OOUX has been a refreshing oasis amidst a seemingly endless desert of shopworn design methodologies. Sophia Prater reminds us of our industry's roots in structuring solid, easy-to-navigate digital experiences, and firmly grounds her comprehensive ORCA process in sound information architecture practices. But the beauty of this 15-step framework is how versatile it can be and how much it opens our world up to those of our cross-functional partners, and in so doing, welcomes us in to theirs. OOUX has opened my eyes to unintuitive objects, to be sure, but it's also awakened me to my own intuition about what makes for intentional, well-designed experiences. Only now I have a name for that sixth sense. Thank you, OOUX! 🙏🏽🐳
The OOUX Certification course is one the most challenging I have experienced to date and so far the best.The robust learning materials, resources, feedback from Sophia and mentors are above and beyond. Adding OOUX and Sophia's ORCA process to my toolkit is the key to tackling complex design challenges. I look forward to continuing to learn and practice this process. I highly recommend this course to anyone tasked with designing for digital.
OOUX is the best way to level up as a UXer. I didn't have the tools to zoom out and tackle complexity at a system level and now I do. It has helped me think differently and solve problems better and faster. OOUX and ORCA let you see through the complexity to reveal the truth of what the things are and how they relate to each other, so when you go to design those things, they all make sense together (the first time).
OOUX and the ORCA methodology is my new 'secret weapon' for managing complexity and my own ADHD (ha!). As a bonafide over-thinker, this methodology gives me a repeatable, reliable framework to tease out the hidden questions and logical considerations in a system *without* getting too bogged down in shiny new ideas. I'm able to explore and document concepts, ideas, and potential opportunities without necessarily having to move on them *right away*. Plus, OOUX and ORCA has given me the perfect framework to get stakeholders excited about untangling complexity vs. completely overwhelmed. Making the system tangible and malleable means better questions, more effective collaboration and the best set of documentation I think I've ever had going into sketching! Certainly the best part of this program for me has been its flexibility. Every exercise we learned simply gave me another way to tease out complexity and ask the right questions... but weren't so concrete that I couldn't adapt them to fit specific needs in my own work as a content designer. Did I mention documentation? The most beautiful documentation.
I arrived to the program not knowing much about OOUX, but hopeful it could help bust some of the silos Ive seen surface on projects. I'm leaving the program more than hopeful -- I'm CERTAIN that OOUX and the ORCA process is what I've been looking for to put more consistency, rigor, fun, and collaboration into our design process, and help clients feel more integrated into our work too!
The OOUX Certification course has given me the confidence to take on complex design challenges. The value of a framework and methodology for asking the right questions and doing "upfront" thinking about systems BEFORE designing them is immeasurable.
I cannot fully express how thrilled I am to have discovered OOUX. It is just the perfect thing that I needed in my UX journey as I continue to take on more challenging work and face the uncertainties that our organization is working through. This approach really prepares you to become a better designer by asking the right questions to help the team gain a common understanding of the complexities we are facing through building a solid foundation on which to build a system, application, or website that its intuitive for our customers.
The OOUX Masterclass delivers completely. If you're looking for a robust and flexible methodology to untangle complex problems and create intuitive and impactful design, this is the thing you likely need. Sophia's ORCA methodology is a fulcrum for designers and strategists ambitious for understanding. Through excellent instructional design and several student supports, she explains, models, questions, explores, and encourages. I feel solidly confident as a content designer that I can dig into any complex problem and strategize a way forward.
I am certain that OOUX and the ORCA process is what I have been looking for to break and process all the complexity and deal with the silos in SDLC. It will bring more consistency and rigor into my design process and help me bring designs closer to the vision of the clients I work for. It's a must have toolkit in every designer's processes.
OOUX is a philosophy that has changed my mind about what my design process should be. I think this philosophy and ORCA methodology are a great tools that will structure how I discover, define, design and build solutions in collaboration with dev and product teams. ORCA process is very robust but at the same time it gives you several alternatives to incorporate it in small pieces on your every day process. This program was really challenging because of all that you learn, the level of detail, explanations, examples, exercises, material, guidance are so good and extensive that you need to be at that same level of comprehension, but at the end I can tell you, the effort pays off.
I've really enjoyed learning the OOUX methodology with Sophia Prater, and I'm super pumped that I have this amazing tool on my belt. It's a great way to unravel complexity, build with intent and structure, and overall has been the most organized process to understand the purpose of what we're creating. OOUX is next level for experience design.
This program was so thoughtfully designed from the ground up. I loved how all the course materials were structured and how engaging the office hour sessions were. The program will not only give you a toolbox for tackling complexity but also give you the confidence to face it head-on. If you are looking for something "easy breezy," this is not it. Sophia and her team will challenge you in this course, and you'll become a better designer for it. The beauty of OOUX is that it is so incredibly interdisciplinary. I can't wait to continue finding opportunities to apply it professionally and personally.
