Free UX/UI, Design, Research & Creative certifications
For people who research, design and craft what users see and touch. 42 free tests from beginner to advanced, every question based on a published source, with a verifiable certificate you can add to LinkedIn.
Founder, Science of AppsWhat are the best free UX/UI & design certifications?
Science of Apps has 42 free UX/UI, Design, Research & Creative certifications and skill tests: for people who research, design and craft what users see and touch. 8 beginner, 29 intermediate, 5 advanced — each a timed online test of original scenarios based on published standards, graded instantly, with a verifiable, LinkedIn-ready certificate.
Beginner UX/UI & design certifications
No experience needed: fundamentals and clear reasoning.
- 10 questions · 10 minSOA-UXP
UX Psychology Quiz
A 10-minute quiz on the psychology behind UX: the cognitive, behavioural and perceptual laws of UX — Hick's law, Fitts's law, Jakob's law and more — and how to apply them.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor UX Designer, UI Designer, Product DesignerTake the 10-minute quiz → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-UXUI
UX/UI Design Fundamentals Certification
A beginner-level test of UX and UI basics — user-centred process, research basics, wireframes and prototypes, visual hierarchy, usability heuristics and accessibility.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor Aspiring UX designer, UI designer, Design studentTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-DTPF
Design Thinking and Problem Framing Certification
Tests design thinking — empathising with users, framing problems with How Might We questions, ideation, prototyping and testing, and the Double Diamond.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor Designer, Product manager, Innovation consultantTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-RWD
Responsive Web Design Certification
Tests responsive design — mobile-first thinking, fluid grids, breakpoints, container queries, responsive images, typography, touch targets and testing across devices.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor Web designer, Front-end developer, UI designerTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-VDF
Visual Design Fundamentals Certification
Tests visual design basics — hierarchy, contrast, alignment, proximity and grouping, colour, typography, white space and consistency.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor UI designer, Graphic designer, Design studentTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-GDF
Graphic Design Fundamentals Certification
Tests graphic design basics — composition and grids, colour theory, typography, image formats and resolution, vector vs raster, print vs screen and design briefs.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor Graphic designer, Junior designer, Marketing designerTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-3DM
3D Modeling Certification
Tests 3D modelling fundamentals that apply across Blender, Maya, 3ds Max and other tools — polygon modelling and topology, UVs and PBR texturing, lighting and rendering, and preparing models for games, AR and 3D printing.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor 3D modeller, Game artist, Product designerTake the 10-minute test → - 10 questions · 10 minSOA-VED
Video Editing Certification
Tests video editing fundamentals that apply in any editor — cutting techniques, continuity, pacing and storytelling, and audio, colour, captions, formats and export for YouTube, social media and broadcast.
Difficulty: BeginnerFor Video editor, YouTuber or content creator, Social media producerTake the 10-minute test →
Intermediate UX/UI & design certifications
Assumes hands-on experience in the role.
- ProfessionalSOA-UXD
UX Design Certification
Certifies that you can take a product problem from user need to a tested, usable flow — research, information architecture, interaction design and usability evaluation.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX Designer, UX/UI Designer, User Experience DesignerEarn Certified UX Designer → - ProfessionalSOA-UID
UI Design Certification
Certifies that you can design clear, consistent, accessible interfaces — visual hierarchy, typography, colour, layout, components and interaction states.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UI Designer, Visual Designer, Interface DesignerEarn Certified UI Designer → - ProfessionalSOA-PD
Product Design Certification
Certifies end-to-end product design: framing problems against business goals, designing and shipping solutions with engineering, and measuring their impact.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Product Designer, Senior Product Designer, Lead Product DesignerEarn Certified Product Designer → - ProfessionalSOA-UXR
UX Research Certification
Certifies that you can plan, run and synthesize user research that changes decisions — method choice, recruiting, interviewing, usability testing, surveys and analysis.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX Researcher, User Researcher, Design ResearcherEarn Certified UX Researcher → - SpecialistSOA-UXW
UX Writing & Content Design Certification
Certifies that you can write interface copy that helps people act — microcopy, errors, onboarding, voice and tone, content structure and testing words.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX Writer, Content Designer, Content StrategistEarn Certified UX Writer & Content Designer → - SpecialistSOA-BD
Behavioral Design Certification
Certifies that you can apply behavioral psychology and behavioral economics to product design ethically — motivation, decision architecture, habits and the laws of UX.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Behavioral Designer, Product Psychologist, Behavioral Scientist (Product)Earn Certified Behavioral Designer → - SpecialistSOA-FIG
Figma Certification
Certifies that you can build production-ready work in Figma — auto layout, components and variants, variables and modes, prototyping and developer handoff.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UI Designer, Product Designer, UX/UI DesignerEarn Certified Figma Designer → - SpecialistSOA-MOB
Mobile App Design Certification
Certifies that you can design native-feeling iOS and Android apps — platform conventions, navigation and gestures, touch ergonomics and accessibility, and performance, offline and permission flows.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Mobile App Designer, Mobile UI Designer, iOS DesignerEarn Certified Mobile App Designer → - SpecialistSOA-IXD
Interaction Design Certification
Certifies that you can design how interfaces behave — usability principles and mental models, feedback and states, forms and input, and motion and timing.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Interaction Designer, UX Designer, Product DesignerEarn Certified Interaction Designer → - SpecialistSOA-UT
Usability Testing Certification
