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Brain Psychology and UX Design Masterclass (December 2025)
December
2025
Costs
$50.00 USD
Taught by
Morgan Denner
Starts
Dec 1, 2025
Ends
Jan 10, 2025
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Key Audiences
UX Design
UX Research
UX Writing
Summary
“Good Design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible.” - Jared Spool
User experience deals with the study of how humans interact with the world. Whether physical or digital, User Interfaces must be engineered to help humans accomplish their goals. Behind it all, the human brain helps us take in information, perceive it, and interpret the world.
What makes a “Good” Design? What makes a “Poor” Design?
The most successful, self-evident, and intuitive Designs have no “friction” between the user and the interface. But what causes “friction” in user experiences? And how can UX designers reduce friction successfully?
They must do so by understanding the inner workings of the human brain. A human being’s physical or cognitive abilities may affect how they interact with it. Everyone’s brain functions in similar ways that affect how we interpret, view, and take in the world. To understand how to build an interface that “just works” and makes sense, people must first understand how our brains operate. Understanding Brain Psychology is a strong foundation for building interfaces. With it, you can understand how people perceive, think, and act based on the functions of the brain.
This class is a deep dive in human Brain Psychology as it relates to UX design and UX research work. It will teach you practical applications of Brain Psychology and how to apply these principles in UX design and UX research to increase intuitiveness and self-evidence.
Why Take This Class?
This class offers a crucial foundation for anyone trying to be a professional UX or Product Designer because it provides the theories of Brain Psychology in the context of user interface design. Learning these skills helps anyone in the UX or Product field become better designers with stronger fundamental skills.
Learning Objectives
Apply principles of Brain Psychology to user interface designs.
Apply Gestalt Principles of Perception to user interface designs.
Understand the functions in the brain that affect how humans interpret the world.
Understand how cognitive processes and cognitive load affect how humans will interact with user experiences.
Understand the principles of UX based on brain functions and cognitive processes.
Understand how to measure intuitiveness or self-evidence in user interfaces through qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Reading Assignments
Krug, S. (2017). Don’t make me think! A common sense approach to web usability. New Riders.
Weinschenk, S. M. (2020).100 things every designer needs to know about people. Pearson Education.
Curriculum
Week 1 - Dec 1 - Introduction to Brain Psychology and Human-Centered Design
Lecture
Overview of the class
Introduction Presentation: Once Upon a Time In the Brain
Week 2 - Dec 8 - Low-Level Cognitive Processes
Lecture
All about Low Level Cognitive Processes
Attention
Working Memory
Accessibility and Brain Psychology
Motor-based
Perception-based
Cognitive Based
Universal Design Principles
Basics of Cognitive Load
Designing for Low-Level Cognitive Processes
Appealing to Limited Memory and Attention
Class Time
Practicing auditing and re-designing interfaces that apply all principles you learn in class
Homework
UX Heuristics Audit
Week 3 - Dec 15 - High-Level Cognitive Processes
Lecture
All about High Level Cognitive Processes
Information Processing
Decision Making
Problem-Solving
Language
Speech
Critical Thinking
Designing for High-Level Cognitive Processes
Designing for Wayfinding
Designing for Affordances and Signifiers
Designing for Common Mental Models
Class Time
Practicing auditing and re-designing interfaces that apply all principles you learn in class
Homework
Project
Week 4 - Dec 22 - Perception
Lecture
All About Senses and Perception
Gestalt Principles: Psychology of Perception
How to Design for Gestalt Principles
Proximity
Continuity
Similarity
Closure
Emergence
Common Region
Class Time
Practicing auditing and re-designing interfaces that apply all principles you learn in class
Homework
Project
Week 5 - Jan 5 - AFTER HOLIDAY - Measuring Cognitive Load
Lecture
How to measure cognitive load through qualitative and quantitative research methods
Research to understand users’ mental models
The “5 Second Test”
Eye-Tracking
Usability Task Analysis
The Think-Aloud Protocol
SUS, NASA-TLX, and other subjective self-reporting
Class Time
Students will go around and present their progress on their projects (see the section of the syllabus on the project)
Homework
Project