OOUX is a philosophy which can be applied in any product domain - B2B/B2C. I literally learned a completely unique perspective on solving design problems. I am always keen to add value to the product and I am very happy to have this OOUX skill in my quiver for the same. It's a very well designed course by Sophia. Mentors for this course and Sophia herself are very involved with the students, which was really awesome while going through this OOUX journey. It's definitely a solid and intense course so one really needs to deep dive, but that's how the course has been designed to avoid gaining only superficial knowledge and allow the designer to push a bit to expand their horizons. But and "no but", it's a very rewarding course in all ways. The time, energy and the money was all worth it.
It's been a fun and fruitful journey learning the ins and outs of OOUX. I'm already seeing how this approach to breaking down complexity, asking deep questions, and really digging into the objects within a system is making me a better content designer. Through the discovery and requirements stages, I can start defining terminology, considering language for labels, proactively think through error messages, tooltips, and other content elements much earlier in the process. Also, I've found that I'm looking at designs through a different lens now, surfacing questions around placement, prioritization, and suggesting alternative designs for cards, new ways to sort and filter, and more. I love the deep inquiry required in the ORCA process and feel confident that I can help my team take on any complex design challenge with these new tools and skills. Thank you!
OOUX in confectionary speak is the solid, yet scrumptious gingerbread biscuit providing sound support for all the candy, morsels and frosting that make up a tasty gingerbread house (system). Paired with Sophia's ORCA process, the system, project, really whatever problem you're working to solve will seem all the simpler even in its innate complexity. I had so many lightbulb moments during this course, prompted by the thorough videos, mini quizzes, discussions in the forum and insightful feedback from Sophia and her fabulous team of mentors. OOUX and ORCA enriched my approach to system design and provided the tools for improving collaboration with stakeholders, developers and other designers in a clearly defined, inclusive and holistic way from project conception to launch.
Sophia's OOUX/ORCA certification program is the best UX learning experience I've encountered. She is generous with materials, 1:1 time, and support. (I wish I had this much support in college haha). And I feel confident that I can bring OOUX to my organization and positively influence our design process and the experiences we build.
OOUX made me understand what makes up a system and how to make it a living creature with a roadmap of its evolution and obstacles to avoid in order to keep it healthy and thriving. And involve other co-parents (developers, SME, PM) in keeping it alive and full of life.
OOUX helped me understand how important it is to really understand the objects / things that provide value in our products. It made me realize how many duplicative objects and attributes we are using and how they are perpetuating confusion with our users. Although it's just a starting point, I feel like I have more confidence to really help our team define our objects, so we can create more intuitive experiences.
I first heard about OOUX about two years ago. I immediately liked the idea and started listening to the OOUX podcast and reading almost all the materials that were publicly available. I was sure that OOUX would help me become a better digital product designer. I enrolled in the OOUX certification course and was delighted with the amount of material and the extremely detailed ORCA process designed by Sophia. She exceeded all my expectations. Although complex, the course is well laid out and not difficult to follow. The tasks are well-designed and make it easy to understand and follow the whole process. Now that I've gone through everything, I can't wait to start putting the newly acquired knowledge into practice. Sophia is a great teacher and has created a great OOUX community full of extraordinary individuals that are always ready to help beginners. I recommend the OOUX course to everyone who wants to become a better UXer and solve complex problems with greater efficiency and less headache.
As a content designer, I've often found myself in hi-fi mock meetings asking, "okay, but what is that thing? Why do we need it?" At times, it's put me at odds with design thinking because it feels like truly understanding and defining the system isn't a requirement to just toss some wireframes down. OOUX really gave me a voice and a place to not throw away design thinking, but to redefine it to be more wholistic. To tell truer stories. What I love most about OOUX is that it's a framework that takes term and concept definition work seriously. It starts with definition, creating a shared language, and telling the true story of a system, all things that get sacrificed to new feature gods. From there, anything is possible.
Sophia Prater's OOUX course is well worth the money and the time! As a senior designer who is already familiar with the basics of design thinking and user experience design principles, I found the concepts and methodology taught in this class to be very relevant to my current projects and skill level. Sophia's video lectures are thorough but delivered in a lighthearted way making them very engaging to watch. Her teaching style is to "learn by doing" as we had an end-to-end design "practice" problem to work through and really solidify the learning. Sophia was very accessible through office hours and async review to debrief on any concepts we found hard. Finally, we have life-long access to OOUX templates!! This last perk gives me a lot of confidence to hit the ground running with OOUX and apply it to my daily work. I highly recommend this course to any senior designer looking to level up in their career!
The OOUX philosophy and the ORCA process should be UX fundamentals. It's not just A way to do things, it's THE way. The steps contained within the ORCA process mirror how the Designer should be at all times: empathetic, collaborative, open-minded, and relentless. I love how it handles complexity by acknowledging it, embracing it, and turning it in to something that a User understands. The dust bunnies of complexity have nowhere to hide.