Certifies that you can plan, run and report usability tests — recruiting, task writing and moderation, usability metrics like SUS, and severity-ranked findings.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Usability Tester, UX Researcher, Usability AnalystEarn Certified Usability Tester → - SpecialistSOA-IA
Information Architecture Certification
Certifies that you can structure content people can find — organisation schemes and labelling, navigation systems, card sorting and tree testing, and search.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Information Architect, UX Architect, UX DesignerEarn Certified Information Architect → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-UXI
UX Designer Interview Test
A 15-minute practice test of UX designer interview questions: portfolio walkthroughs, process and behavioural questions, whiteboard challenges, design critique, collaboration and AI in the design process.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX Designer, Product Designer, UI DesignerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-DCVJ
Design Critique and Visual Judgment Certification
Tests how to give and receive design critique and judge visual quality — goals-based feedback, hierarchy, alignment, consistency, spacing and spotting what's off.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Product designer, UI designer, Design leadTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-UXPF
UX Portfolio Assessment
Tests what makes a UX portfolio hire-ready — choosing projects, case study structure, showing process and decisions, outcomes and impact, and presentation.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX designer, Product designer, Junior designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-SDRB
Survey Design and Research Bias Certification
Tests survey design — writing unbiased questions, scales, sampling, response bias, question order, analysis and when surveys are the wrong method.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX researcher, Market researcher, Product managerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-UXWA
UX Writing for AI Interfaces Certification
Tests writing for AI products — setting expectations, onboarding prompts, explaining uncertainty and errors, disclosure, refusals, feedback prompts and consistent AI voice.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UX writer, Content designer, Conversation designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-CVUX
Conversational and Voice UX Certification
Tests conversation design for chatbots and voice assistants — intents, turn-taking, prompts, confirmations, error recovery, personas, context and accessibility.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Conversation designer, Voice UX designer, Chatbot designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-AITT
AI Interface Trust and Transparency Certification
Tests how to design AI interfaces people can trust appropriately — explaining outputs, showing sources and confidence, user control, consent, feedback and avoiding over-reliance.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Product designer, AI UX designer, UX researcherTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-PDQA
Product Design QA Certification
Tests design QA — reviewing builds against designs, states and edge cases, responsive and accessibility checks, consistency with the design system and prioritising fixes.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Product designer, Design QA specialist, UI designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-TYPO
Typography and Layout Assessment
Tests typography and layout — type scales, line length and line height, pairing typefaces, hierarchy, readability, responsive type and grid-based layouts.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor UI designer, Graphic designer, Product designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-BID
Brand Identity Design Certification
Tests brand identity design — strategy to visuals, logos, colour and type systems, brand guidelines, application across touchpoints and consistency.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Brand designer, Graphic designer, Creative directorTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-DHDC
Design Handoff and Developer Collaboration Certification
Tests handoff and collaboration — specs, tokens and components, states and edge cases, Dev Mode, annotations, involving engineers early and reviewing builds.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Product designer, UI designer, Front-end developerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-CBAD
Creative Brief and Art Direction Certification
Tests creative briefs and art direction — defining objectives and insights, single-minded propositions, guiding visual direction, feedback, and judging work against the brief.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Art director, Creative director, Brand managerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-PHSP
Adobe Photoshop Certification Practice
Tests Adobe Photoshop skills in the style of the Adobe Certified Professional exam — layers, selections and masks, adjustments, retouching and colour, and file formats, export and non-destructive workflow.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Graphic designer, Photo retoucher, Digital marketerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-ILLU
Adobe Illustrator Certification Practice
Tests Adobe Illustrator skills in the style of the Adobe Certified Professional exam — vector drawing with paths and shapes, type, colour and appearance, and artboards, print and web output.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Graphic designer, Logo and brand designer, IllustratorTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-PRPR
Adobe Premiere Pro Certification Practice
Tests Adobe Premiere Pro skills in the style of the Adobe Certified Professional exam — project setup and timeline editing, trimming techniques, audio, colour and effects, and export, proxies and collaborative workflow.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Video editor, Content creator, VideographerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-AFX
Adobe After Effects Certification Practice
Tests Adobe After Effects skills in the style of the Adobe Certified Professional exam — compositions, layers, keyframes and the Graph Editor, masks, mattes, tracking and effects, and expressions, rendering and integration with Premiere Pro.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Motion designer, Visual effects artist, Video editorTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-BLND
Blender Certification
Tests Blender skills — the interface, modelling and modifiers, materials, UV mapping, lighting and rendering with Eevee and Cycles, and animation, rigging and export for games, film and the web.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor 3D artist, Game artist, Motion designerTake the 15-minute test → - 15 questions · 15 minSOA-MOGR
Motion Graphics Certification
Tests motion graphics design — the principles of animation and easing, design, typography and storytelling for motion, and tools, workflow, accessibility and delivery for video, web and UI.
