
The Flexible, Affordable Master’s in UX Design
Prepare to lead successful and innovative user experience design teams with the Kent State University online MS in User Experience Design. Gain a competitive edge in this fast-growing, well-paid field with our unique blend of instruction in human-centered design, information architecture and management skills, delivered in a convenient, 100% online format.
$735 out of state
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Compose Your Career in UX Design. Our convenient program can help you advance in this fast-growing field that offers both good salaries and job satisfaction. Designed by and for professionals, the 100% online graduate degree from Kent State University can help you craft your ideal career.
Download our guide to learn more about:
- Career Opportunities
- Customizing Your Degree
- The Student Experience
- Admission Requirements
- Tuition and Financial Aid
Enhance Your Design Skills. Increase Your Market Value.
The Kent State UX master's degree has been crafted to enhance your design skills and increase your market value. Core courses give you a solid conceptual grounding for your designs.
From there, make the UX master's degree your own through your choice of electives and a capstone course. Our accomplished and professionally connected faculty can help you tailor your elective coursework for your desired specialization or target industry.
You’ll start building your portfolio in the second half of your first semester. By the end of the program, you will have a body of work illustrating your mastery of the field to accompany your degree.
Required classes will help you:
- Determine user needs, goals and tasks through various research methods
- Understand and apply concepts of:
- Information architecture
- Interaction design
- Content strategy
- Design for usability and universal accessibility
- Evaluate designs from various perspectives
We’re Committed to Your Success
Kent State has been helping students realize their dreams since 1910, and we launched our first online course almost 20 years ago. We’re committed to helping you reach your goals, and that shows in our accreditation and ranking. We’re proud to be recognized with the Military Friendly® gold designation. The UXD program’s accreditation from NASAD, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, reflects the rigor of the program and expertise of our faculty.

A Degree Program Designed by and for Professionals
- Designed for busy working professionals, the asynchronous online course delivery of our UX master’s program offers you the flexibility to study around your work and life commitments.
- Small class cohorts encourage you to collaborate and build connections with your classmates and the faculty. Our program can help you build your professional network as you build your credentials.
- Faculty for our online master’s in UX design are active in professional organizations and have a well-rounded mix of practical experience and scholarly credentials.
Faculty Expertise

Kent State faculty research interests include knowledge organization systems, information processing and related topics, educational technology, inclusive design, and multi-sensory user interactions.
Our faculty’s experience spans diverse industries ranging from media, digital services and e-commerce to transportation, logistics and power management.
The faculty here are amazing, simply amazing. Any interaction that I’ve had with a professional in user experience design or any of the knowledge management facets, they always talked about how Kent State’s program is amazing because of the faculty.
Your Master’s in UX Design Opens Career Doors
As the importance of user experience design became apparent in online applications, more and more industries have recognized the power of good design in creating desirable outcomes across business scenarios. That means UX design is a good career choice now and for the future.
Kent State’s UX master’s program will help you develop the technical knowledge, research skills and leadership qualities to solve business problems while creating satisfying user experiences.
Your education can open career doors and help you thrive in a variety of roles, including:
- User experience designer
- User experience researcher
- User interface designer
- Information architect
- UX/UI manager
- Product manager
- Human factors engineer
Read about one Kent State alumna’s path to becoming a user experience researcher.
Earn Good Pay. Enjoy Your Workday.
Enjoy the challenges of using your integrated skill set to improve customer experiences and create business value. As a UX professional, your value to the organization is reflected in both your pay and your influence. This case study is a good illustration of the positive impact you can have. Some of the roles offering job satisfaction, good pay and ample job opportunities that our program equips you for include:
$97,047
#24 Best Job1
$98,018
$125,317
#10 Best Job1
Develop Your Portfolio Along With Your Skills
Every UX designer needs a robust digital portfolio. In Kent State University’s online masters in UX design, you’ll add to your portfolio with each course while you master the process, methodology and reasoning behind UX tools and techniques.
When you complete the program, a final polish of your portfolio and resume will help you take the next exciting step in your career.