Everything about this course has changed my approach to designing. One thing I loved about this course was that it helped me increase my critical thinking skills. I'm able to methodically and thoroughly work through a project and ask better questions to myself and my stakeholders to ensure I'm not designing on top of assumptions or leaving gaps in the experience that I didn't know to design for. And even better, I can articulate design decisions with confidence without second guessing..too much, it still happens but less frequently haha. I now look forward to tackling complex problems knowing I have OOUX in my designer's tool box.
What I really liked about OOUX is how it delves past the shallow parades of beautifully-designed interfaces (that some UX bootcamps are so known for) and gets you knee-deep into the important bits. The bits that are not quite as glamorous in a UX portfolio, but are crucial to building a product that's truly valuable to users.
Before I was introduced to OOUX, I honestly didn't think I wanted to practice UX design anymore. I didn't know what else I would do, but I was getting really burnt out trying to keep track of everything happening all at once and being the one person on a team that was thinking, "when we pull this string, what other things will unravel?" I was tired of all the re-work, re-prioritization, and miscommunication that is rampant in the UX field. I had small process that sort-of worked for me and the way my brain works, but nothing that I could communicate or share with my peers. I was drowning and OOUX and the ORCA process felt like a life preserver. I finally felt like I had a leg to stand on, that my concerns were not only valid but that I had a framework in which they could be addressed. I have a framework that I can point to that can help my peers not only understand my processes better, but can help improve theirs. My mentor told me recently, "It's very rare that we find something in UX that feels so close to a silver bullet," and I'd have to agree. Sometimes that does make me feel like I'm trying to sell people on a juice cleanse, but I'm starting to become comfortable with that feeling. This program helped introduce me to the niches of UX design that I didn't even know existed, and that they are FULL of people thinking like me. While this philosophy and process may feel niche now, I have no doubt that with enough time (and dedicated practitioners) UX will return to it's Object-Oriented roots and it won't be niche for too much longer.
Once you understand OOUX (even at just a basic level), you never have to go into a project feeling that you can’t quickly start analyzing it in a productive manner. First you just start Noun Foraging in any official documentation that you can find, unofficial documentation, discussions forums, emails or even materials from competitors. Even a small dose of OOUX puts you in a much better position to see what the system is, and informs you on what questions that you need to ask. Asking the right questions can speed the process, and also inform partners that you have a grasp of the system, and you can get answers about areas that you are not sure about. You can even uncover areas where the people who own or use the system have inconsistent perceptions or use inconsistent terms about components of the system.
I had never imagined such a comprehensive framework for approaching complex problems and systems existed, and found myself astonished week after week by the ORCA process and how everything continued to just make sense. Both the 10-week course and the ORCA process are so well-structured—challenging at times, but never overwhelming.
After finishing the course I feel empowered to solve complex problems and provide tools for others and myself to ask the right questions at the right time! It was a lovely experience where you feel lost sometimes to find out at the end that it was all worth it!
In all my years in product development, the divide between design and engineering is often the source of much grief. I believe that OOUX is the missing link in product development that truly creates a shared understanding in a product team. With OOUX in the middle, design, frontend, and backend see the same picture and can make parts that fit together.
Before taking the course, my approach to figuring out a problem space was to ask tons of questions and hope that one of them would begin to untangle the complexity that appeared before me. It felt kind of random and insufficient. But even before I finished this course, I was already asking more targeted questions in meetings and analyzing existing screens with more clarity and confidence. OOUX and ORCA provide a solid framework for understanding a domain, methodically exploring its intricacies, and identifying challenging issues with your product team earlier in the process, all of which will help you be an even stronger UX professional.
Simply put, this course is fantastic! I had a hunch the first time I was introduced to OOUX that this was the missing link to our company's workflow, and the course validated this 10-fold. I urge anyone working in digital to sign up—it just makes sense. Sophia's energy, knowledge, and enthusiasm for teaching this is palpable, and the course is incredibly organized, from the signup email down to the last office hours. Thank you, Sophia!
I began using OOUX while taking the course for a complex new suite of products coming together at my company. When people around me were circling in confusion, this course gave me a great understanding of how to step through complexity and ask the right questions at the right time. This is the most valuable tool in my UX toolkit!
Having the proper tools to do a job is key. I think OOUX and the repeatable ORCA process are the exact tools that every designer and developer needs to break down complex systems into bite-sized chunks they can easily manipulate and also uncover the unknown-unknowns that plague every development project. This course is truly a game-changer for the design industry.
OOUX is like having a superpower for simplification. Before, when dealing with complex systems and problems, I felt like there was nowhere to start and no way to wrangle it all together. Now I have a plan.
This was a great course - not easy, but so incredibly useful. As someone new to UX design, I found this incredibly challenging, but I am glad I persevered. I have learned a huge amount and I am really grateful for the experience. I would enthusiastically recommend the course to others and I am keen to get to use OOUX soon!
