The effectiveness of developing a new experimental educational syllabus for teaching user interface mobile app design to students of visual communication design in Amman, Jordan

It is becoming more and more essential to use mobile applications.Therefore, user interface mobile applications become more popular. Despite its importance, UI courses for mobile applications design are not a part of all graphic design syllabi at Jordanian universities for visual communication design, resulting in graduates with scant knowledge of the subject. Thus, it is common for newly graduated students to self-educate through online courses or to be trained by companies, which are often non-academic and commercial. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop a novel educational syllabus proposition for teaching UI mobile application design to students of visual communication design at Jordanian universities. To achieve this, the current study followed a methodological approach of design-based research. This methodology allowed for several iterations of the syllabus. The first draft was based on a content analysis of 13 prominent syllabi. Then the first draft was refined based on the perceptions of five experts. As a result, this study provided a comprehensive examination of the need for specialized courses on UI mobile app design as part of the bachelor’s degree. The proposed syllabus is divided into four parts: introduction, UI process, UI case studies and best practices, and a final project. The introduction covers the basics of UI. The UI process section covers theory and practice, tools, and publishing. The case studies and best practices section focuses on medical UI mobile app design and includes a UI checklist tool. The final project requires students to present and review their projects. The results of this study providing evidence of the value of involving experts and practitioners in the design process. This study also has implications for improving and developing future syllabi, which may help to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the field of UI design for mobile apps.