ID407
Product Design in Practice: Problem to Prototype
Faculty
Nick Mikulin
Staff Product Designer at Manychat
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
Learn product design fundamentals by creating user-first digital experiences. This course mirrors the real-life product design process, from identifying user needs to delivering design prototypes and presenting your work.
You'll gain practical skills in user research, information architecture, UI design, and rapid prototyping using AI tools. Beyond product design foundations, you'll learn how to communicate your design decisions through storytelling and understand the role of a product designer in a cross-functional team.
The course is designed for students from any background — design, business, engineering, or other fields. By the end, you'll complete a portfolio-ready case study that demonstrates your ability to take a product from research to final presentation.
Learning highlights
- Identify user problems and prioritise solutions: Learn user research fundamentals and information architecture to uncover real user needs, define key tasks, and structure experiences.
- Learn visual design principles: Understand layout, typography, colour, and accessibility to create interfaces in Figma and transform wireframes into high-fidelity prototypes using AI tools.
- Develop storytelling skills: Articulate design decisions and confidently pitch ideas to stakeholders.
- Understand real-world product development: Learn how designers collaborate with product managers and developers, work within design systems, and deliver designs in agile environments.
- Complete a full design project from research to presentation: Apply everything you’ve learned to build a portfolio-ready case study that demonstrates your end-to-end product design process.
Course outline
15 classes
Session 1
Introduction to Product Design: Overview, Design Thinking Basics
Session 2
Product Development Lifecycle & Product Designer's Role
Session 3
User Research Fundamentals: Context, Data, Interviews, User Jobs
Session 4
Information Architecture: User Flows, Top Tasks, Navigation
Session 5
Workshop: Wireframing Experience
Session 6
Visual Principles & Foundations: Layout, Typography, Color, Accessibility
Session 7
Workshop: Designing UI in Figma
Session 8
Workshop: Prototyping with AI
Session 9
Communication & Storytelling: Presenting Design Decisions at Work
Session 10
Workshop: Pitching Design Decisions
Session 11
Design Systems & Consistency: Patterns, Components, and Trade-offs
Session 12
Working with PMs & Developers: Collaboration, Agile, Handoff, Testing
Session 13
Student Project Work Session
Session 14
Final Presentations of Student Projects
Session 15
Portfolio Building, Career Guidance, Q&A
Prerequisites
A basic understanding of product development practices is helpful but not required. This course is designed for students from diverse backgrounds, whether you're coming from design, business, engineering, or other fields. No prior design experience is necessary.
Methodology
Learn by doing. This project-based course combines lectures on design fundamentals with hands-on workshops, where you immediately apply concepts to your own project.
Week 1 covers the fundamentals: user research, information architecture, and visual design principles. Week 2 shifts to practical application, with intensive workshops in Figma and AI prototyping tools. Week 3 focuses on real-world context, exploring how designers work in product teams, and concludes with final project presentations.
You'll build a complete case study from research to final presentation over three weeks. Expect lectures, workshops, peer feedback, and multiple opportunities to present and refine your work.
Grading
Nick brings over five years of product design experience, specialising in systems thinking, information architecture, and storytelling. As a Staff Product Designer at Manychat, he leads cross-organisational initiatives spanning navigation, UX patterns, design systems, and AI experiences. His background combines computational linguistics and product management with hands-on coding experience. Nick builds personal projects, including the presentation tool MODUL.page and experimental apps, and is passionate about simplifying complex journeys so that people can do more of what matters.
See full profileApply for this course
Product Design in Practice: Problem to Prototype
by Nick Mikulin
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Feb 02 - Feb 20, 2026
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
Complete the form below to kickstart your application
Schedule your Harbour.Space interview
If successful, get ready to join us on campus
FAQ
Will I receive a certificate after completion?
Yes. Upon completion of the course, you will receive a certificate signed by the director of the program your course belonged to.
Do I need a visa?
This depends on your case. Please check with the Spanish or Thai consulate in your country of residence about visa requirements. We will do our part to provide you with the necessary documents, such as the Certificate of Enrollment.
Can I get a discount?
Yes. The easiest way to enroll in a course at a discounted price is to register for multiple courses. Registering for multiple courses will reduce the cost per individual course. Please ask the Admissions Office for more information about the other kinds of discounts we offer and what you can do to receive one.