OOUX has been one of the best methodologies I have learned in my 10-year design career. And ORCA is, without a doubt, THE best framework I have picked up in the past several years. I believe it is the sole reason I have leveled up from mid-level to senior-level roles, and I also believe it will continue to help me level-up even further as I continue to use it and improve my understanding of it. The certification course itself had the proper amount of rigor to learn a great deal in a short period, while allowing for balance of a full time role and other responsibilities.
As a UX newbie, the OOUX process feels calm, methodical and thorough—unlike anything else I've found. I highly recommend OOUX to any UX newbie who's looking for guidance.
I loved this course, I'm constantly re-watching videos to gain more insight and understanding to the process and even if I'm not perfect at it I feel more confident every time I open up the academy and putz around in MIRO. There's so much rich data to be gleaned from the OOUX process in every aspect of app development and it gives everyone involved a new perspective that creates an atmosphere of understanding each other through shared language, exercises to populate ideas, and completion of a project.
OOUX has given me a very valuable framework for making sense of any design project and the confidence to take others (engineers, product managers, designers, SEMs, Stakeholders) along on the journey. It truly feels like the cloud of confusion with any new projects has been lifted!
OOUX has been a Changer of Games for us here at Athenahealth. Being able to break down a super-complex health record and revenue cycle software into the core "objects" our customers are trying to work with, and all the different ways in which we make them reshape, permutate, and deal with those objects, has been eye-opening for almost every person I've done this process with.
OOUX has completely changed how I approach my work. I'm no longer jumping straight into design, but utilizing pieces of the process to get more clarity into the problem I'm solving. Proof of this was early on during the OOUX program, I was prepping for a meeting with another team and completely unfamiliar with their domain. After noun foraging two of their documents, I was up to speed quickly and able to summarize their docs into paragraphs plus created an object map to understand the relationships in question.
The OOUX Masterclass was extremely enlightening and probably the best thing I could have possibly done for my career. I am a junior in UX and previously found myself struggling with lack of structure to my design process. This course not only gave me that structure, but a SUPER POWER to untangle complexity at the system-level and tackle problems I never thought I could. I feel like I can come into new and complex problem spaces with more confidence, uncover smarter questions, and truly help guide my clients into creating better, more-intuitive experiences for their users!
I have been a Designer for over 10 years and in only 10 short weeks Sophia has caused a cataclysmic shift in how I think about big problems. This program gives you a frame work to break down huge problems and a systematic and logical way that is beneficial to everyone on your team. I have no way to truly explain how much I would want to recommend this certification to anyone in the UX industry.
OOUX and Sophia's ORCA process will transform how you approach system design and development. This iterative framework will help you find structure in creating consistent, scalable, and most importantly intuitive user experiences. You'll identify requirements early and you'll be able to engage stakeholders, project managers, designers, and developers in a truly collaborative and equitable practice. This methodology will give you the confidence to lay a foundation for any project that can be designed and built strategically rather than by mere intuition. OOUX will not only help you find all the puzzle pieces but also facilitate in creating a roadmap of when and how to put all of those pieces together. OOUX is a toolkit and is a must-have for any problem solver!
OOUX has forever changed my design process. I was constantly struggling with figuring out where to start, figuring out what I need before I jump into wireframing and then running into so many additional questions and complexities halfway into the project. I'm grateful to be able to have a new process to document and map out my requirements and relationships before jumping into any form of design.
Sophia takes you by the hand and guides you through the steps of OOUX. She offers her knowledge, challenges and nudges you in the right direction, step by step. How to flush out the information that is needed (from and with co-workers) to tackle complex information and break it down into a transparent easy-to-use product
I came into this course having little actual experience in UX design. I feel very confident that I now understand more clearly, and can contribute to UX discovery phase meetings in my workplace.
The OOUX philosophy is invaluable to the process of building digital products. The primary value comes with setting a clear approach that aligns EVERYONE involved in a project and the efficiencies gained in creating a shared language and working through it step-by-step. In the oft-used phrase "the costs to fix errors increase as the project matures" people are usually referencing finding errors in the design phase before development, however I'd take that one step further and say using an OOUX approach can identify those gaps in knowledge and avoid the errors all together.
I enjoyed the course material. I've been doing design, front-end development, web application development, etc., for about 15 years, so the material resonated with me. I think the documentation frameworks are super great.
Finally, a user-centric language for complex systems. As UX practitioners, we often find ourselves accountable for much more than we have influence over. That's not because we're accountable for too much — no — someone must be responsible for the entire, cohesive user experience, and if not us, then who? Rather, it's because our toolkit is woefully under equipped. We're still a young discipline, and while we're trying our best with our wireframes and task flows, entire layers of the final UX are inadvertently determined by buried technical decisions or unrelated business decisions. OOUX closes this gap considerably. Sophia's ORCA process in particular has been relentlessly developed — in the wild! — in a way that encompasses "just enough" technical concepts (reshaped to be user-centric) so that the full user experience can be articulated & collaborated upon across design, development and business in an aligned and approachable user-centric language. This is the single strongest ingredient I have encountered in my career.