Difficulty: IntermediateFor Motion designer, Motion graphics artist, Video editorTake the 15-minute test →
Advanced UX/UI & design certifications
Assumes years in the role or deep specialist knowledge.
- SpecialistSOA-A11Y
Accessibility Certification (WCAG)
Certifies that you can design and review digital products for people with disabilities — WCAG 2.2 principles, inclusive design patterns, assistive technology and accessibility testing.
Difficulty: AdvancedFor Accessibility Designer, Accessibility Specialist, Inclusive DesignerEarn Certified Accessibility Designer → - SpecialistSOA-DS
Design Systems Certification
Certifies that you can build, document, govern and scale a design system — tokens, components, documentation, adoption and design–engineering collaboration.
Difficulty: AdvancedFor Design Systems Designer, Design Systems Lead, Design TechnologistEarn Certified Design Systems Specialist → - SpecialistSOA-SD
Service Design Certification
Certifies that you can design services end to end — customer journeys, service blueprints, research and co-design, and delivery and measurement across channels.
Difficulty: AdvancedFor Service Designer, CX Designer, Customer Experience ManagerEarn Certified Service Designer → - 20 questions · 20 minSOA-ROPS
UX Research Operations Certification
Tests ResearchOps — participant recruitment and panels, consent and data handling, tooling, research repositories, governance, democratisation and scaling research.
Difficulty: AdvancedFor ResearchOps manager, UX research lead, UX researcherTake the 20-minute test → - 20 questions · 20 minSOA-UMED
Usability Metrics and Experiment Design Certification
Tests quantitative UX — task success, time on task, SUS and SEQ, benchmarking, sample sizes for quant studies, confidence intervals and designing UX experiments.
Difficulty: AdvancedFor UX researcher, Quantitative UX researcher, Product analystTake the 20-minute test →
More free certification categories
- AI & GenAI36 tests
- Software & web dev33 tests
- Data & BI28 tests
- Marketing, SEO & AEO39 tests
- Product & project35 tests
- Security, cloud & DevOps50 tests
- Sales & support24 tests
- HR & people14 tests
- Finance & operations69 tests
- Communication & leadership30 tests
- Languages60 tests
- Healthcare, education & more64 tests
- Test prep & academics31 tests
- Language exam prep15 tests
- Office & productivity13 tests
- Engineering & safety30 tests
- Hospitality & retail8 tests
Frequently asked questions
What are the best free UX/UI & design certifications in 2026?
Science of Apps offers 42 free UX/UI, Design, Research & Creative certifications and skill tests, including UX Design Certification, UI Design Certification, Product Design Certification, UX Research Certification, UX Writing & Content Design Certification, Accessibility Certification (WCAG). Each is a timed online test of original scenarios based on published standards, graded instantly, with a founder-signed certificate and a credential ID employers can verify.
Which UX/UI & design certification should I take first?
Start with a Beginner test such as UX Psychology Quiz, UX/UI Design Fundamentals Certification, Design Thinking and Problem Framing Certification, then move to Intermediate and Advanced ones such as Accessibility Certification (WCAG), Design Systems Certification. Every test page shows its difficulty, the skills it covers and a sample question.
Are these UX/UI & design certifications really free?
Yes. Taking a test, receiving the certificate as a PDF and by email, adding it to LinkedIn and having it verified are all free — no course, payment or sign-up.
How long does each UX/UI & design test take?
Quick skill tests are 10, 15 or 20 questions (Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced) at a minute each; full role certifications are 20 scenarios in 30 minutes. Every answer is explained with its source when you finish, and a retake draws questions you haven't seen.
How much do Science of Apps certifications cost?
Nothing. There is no fee to take a test, to receive the certificate, to have it emailed or to verify it, and no sign-up.
How are the tests graded?
On our server, not in your browser. The answers never reach the page until you submit, so a certificate can only be earned by passing. Each certificate gets a unique credential ID stored by Science of Apps.
What happens if I don't pass?
You see your score for each area and every question with the correct answer and why, with the published source behind it. You can retake after 30 minutes, and the retake draws questions you haven't seen yet.
Do the certificates expire?
No. Every certificate is dated, so it always shows when you passed. Retake a test any time for a newer date or a higher score.
Can I add the certificate to LinkedIn?
Yes. After you pass, Add to LinkedIn opens the Licenses & certifications form with the certificate name, Science of Apps as the issuer, the issue date, your credential ID and the verification link filled in. You can also download it as a PDF or PNG, and it's emailed to you as a PDF.
How can an employer verify my certificate?
Every certificate has a credential ID and a QR code. Scanning it, or entering the ID at scienceofapps.com/certification/verify/, shows the holder's name, the certification, the score and the issue date from our records.
Are these accredited qualifications?
No. They are Science of Apps' own assessments of applied skill. They aren't issued by a university or standards body, and they work best alongside a portfolio that shows the skills in real work.