students will learn the key elements of the Photoshop interface, and how the tools and features of this popular software can be used to edit images. Students will learn to use precise selection control to correct a wide range of lens-based errors, interactively transform their images with a variety of tools, effects and filters. With a focus on the key features and tools of Photoshop, students will work with layers, masks, channels, brushes and vector drawing techniques to prepare images for both Web and print production. The course then moves on to more detailed advanced features of Photoshop including raster based painting for illustrations, 3- D, video and animation techniques, colour controls, etc. Students will also learn to use the techniques for designing with advanced layering and image compositing techniques, working with actions scripts, batch processes and other time saving options.
Adobe Illustrator [CA-ILSTR]
This course presents Illustrator as an industry standard tool for the production of professional quality illustrations such as technical illustrations, mapping, illustrating from photographic reference, and colourizing bitmapped images. After learning the functionality and techniques to produce basic professional quality illustrations, students move on to explore the more advanced features of Illustrator by completing a series of advanced assignments. Students will gain an advanced understanding of the tool set, so that they may solve more difficult design problems. Painting and Effects will be explored in detail. Projects will require a more sophisticated use of Illustrator techniques with a greater focus on finished quality and pre-press.
Introduction to User Experience Design [UIUX100]
User Experience Design is a process to enhance customer satisfaction by knowing their needs, converting needs and feedback into the usable and accessible products. UX Design is iterative, collaborative, experimental and creative process to achieve user and business goals. In this course, the students will learn about UX and UI design and research and how to apply user-centered design process to create usable and accessible digital products. The students will work on a UX design project by empathizing with the users, analyzing user needs and pain points, ideation, prototyping and preparing a usability testing report. In addition, the students will be introduced to the design systems and digital accessibility.
UX Research and Strategy [UIUX110]
In order to provide pleasant, usable, accessible, and satisfactory user experience, it is vital to understand the user needs, pain points, expectations, behaviours, and mental models. Understanding and applying UX research methods will help to empathize with the users and understand their needs and pain points. In this course, the students will learn various qualitative and quantitative research methods including interviews, surveys, focus groups, competitor analysis, and cognitive walkthrough. Students will analyze the research results and prepare scenarios, customer journey maps, and affinity maps. Later the students will define the requirements and develop the wireframes and prototypes of a digital product.
Information Architecture [UIUX120]
Every website or application should have usable, findable, and accessible navigation and content structure to enable the users to navigate the website, find and complete the desired task efficiently and easily. Information architecture is the combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems. This course will train the students on how to understand target audience, user needs, evaluation of current product’s navigation and content system and how to produce information architecture deliverables including site maps, user flows and wireframes. Additionally, the students will also learn how to run content audit, and prepare the content inventory, navigation, and content organization systems.
Graphic and UI Design [UIUX130]
To make a website or application esthetically appealing, it is very essential to learn how to design stunning graphics interfaces and visual assets including buttons, navigation, forms, banners, and images. A website should be usable and visually attractive. In this course, the students will get hands on experience in Adobe Photoshop. The emphasis of this course is to design graphic mockups and visual assets for the website or application to work on both desktop and mobile devices. The students will explore shapes, selection, pen, type, and other graphic design tools as well as layer masking, colors, smart objects, and layer groups. Finally, the students will use slice tool to optimize and export images for the digital delivery.
Vector Graphics and Typography [UIUX140]
In this course, the students will be using Adobe Illustrator to design visual mockups for the mobile and web apps. The learners will create logos and icons for the apps. They will learn how to create new documents and artboards and to save the workspaces. Images, shapes, and pen tool will be used to design the brochure and icons. The students will learn about color modes, file formats, and symbols. At the end, the students will prepare the files for the web, print and PDF, and learn different settings to export for web, print and PDF formats.
Responsive Web Design [UIUX150]
Digital online presence is essential to any business for awareness, promotion, engagement, and success. HTML and CSS are the core languages to design & develop desktop and mobile applications. Bootstrap is the CSS framework to design responsive digital products. In this course the students will learn how to use HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap to build responsive websites and applications to meet the needs of both mobile and desktop users. The students will be working on responsive digital projects by applying UX/UI design principles. This course also covers the deployment of the website and optimizing it for the search engines (SEO).