So, you've been assigned wireframes for a new feature. Are you staring at a blank screen or some questionable user stories? Is complexity creeping in from the corners? Take a deep breath and step back. Include OOUX in your process and immediately effective (but also future-proofish) screens design themselves. Well, they do after you and your team have examined each object in the system to clarify its purpose and relationships. Whether you have 2 hours or 2 months, OOUX can scale up or down to serve the scope. Having asked all the right questions, you'll build confidence that you're designing a system that works -- a system that works for those building it and for those using it.
If OOUX were a person, it would be the bones, the solid foundation, which all the muscle and flesh use to move seamlessly and elegantly through the world. The lens that I view digital systems through has changed and is more connected and cohesive. I feel like I can tackle any system with OOUX and make it better which gives me a healthy boost of confidence. Thank you Sophia, I really appreciate the effort and attention to detail you put into the course and the materials and the space you held to make mistakes and learn.
I’ve listened to the OOUX podcast since the start, but never thought about getting certified. Then, when I started my first UX position it became clear that I needed a way to quickly get up to speed and smoke out complexity on complex domains (accounting, government, cyber security, and genomic science to date!). Even during the cohort I’ve been able to apply what I’m learning, scale ORCA to my project time frames, and the ORCA toolkit has given me the confidence to take on complex projects at the drop of a hat. I took the plunge to pay for the OOUX strategist certification program out of pocket because it seemed like it would give me systematic tools to wrangle complexity and abstract ideas into logical building blocks – and it has!
I was familiar with OOUX before taking the course and a complete advocate for its value. The ORCA process that is taught throughout the program brings the much needed structure required to untangle any kind of complexity. It really can be applied to anything! Sophia is a very generous teacher that makes sure you have no doubt about the concepts or exercises. The course material is very-well designed, easy to follow and very practical. I could start applying recently-learned concepts to my work as soon as day one.
OOUX provides a clear, process-driven approach to center the design of a system in a way that aligns to user mental models. The approach is importantly, content centric and complexity unveiling before a single screen is made. This has been an incredibly valuable process to learn and I'd highly recommend any Content Strategist to take the course to help in advocating for content-first design!
What I've learned in the OOUX course will forever be in my toolbox as a UX consultant. I'm no longer intimidated by products or fields I'm not familiar with now that I have this process. I can get to the right questions quicker, build shared understanding of a system across a team, and help create consistent and intuitive experiences with my colleagues. I'm excited about how the OOUX process can influence how we prioritize and estimate specific client projects because I know I'll be equipped to facilitate those tricky conversations when scoping an MVP or multiple phased project, and believe doing so our teams will be able to advise our clients better, helping them make more intuitive and efficient systems that at the end of the day helps users and visitors get what they need faster.
OOUX is a philosophy that gives an honest effort into helping teams understand the complexity of the services that we create, not only from the technical perspective, but also (and most importantly) from how we are as human beings. It gives us a chance to create more humane and relevant products that really solve our users' needs.
OOUX and the ORCA process are game-changers and are an amazing way to create a common language and shared understanding of the system and its parts. The certification program itself really sets learners up for success with regular interactions with the instructor, mentors, accountability partners, and others in the program; along with excellent course materials and templates.
OOUX helped me understand what was wrong with my design practice during my career. I always felt unsure about design decisions in projects because it all felt very shallow, but I didn't have the knowledge to point out exactly what was wrong. We had the research, we talked to our users and checked off all the other traditional design artifacts, but somehow it was disconnected to the actual design development phase. It was a diffused feeling that didn't seem to have a clear root cause. OOUX helped me see that there's an adequate amount of complexity in every project that simply needs to be addressed. You can't sweep it under the rug; instead you need to understand it and structure the problem so you can navigate it. The ORCA process does just that in very flexible and efficient way.
I did not take this class lightly, as I knew it was going to be rigorous and involved. And I was right! But it's the correct level of commitment for learning this stuff, which can get complicated quickly. Once you come out the other side, you will see websites and apps in a whole new way. You will be able to instinctually identify objects, core content, and metadata; make sense of intricate relationships; unravel complexity; and learn how to seek resolution through diligent definition and collaboration. This course is for anyone creating digital experiences.
This course has given me a new lens through which to explore my UX practice—in a deeper, more meaningful way than I thought possible. By diving in to our most challenging design conundrums through this comprehensive yet highly-practical practice, ORCA has enabled my team and I to deliver fantastic, valuable products and features, faster. This is a game-changing methodology. I suspect your only regret will be that you didn't learn this sooner—I know I do.
As someone who is a UX newb, I worried that I would get lost in the program. However after taking the course, I don't believe that was much of a hindrance. This course is mind blowing and mind bending in the best ways. I learned so much from Sophia on both macro and micro levels of organization. I plan to revisit this course often throughout my career and would highly, easily, recommend to anyone interested!
