Certified Usability Engineer

In our vocational training, we provide you with the essential tools for a profound consulting activity in usability engineering. You will learn the concepts, methods, and procedures of usability engineering in a practice-oriented manner.

The course pays particular attention to methods of development and testing of interactive products. The techniques follow ISO 9241-11, -110, -210, which are internationally recognized usability standards. Further practice-relevant methods as well as principles of information presentation and user guidance supplement the contents of this training.

Our coaches work in the Usability Engineering and User Experience Design department. Since they were involved in the development of usability standards with the corresponding committees of DIN, Dakks and the UXPA (Professional Association of German Usability and User Experience Professionals), participants will learn from inventors and long-time practitioners. They, too, will be enabled to apply Usability Engineering methods in their everyday project work.

Practice-oriented, compact teaching concept

Our one-week training is designed to be compact and practice-oriented. Due to the strong practical relevance and the technical depth of detail, the training corresponds to the "Advanced Level" of the general IT education structure. Participants take on the role of a usability consultant in a fictitious, but typical IT company and must come up with their own ideas to design products more usable. During the process, they learn which usability interpretations are useful for this purpose and how to manage the balancing act between usability theory and the requirements of the operative business. The goal is to create an efficient usability engineering process throughout the company.

Universal knowledge - suitable for all industries and products

The training enables you to carry out all relevant user-oriented design activities of a usability engineering cycle. These activities can be employed for the design of usable interfaces and to modify an existing software development process. The knowledge learned in this training is applicable across industries and media - in the web environment, for medical devices and for mobile or desktop application alike.

Support beyond the training

Even after completing the training, Fraunhofer FIT's usability specialists are available to answer your questions. In addition, you will gain access to a community of usability engineers where you can exchange practical experience.

Study proves practicality

An extensive study proved the effectiveness of the course: 82 percent permanently use the knowledge and skills imparted in the training in their professional life. This is due to its high number of practical components, which prepares students for real-life work situations. 

Learning module 1: Analysis of the context of use

Usability definition and composition of the context of use according to ISO 9241-11, incl. presentation of other usability related and complementary concepts: e.g. Joy of Use, User Experience and Accessibility; methods for the analysis of contexts of use; interview techniques, here especially: the methods of the usability guideline 1.3 of the DAkkS expert panel for conducting semi-structured interviews and its adaptation to different contexts of use; collection and documentation of valid context documentation. The guideline has since been withdrawn by the DAkkS as a basis for the accreditation of testing laboratories because the methods documented in it are now state of the art in usability engineering.

Learning Module 2: Developing Usage Requirements

Procedures for identifying needs and deriving requirements from context descriptions; documenting, prioritizing, and managing usage requirements in the current project (and beyond).

Learning Module 3: (Prototypical) Design

Design-relevant standard parts of ISO 9241; Gestalt laws, psychology of perception; low and high-fidelity prototyping (paper pencil to graphical click prototypes).

Learning Module 4: Testing

Interpretation and application of ISO 9241-110; Qualitative methods; Critical Incident technique according to DAkkS (former DATech); Cognitive Walkthrough; Heuristic evaluation by experts; Quantitative methods; Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI); Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory (WAMMI).

Learning Module 5: Design Usability Engineering Process

Roles and interests in IT projects, politics, industry; arguments for usability, cost / benefit considerations, legal issues; UE cycle models (ISO 9241-210, ISO TR 18529); IT development models; procedures for establishing an effective usability engineering process according to ISO 9241-210.

Prof. Dr. Britta Essing

Certified psychologist, Human-Centered Engineering & Design department lead at Fraunhofer FIT; co-founder of the friend’s association “Usability-Netzwerk Bonn / Rhein-Sieg”. Member of the Usability committees DIN, DAkkS (formerly DATech) and German UPA.

Peter Hunkirchen

Certified business administrator, Usability Engineering & User Experience Design lead; co-founder and board member of the friend’s association “Usability-Netzwerk Bonn / Rhein-Sieg”. Member of the Usability committees DIN, DAkkS (formerly DATech) and German UPA.

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Oppermann

Certified psychologist; honorary professor in Software Ergonomics at Koblenz-Landau University