Digital Accessibility Foundations [UIUX160]
Digital Accessibility means that the websites and other digital products are accessible and usable to everyone including people with disabilities. Accessibility benefits everyone, people with or without disabilities. As a Web Designer, UX Designer or Usability Analyst, it is our responsibility to remove accessibility barriers and enable differently abled bodies to access the web, PDF, videos, and presentations, using the assistive technologies. This course has been designed to make the students aware of the importance of digital accessibility and how to develop accessible digital products. The students will learn how to evaluate websites against web content accessibility guidelines, ensuring the compliance with Canadian accessibility laws. The students will explore and apply different web accessibility tools and techniques and will study the accessibility laws specific to digital products
Usability Testing [UIUX170]
In this course, the students will describe and apply the usability testing process to obtain user’s feedback, behaviour, and pain points. The students will develop plan, hire participants, prepare task scenarios, orientation script, and consent forms. The learners will understand the lab and remote testing environments, execute the test sessions and prepare comprehensive report. The report will highlight patterns, findings, and recommendations to improve the user experience.
Interactive Prototyping [UIUX180]
In this course, the students will create responsive wireframes and interactive prototypes using Figma by applying the design thinking strategies. The students will explore the design thinking process focusing on ideation and prototyping stages. Figma plugins, libraries, and components will be learned along with the shapes, types, and colors. Different types of interactive prototypes will be generated including rapid and functional prototypes.
Development of Design Systems [UIUX190]
Digital design system is a key component of the product development life cycle and is vital for consistency, quality, and collaboration. A design system is a primary document which defines the guidelines, UI reusable components, colors, fonts, and branding. In this course, the students will create a design system for a digital product, describing the elements of a design system, process, and guidelines while ensuring the integration of the accessibility. The students will also examine other design systems from Google, Salesforce, IBM, and Apple.
User Experience Management [UIUX200]
In this course, the students will develop UX strategy and roadmap, aligning the business goals with the user goals. The students will also learn how to recruit, build, and develop a UX team and the stages of the team building. Integration of the UX process into the agile methodology, conflict resolution, performance reviews, communication, and stakeholder management strategies will be discussed. The students will be able to describe and run design sprints and workshops.
Portfolio Development [UIUX210]
The core elements required to be hired in the UI/UX industry includes professional portfolio, and a LinkedIn profile. In this course, the students will create these core elements which will help them to acquire a career in UX/UI. The leaners will explore and apply the portfolio design process and components of a portfolio, write project stories, and create the artifacts to display on the portfolio. Different tools will be used to design a professional portfolio. The students will also learn to package and host an online portfolio. Potential UX careers and job search strategies will be also be explored.
Capstone Project [UIUX220]
In this project-based course, the students will be working on a major project going through to the complete UX development life cycle, starting from research, ideation, prototyping, testing, mockup design and web design. The students will be applying the research and design skills learned in the previous courses..
Career & Employment Strategies [CES4]
In addition to learning career-oriented skills, students learn how to get a job in their chosen profession. Our Employment Services department will assist the graduate in resume writing, as well as preparing for job interviews. Our staff is sensitive to current job market trends and the needs of employers in each local market.
Our graduates receive guidance and training to use career tools that help job seekers build a better resume and cover letter, manage an online portfolio, hone interviewing skills, and develop a personal brand online.
Students will have the use of a computer lab which has unlimited Internet access, as well as job search resources. Facilitators will also be made available to advise on job finding resources, interview skills and techniques and to carry out mock interviews.
This course also looks at the planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up stages of an interview:
Admission
Benefits of this program
Employment Opportunities
Students must meet all of the pre-requisites listed below, meet their financial obligations with the college, and acknowledge their understanding of the college’s policies and procedures provided in the student handbook, prior to starting classes.
OR
Admission
Students must meet all of the pre-requisites listed below, meet their financial obligations with the college, and acknowledge their understanding of the college’s policies and procedures provided in the student handbook, prior to starting classes.
OR
Benefits of this program
Employment Opportunities
Our extensive network and reputation for excellence ensure that our UI/UX graduates are in high demand in today's competitive job market. Prepare to excel in sought-after roles with renowned companies and unlock limitless career opportunities. Elevate your career trajectory and secure your future with our program tailored to meet the demands of industry leaders.
I picked CDI College because the class sizes are very small, so the teachers are very involved and make sure that you know and always know what you're doing.
Emily C.
CDI College Graduate
The hands-on approach, itself, gave me chances to practice my art. It made it more interesting for me and helped me expand my skillset. It helped me turn a hobby into a job.
Liana J.
Graphic Design Graduate
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