I genuinely feel that I've learned a great deal from this course. It's a huge amount of work, and in doing that work I feel that I've become a better designer using these techniques. Sophia clearly cares about the material, and that makes it easier to dig into the really gnarly parts (Attribute Requirements and Prioritization, I'm looking at you!).
Learning OOUX is kind of like having GPS for my UX process. Instead of getting lost in complexity I have the tools to navigate right through it. Is "life-changing" going overboard? Maybe but that's how it feels!
You can tell this course was created by a UX designer! Everything was designed with the students in mind, which made learning a tough program as easy and enjoyable as possible. I would recommend this course to any UX designer looking to learn more about information architecture and how to design simple solutions for complex products.
Object Oriented UX is the way you've always wanted to do things but didn't know how to structure it outside of your brain, and blew my mind the first time I saw a video about it. Everyone should learn the basics of OOUX so they can create better products and services for the world.... It's the coolest process ever.
My entire time as a UX Designer (10+ years), I have worked on systems of increasing complexity. I wanted to dig deeper into OOUX because not only did I want to be able to learn new techniques to unravel complexity, but I want to also be able to explain that complexity to my teammates and stakeholders. The ORCA process provides a visual framework that is scalable to fit any busy schedule and timeline. In other words, it makes the information architecture process more meaningful and fun!
The OOUX programme has been an amazing process, albeit not an easy course at all. Well worth the effort and I am already using different parts of the process in my day-to-day work. Even if I am not going through the whole ORCA process for every project, I am using little parts of it here and there and can feel the benefit of this already. Definitely not a walk in the park and a lot of personal sacrifice has to be made but I'm sure long term it's going to be way worth it!
This methodology isn't just for new designers. As someone who has been in the design field for over 10 years, I can certainly vouch that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks. I've been starting to feel quite a bit of burnout due to reworking complex features. With OOUX, I'm nearly guaranteed to flush out all my questions before ever putting a pixel on the page. I'm positive this new way of thinking will save me so much time in future projects.
This OOUX course has given me the tools to help facilitate the discussions I've always had trouble having. It is already helping me talk more effectively with both PMs and engineers.
This course has been instrumental in rethinking the already thorough UX process I follow. The fact that we approach problems through the lens of objects is so simple yet life-changing! I cannot recommend this course enough to people who build complex enterprise systems or just want a different way at approaching collaboration and UX process!
OOUX is like a breath of fresh air for designers like me who crave definition, planning, collaboration and purpose when approaching complex system design problems. This design philosophy pushes aside the inefficiencies of screen-by-screen, myopic design and instead teaches you how to work with a cross-functional team to visualize and map out a holistic system where the Objects are the rockstars and then the relationships, features and functionality more purposefully fall into place around them. Sophia's passion for OOUX really shines through in this program, and her enthusiasm is contagious. She gives you everything you need to incorporate OOUX into your design process - education, mentorship, templates and access to a community of certified OOUX-ers.
This course leveled-up my design strategy skills. There are so many excellent exercises you've never seen before and Sophia explains the why, how, and what of each. This course is also practice - it is a great mix of theory, but is always thoroughly grounded in giving you actionable practices. This course should be required for all product designers and anyone else creating digital products.
To me a huge part of the value of OOUX is that it directly supports our experience principles, so it just makes sense. The certification course is a thorough and intimate process of learning the methodology in an approachable, understanding environment. I was grateful that applying lessons to my design challenge each week made the concepts more concrete. I tend to be a "solo learner," but my mentor was wonderful and having shared experiences with my cohort definitely made it more fun!
Taking this course was the best thing I have done yet in my 5 year UX career. There are so many courses out there promising new skills that are just rehashing the same material I learned in UX school. Sophia's OOUX method is on a whole different level -- even half way through taking this class I was able to apply what I was learning to really transform how my scrum team approached problems. My dev team and stakeholders were quickly bought in to the process. I've also used the ORCA process in design challenges when applying for jobs to great success. Really nothing beats this process in breaking down the complexity of a problem before the detailed design and dev work begins. OOUX is going to save the whole industry so much time and money as this community grows!
Untangling complexity, thinking systematically, designing intentionally --- this course delivers on all three of these promises AND at the same time is fun and joyful. Every week, my skills and confidence bloomed as we took on challenging assignments and delved into complex concepts. What an absolute pleasure it was and how generous of Sophia to share her knowledge, framework and community with us. Thank you!
I've practiced OOUX since 2019 in a very autonomous level and I analysed some product with a reverse-engineering method in order to audit some interfaces and their structure. When I saw that the OOUX method created real value for me and my understanding on the topic, I really wanted to invest to myself and apply for the training. It was a long journey and I'm sad to stop my training but the most important things is not the objective but the way how to achieve it.
