UX360 Certificate in Applied UX
UX360 Certificate in Applied UX: Strategic Experience Lead
5-day course running weekly every Friday from September to October 2026
The UX360 Certificate in Applied UX: Strategic Experience Lead is designed to bridge the widening gap between academic UX theory and the high-velocity demands of the modern industry. Unlike traditional UX Design courses that focus on theory and generic processes, this program trains professionals to act as product builders.
By leveraging the Applied methodology honed at leading tech industries, this certification helps participants become high-leverage strategic UX professionals who can directly support business outcomes and product decision-making.
The program focuses on judgment, logic, impact, strategic diagnosis, stakeholder communication and applied UX execution in realistic product environments.
Course Dates
4, 11, 18, 25 September
2 October
Class Time
9AM – 10.30AM EDT
3PM – 4.30PM CET
Delivery
Online Live Interaction
Non-recorded
Offline Assignments
Approx. 2–3 hours each week
Course Fees
UX360 Certificate of Attendance
No assessments or pass required
US$495
Before 1 July
US$595 after 1 July
UX360 Certificate of Achievement in Applied UX
Assessment and pass required
US$695
Before 1 July
US$795 after 1 July
Unique Value Proposition
Move from Figma expert to Product Builder. Most UX certificates verify that an attendee can follow a process such as personas, wireframes and testing. This certification verifies that an attendee can provide judgment.
- The So What Philosophy: The program moves beyond observations and focuses on building products within real industry constraints.
- Defend Decisions: Participants learn how to defend strategic product decisions rather than simply present design work.
- Heuristic Logic Engine: Attendees use a rigorous, logic-based framework to identify problem statements, design solutions and build product narratives in a realistic industry-informed simulation.
- Synthetic Validation: The course introduces modern, AI-accelerated research methods that support validation even with zero user traffic.
- AI Throughout: AI tools are used throughout the certification deliverables to reflect current industry workflows.
Certification Paths
To maximize reach and protect instructional time, the program is split into two distinct tiers.
| Feature | Path 1: The Knowledge Track | Path 2: The Practitioner Track |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Audience | Career switchers, PMs and casual learners. | Senior Designers, Leads and aspiring Consultants. |
| Format | 100% live lectures and Q&A. | Lectures, project-based learning, grading and feedback. |
| Deliverable | Certificate of Attendance awarded by Merlien Institute. | Certificate of Achievement in Applied UX awarded by Merlien Institute. |
| Assessment | Multiple-choice logic quiz. | Capstone Strategic Diagnostic Audit Report. |
| Feedback | Peer-group discussion. | Expert-vetted grading. |
Program Structure
Week 1: The Expectation Reset & The Market Leak
Objective: Kill the Pixel-Pusher mindset. Your job is not your job.
- The Masterclass: The Illusion of UX. Why beautiful portfolios fail in high-velocity product teams.
- Industry Calibration: Introduction to the AppliedUX mindset of product builders. Attendees receive a messy product prompt, such as “Our checkout conversion is down 14% — fix it”.
- The Simulation: Teams are formed as squads across UX, PM and engineering roles. They perform an initial Heuristic Audit using the AppliedUX Logic Engine.
- AI Integration: Using LLMs to perform competitive landscape scans in minutes, not days.
- Deliverable: Initial Hypothesis of Failure report.
Week 2: Problem Framing & The So What Logic
Objective: Move from observations to executive insights.
- The Masterclass: Framing the Beast. How to turn a user complaint into a business opportunity.
- The So What Drill: Students present an observation and pressure-test it until business impact is reached.
- Synthetic Validation: Using AI personas to simulate user friction points and validate the problem statement when real user data is scarce.
- The Simulation: Squads define their primary metric, such as reducing setup abandonment.
- Deliverable: Problem Definition and prioritization list.
Week 3: Solution Architecture & Scrappy Validation
Objective: Rapid iteration under hard constraints including time, technology and budget.
- The Masterclass: Designing for Constraints. Why the best solution is often the wrong one for the roadmap.
- The Pivot: A stakeholder curveball is introduced, such as “Engineering says we cannot change the API — now what?”
- The Simulation: Squads generate three solution directions: the ideal, the scrappy and the AI-automated.
- AI Integration: Generating mid-fidelity wireframes via AI so human time can focus on logic flow rather than button styling.
- Deliverable: Strategic Solution Matrix comparing impact versus effort.
Week 4: The Narrative & The Certainty Bridge
Objective: Sell the why and turn design decisions into a compelling product story.
- The Masterclass: The Art of the Review. How to handle loud stakeholder voices in product discussions.
- Storytelling Framework: Connecting the problem, the friction point, the AppliedUX fix and the expected ROI.
- The Simulation: Squads present their narrative to a hostile stakeholder to find gaps in their logic.
- AI Integration: Using AI to draft the pitch and refine the executive summary for different personas, such as CEO and CTO.
- Deliverable: High-Stakes Narrative Deck, maximum 7 slides.
Week 5: The Industry Review & Applied Certification
Objective: Prove the ROI through the final boardroom simulation.
- The Grand Finale: Squads present to the Industry Review Board.
- The Criteria: Students are graded on judgment, logic and impact rather than Figma skills.
- The Diagnostic Audit: Final submission of the AppliedUX Strategic Diagnostic Report, a professional-grade artifact designed to show product-builder capability.
- Deliverable: Completed industry-ready portfolio case study.
- Outcome: Students on the Certificate of Achievement path receive the AppliedUX certificate awarded by Merlien Institute.
Instructor Profile
Utkarsh Seth
Senior Staff UX Manager
Utkarsh Seth is a Senior Staff UX Research Manager at Google. Utkarsh has over 15 years of industry experience in the field of UX. His primary focus is to enable organizations to shape user experiences that are crafted, useful and usable.
Over the last several years he has built and scaled multiple complex UX teams both within and outside the United States. His work revolves around empowering his team to achieve UX excellence by coaching people not only in their craft but also integrating in the product development process and co-own the product life cycle.
Outside of his core UX work, Utkarsh is deeply passionate about coaching and mentoring aspiring UXers entering the field. He has been collaborating with Savannah College of Art and Design over the past 8 years to bridge the gap between academia and industry.
His work has been published in Worth Magazine, Augusta Chronicle & Fast Company. More recently, Utkarsh has been a close advisor on the UX Research program SCAD has launched. Utkarsh continues to ensure that the curriculum is informed by the needs of businesses that hire for the role and that the students are going through coursework that will fulfill those needs.
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