Through my various portfolio pieces, I was able to show that I've been involved in every step of the UX process.
Ken J., MS ‘17, UX Designer and Program Manager
Program Snapshot
The UX master's degree consists of 36 credits. Each course is seven weeks long and you can take two courses sequentially each semester, allowing you to complete the program in as little as two years. Twelve three-credit courses are divided as follows:
- Seven core courses
- Four electives
- A capstone requirement
We are pleased to offer the convenience of:
- Three program enrollment options per year
- A holistic admission process with no GRE requirement
Tuition and Financial Aid
The total tuition cost of your online master’s in UX design from Kent State is a fraction of what you can earn in a year with the skills learned in the program. The convenience of online course delivery means that you can continue to work full-time if you wish.
The payoff for earning your master’s degree makes the challenges of studying while working very worthwhile. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that nationally, professionals with a master’s degree earn almost 18% more than those with a bachelor’s degree and enjoy greater job security as well.3
Ohio Residents | Out of State | |
Per Credit Hour | $725 | $735 |
Approximate Program Cost | $26,100 | $26,460 |
An additional distance learning fee for all students enrolled in a distance learning course is $15 per credit hour. Program tuition and costs are estimated and subject to change. For comprehensive tuition information, please refer to the tuition rates posted on the Bursar’s website.
We recognize that pursuing a graduate degree is a significant investment. Your Admissions Outreach Advisor can answer your questions on program costs, discuss how a Kent State degree compares to others and connect you with financial aid representatives when you are ready to discuss your financial options.
Please contact an Admissions Outreach Advisor for more information on tuition and fees either by email at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or toll-free at +1 844‑234‑4073.
Move Your Career Forward with Kent State
Immersive Online Curriculum
Practitioner Faculty
UXD Career Potential
Core Courses (7 Courses, 21 Credit Hours)
UXD 60001 USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60002 USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN IN PRACTICE (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60101 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE I (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60102 PRINCIPLES OF INTERACTION (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60103 RESEARCHING THE USER EXPERIENCE I (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60104 USABILITY I (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60118 ACCESSIBILITY EVALUATION AND UNIVERSAL DESIGN
In the first module, students learn about the different types of disabilities (i.e., visual, auditory, physical/motor, cognitive, temporary and environmental), and how they affect a person's interaction with technologies. Students also become familiar with assistive technologies, how people with disabilities make use of them, and what limitations they impose. The assignment for this module will be to write an accessibility and universal design justification brief for an organization. In the brief, learners will describe what accessibility and universal design are, and why the organization should begin to address it.
The second module will introduce learners to key accessibility guidelines and standards for web, mobile and hardware experiences, as well as the principles of universal design. Learners will become familiar with the guidelines and standards for designing accessible experiences for a variety of task types, including form completion, content creation and consumption, and other common web-based tasks. For the assignment learners will apply the knowledge they've gained by creating a plan for conducting an accessibility evaluation on several areas of an organization's web site.
During the third module, students will learn to perform an accessibility evaluation, and then document their findings in a manner intended to persuade an organization to address the accessibility issues they identified.
In the fourth module, learners will put principles into practice by designing an interaction following the principles of universal design.
The fifth module provides learners with the opportunity to create a comprehensive plan for incorporating accessibility into an organization's product/service design, development, quality assurance and deployment life cycle.
Electives (Choose 12 credits from the following)
UXD 60106 CONTENT STRATEGY I (3 Credit Hours)
Prerequisite: UXD 60001 and UXD 60002; and graduate standing.
HI 60414 HUMAN FACTORS AND USABILITY IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
LIS 60636 KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES, SYSTEMS AND SERVICES (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60111 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE II (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60112 INTERACTION IN PRACTICE
Prerequisite: UXD 60001 and UXD 60002; and graduate standing.
Pre/corequisite: UXD 60102
UXD 60113 RESEARCHING USER EXPERIENCE II (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60114 USABILITY II (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60117 UXD LEADERSHIP
UXD 60691 SEMINAR IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (1-3 CREDITS; REPEATABLE FOR CREDIT)
UXD 60792 ELECTIVE INTERNSHIP IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (2-3 CREDITS)
UXD 61095 SPECIAL TOPICS IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Capstone Requirement (Choose 3 credits from the following)
UXD 66080 PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT (3 CREDITS)
UXD 66092 MASTER'S INTERNSHIP IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (3 CREDITS)
UXD 66099 MASTERS PROJECT IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (3 CREDITS)
UXD 66198 MASTER'S RESEARCH PAPER IN USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (3 CREDITS)
UXD 66199 THESIS I (2-6 CREDITS)
Admissions Requirements
- Completed online application
- Complete bachelor’s degree, with a GPA of 2.75 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), from an accredited university*
- Three letters of recommendation from professors and/or employers
- Application fee: $45
- Official transcripts
- Goal statement
- Resume/CV
- No GRE required for admission
*Students who do not meet GPA requirements may be conditionally admitted. Please contact an Admissions Outreach Advisor at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or call us toll-free at +1 844-234-4073 for more information.
Our Admissions Outreach Advisors are available to answer your questions regarding admissions requirements for the program. If you have questions, please email us at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or call us toll-free at +1 844-234-4073.
Important Dates
Application Resources

Our step-by-step application checklist will help ensure the success of your application submission.
Application FAQs
Create an account in the online application system to save your work and track the progress of materials submitted via the application system.
I am a U.S. citizen. Where should I send my application materials?
Graduate Admissions
P.O. Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242
Please be sure to include your full name and Kent State ID (9-digit number starting with 8) on all submitted documents. For questions, contact Graduate Admissions at +1 330-672-2661 or gradapps@kent.edu.
I am not a U.S. citizen. Where should I send my application materials?
Office of Global Education
Kent State University
106 Van Campen Hall
625 Loop Rd.
Kent, OH 44242
USA
For questions, contact International Admissions at +1 330-672-7970 or intladm@kent.edu.
Course Requirements
Courses are delivered through our course management system, Blackboard Learn. Course content consists of text, narrated PowerPoint presentations, video and audio, live chats, discussion groups and other learning enhancements.
To participate in this online program, you will need a computer and broadband Internet connection. Your program may have further requirements that include the ability to record video and audio. If you have questions regarding technology requirements for the program, please contact your Admissions Outreach Advisor at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or call us toll-free at +1 844-234-4073.
Advance Your Career with Kent State
- Retrieved on June 22, 2022, from glassdoor.com/List/Best-Jobs-in-America-LST_KQ0,20.htm
- Retrieved on June 22, 2022, from glassdoor.com/Career/user-experience-researcher-career_KO0,26.htm
- Retrieved on May 5, 2023, from www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2022/data-on-display/education-pays.htm