Taking the OOUX certification literally skyrocketed my confidence in tackling complexity and knowing exactly where to begin with a design challenge! I would recommend this to any serious problem-solver. Thanks, Sophia:)
Beyond being a really fun instructor, Sophia has created a process that really supports the way I think about my projects. I now have the tools to get all these things out of my head and easily transfer that knowledge to different team members and tease out the questions around complexity early in the process. I was really excited when I found out about the course and waited months for it to open up! Once I got into it I felt like the content was easy to consume and the pace for homework was great. I really enjoyed working on the design challenge as well. I've come out on the other side with a lot of great techniques that I can use consequentially or plug and play depending on the needs of the design problem I'm working on. Either way the process will give me not only the confidence to complete the work but also the structure I need to defend the design decisions.
OOUX has made me more aware of what I did not know but has given me a framework to confidently tackle complexity. I now know that it's not about knowing all the answers upfront, it's a collaborative process to figure all the details out.
Object-Oriented UX has provided me with a simple and effective methodology to tackle design problems in a way that is transparent, collaborative, and well-documented. OOUX is an invaluable way to become a domain expert, because it helps me ask the really important questions early in the design process before they become painful and expensive to answer.
OOUX is buffed up Information Architecture and I love it. The certification course was a string to my content strategy and digital product bow, and this focused learning ensures that the methodology is now baked into my thinking. I had attended various one to two day workshops before, but this program dug in on all the process from beginning to end and I found it incredibly rewarding to do said digging in. OOUX is a muscle and it needs to be built upon, and I'm excited to continue to build on the skills I've learnt in this 10 week course. Sophia packs in a LOT of information on this course; make sure you've got plenty of coffee and post-it notes at the ready.
OOUX provides robust framework to design both simple and complex digital applications. The certification program helps learners up for success with regular interactions with the instructor, mentors. It also provides excellent course material. The OOUX forum is a gold mine with many project works available to learn which are done by the Cohorts. Good discussions and help from other Cohorts. It is a great community with many experienced OOUXers who are ready to help. Design templates are super helpful during project work.
The OOUX Strategist course has been invaluable to my development in UX. It's given me a robust toolkit for breaking down and communicating complexity. With the techniques I've learned in this course, I'm confident I can design and advocate for truly intuitive, user-centered experiences!
Doing the OOUX cohort has been amazing. Not only has it helped an NHS Trust to truly embrace UCD techniques and focus on what's important to patients it has helped me personally to grow in confidence when tackling a complex design challenge. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone working in designing experiences for people, whether you work in digital or not, all would benefit.
Since 2016, OOUX has given me structure to breaking down UX problems, now with the ORCA process I not only have even more structure to this process, it also makes it easier for important questions to be raised, challenged, and understood by stakeholders earlier in the process.
A focus on systems thinking and information architecture is a major gap in how many design teams approach user experience design. OOUX has provided a brilliant process for my team to approach these problems in clear, repeatable, collaborative ways.
OOUX and ORCA open an intuitive and logical window into the world of user experience that actually emphasizes human behavior and understanding. This fast paced, but comprehensive, program will help you sort out all those thorny and difficult questions before you even touch a sketchpad or design program. Your client and users will thank you. You will also be grateful for the work you invested in the ORCA process. No more "oh no I didn't think of that" in the middle of laying out your homepage or nav bar. Save yourself all that trouble with OOUX.
I loved the ORCA process and OOUX in general. As a newbie it turned my world upside-down. I feel not only confidence, but I am even more curious than before about the way human brains work. It is complex and fascinating. Sophia is a great teacher and mentor. Complex ideas are like puzzle pieces to her and she makes the whole learning as simple and fun as a game! The community is one-of-a-kind with people constantly sharing ideas and helping each-other. OOUX Certification is the most mind-bending, ass-kicking and insightful course I have attended so far!
If you want to level up on conquering complexity and be able to confidently apply it in collaboration with your team or clients, this certification is the real deal. Sophia has developed the OOUX philosophy and ORCA process through years of practice in her own work and it shows. She can explain every aspect of the process and draws on examples and the knowledge of a growing community of OOUX strategists to teach you how to apply this to your own user experience challenge.
I've loved UX since my first day on the job in 2009. But in the early days of my career, I'd often feel like the process I was a part of needed more rigor. We seemed to wait until late in the game to tackle complexity—and this just led to a ton of rework. We'd try to break up the complexity by siloing features and functionality—and this just led to "frankenstein" designs. By studying human psychology as well as the object-oriented UI practice that were popular in the '90s, I created a rigorous methodology for breaking down complexity while also ensuring holistic, elegant, systemic UX and information architecture. This game-like process completely transformed my professional life. With OOUX and the ORCA process, I facilitate effective collaboration, break down team silos, and have a ton more fun doing my job as a UX designer. I honestly cannot imagine designing a digital environment without leveraging OOUX.
I love that OOUX gives me a foundation I can use to help me be more confident about simplifying complex processes and creating software that is easy to use and makes sense to my end-users. Also, coming from a developer background, I find all of the details that are formulated throughout the ORCA process is extremely helpful to developers. I look forward to using OOUX and the ORCA process in my job to help facilitate research, clarify workflows, and create simple yet useful designs.
