RMIT Online and global visual communications platform Canva have partnered to create three human-centred design courses to equip design students and mid-career designers with hands-on capabilities in design thinking, user experience and prototyping.
They address the demand for designers that combine strong technical skills and knowledge of design thinking principles with the ability to identify and solve business problems.
RMIT Online partners with Canva
Li Tan, the Product Director at RMIT Online offered additional insights.
“Most firms have designers to work on the tools and execute on a design brief, but are looking for designers who can step back and make sure they are solving the right problems.”
“Design is more than just a skillset. It’s a way of thinking and we’ve developed programs that teach students both the theory and the practical skills to develop that.”
RMIT Online partnered with Canva, Symplicit, REA Group and Fjord (part of Accenture Interactive), to build the programs of the new Graduate Certificate in UX Design and the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Digital Product Design.
Subject matter experts from these partners bring to the courses their professional experiences and the current problems faced by the industry.
“We are creating simple user experiences that make design accessible for everyone.”
“This is an opportunity to share our expertise in taking a vision and turning it into a global product and help students learn to do the same,” said Andrew Green, Head of Design at Canva.
RMIT Online welcomes Canva partnership
In the Graduate Certificate in UX Design, one of the course’s main goals is to help designers navigate the challenges of balancing deep exploration of product, service and experience challenges with the organisational and commercial realities of the design industry.
“We also want to build business decision making and strategic thinking into the core skill set of the UX designer,” said Matt Kurowski, the Program Manager at RMIT.
In addition to developing mindsets, teaching strategic thinking, and responding to complex problems, the Digital Product Design courses also focus on interpersonal leadership skills and design and research operations capabilities.
Matt Kurowski said, “These courses explore how products, services and experiences constrain and unlock opportunities for local and global value and impact, now and in the future.”
“We aim for our graduates to be capable of integrating their unique skills into conventional and forward looking organisations to genuinely shape our futures through design.”
LinkedIn has listed User Experience Researcher as one of Australia’s fastest-growing job titles, with a salary of $161,000. Demand for digital product managers is also on the rise.
According to Burning Glass, there has been a compound annual growth rate of 42% in job listings registered from 2016. These courses will be credentialed by RMIT University.