I'm a (mostly) self-taught career changer, and after 5 years of having abstract concepts in my head about how to structure a system, Sophia's ORCA method connected all the dots. I finally feel confident in my abilities to design a complex system, to bring others along for the journey and make them understand how we together can design an intuitive, easy-to-use system.
I came into this course feeling confident in my knowledge of UX, but wanting more confidence in presenting my specifications and learnings to my partners and shareholders. As I progressed through Sophia's OOUX Course, I found the building blocks for an approach that would easily inspire confidence not only in me but that would translate easily to my shareholders (Devs, Product Managers/Owners, Managers, etc.).
Sophia’s OOUX Summer School and Certification were stellar! Easily one of the best training investments you could make; especially if you want to make sense of a mess or synthesise research insights into a scalable and user-centred structure.
For UX designers, sometimes "intuitive" is subjective. OOUX breaks down what it means to be intuitive; it's a way to set up a structure that helps designers come up with a product that's intuitive—by default.
OOUX is the foundation for deeply considered software design. It provides a framework for defining a system; thinking in terms of objects and their relationships to each other.
So much design today mistakenly starts with UI, designing screen by disconnected screen. OOUX will have you start from the ground up, making sure the system matches the users model of the world. Sophia is an effective teacher, guiding you week by week with engaging assignments and a collaborative atmosphere. Highly recommended.
As a graphic designer looking for more exposure into designing for digital, the OOUX course gave me incredible insight into the thought process of UX design before committing a single pixel to the screen. Sophia's passion for OOUX is clear and contagious. I look forward to continuing to grow and find new ways use what I've discovered.
OOUX is fundamental training for Product Designers architecting complex digital spaces suited to user's mental models. Divert those conference dollars wisely and choose to complete an OOUX Certification instead and I guarantee you'll see an improvement in your design process. The versatility of the framework will give you better tools for stakeholder engagement and systematically designing more intuitive digital environments. All that and you will be learning from a very engaged community of experts. I knew I had already received 10x what I paid for within a couple of weeks - and I'm sure you will find that to be the case as well.
As a UX Designer I know that it was one of my best decisions ever! This certification is something more than I expected. It is a comprehensive excellent adventure through real and digital objects, their relationships, and what we can do with them as users. Now I feel well-armed with new tools that I fully understand after these crazy weeks of work. This was an excellent experience for me, and I will spread the knowledge about OOUX for sure!
The OOUX was not what I expected. The course has been consuming, challenging, and rewarding. The Object-Oriented UX certification is not a boot-camp filled with straightforward questions and answers. When I enrolled in the course, I expected to learn some concepts and philosophies that I would apply to the early stages of my design process. I didn't expect to learn an entirely new way to think about my work. Sophia is patient, fair, knowledgeable, helpful but also will not compromise her standards. This certification is just the beginning. If you are willing to open yourself up to learning new concepts, structures, and how to apply them, this course is for you. It is not easy, but rewarding things rarely are.
I was new to UX research, and I took Sophia's 10-week class. I learned so much that I now have confidence that I could be a constructive part of a UX team. I know where to start, and have experience with many of the concepts and tools I will need to start my career in UX.
OOUX is an organizing system for designing the user experience for a system (website, app, etc) in a way that mimics the human tendency to organize our schemas based on objects. You start by finding the most important objects, defining them, discovering the relationships and CTAs relevant to them, then design your system based on the results.
OOUX and the ORCA method are the best way to do Information Architecture for that I've found.
OOUX/ORCA is an excellent bridge between UX Research and UX Design, providing a framework to make design decisions based on the evidence discovered during research. The ORCA approach ensures the system design will match the user's mental model; this reduces the users' cognitive load, and bakes navigation through the objects in the user's mental model into the design. Finally, from a development perspective, the data needs and relationships are generated early in the process. This allows quicker development with less risk because some back end development (define databases etc) and some front end development can be under way by the time the real heavy lifting starts.
OOUX and ORCA came into my UX journey at the perfect time. I have new confidence when it comes to tackling complexity and Greenfield spaces. I'm so glad I took this course and for how it's helped me feel stronger and more comfortable as a designer.
I was already 100% sold on, and actively practicing, OOUX prior to this certification course. That said, one thing I know about Sophia is she's always optimizing, so I knew I'd still learn a lot (and I did). For me, OOUX is a pure power tool of a design methodology, and we've truly not found a single downside to it in our application of it thus far. Adding a certification at this point was both to continue to enhance my knowledge of the methodology, expand my OOUX network, and also lend further credibility to the OOUX work I'm already doing (and will continue to do). As far as I'm concerned, this is just one milestone in a long relationship and love affair with OOUX, and I'm looking forward to continuing to use it, teach it, and evangelize for it at every opportunity.
The philosophy has helped me so much! It's helped me break down and communicate complexity and opportunities for improvement. I think it's such a valuable process to go through when working on any new system and can help reconsider structures in current systems. I will continue to use this for my career and life!
