UX and product design course in New Zealand. Become a certified product designer in 11 weeks.

CAUXPDE is 11 weeks, one module a week, and most weeks you produce something for a real client project: a stakeholder map, personas, a Figma prototype, a test report. Plan on about 6–8 hours a week around work. You can take up to 6 months if you need to, and portal access lasts 12 months. The internship and post-graduation support follow week 11.

New intakes begin on the first Monday of January, March, May, July, September and November, and enrolments close the Wednesday before. The next dates, and the week each intake finishes, are in Price and intakes.

CAUXPDE is $4,789 + GST ($5,507.35 including GST), and that price is fixed for 2026 and 2027. Pay by card when you enrol, or we can invoice you or your employer. It includes the 11 modules, unlimited one-to-one mentoring and design critique, coaching, the real client project, the exam and certificate, the internship and post-graduation support.

Eligible New Zealand businesses can have up to 50% of the cost covered by the Management Capability Development Fund (MCDF), which helps businesses build capability through training. See if your business qualifies. StudyLink loans and allowances don’t cover industry certifications like CAUXPDE.

The best fit depends on where you’re starting and where you want to go. If you want to move into UX, or step up from UX to product design while you keep working, IDNZ’s Certified Agile UX Product Design Expert (CAUXPDE) covers research, Figma prototyping, design systems, accessibility, usability testing, design sprints and designing AI products in 11 weeks, with unlimited one-to-one mentoring, a real client project and a real internship. If you need an NZQA qualification or a student loan, a degree or diploma may suit you better. The certification comparison page sets out the options.

A UX designer focuses on making a product easy and pleasant to use: research, flows, the interface and how it behaves. They usually come from graphic, visual or interaction design, and they often work on features someone else has scoped. A product designer works across the whole process, from research and brainstorming to project management and the business case, and is measured on whether the product meets business goals as well as user needs. They usually come from UX design, leading projects and working with other teams. Product designers still design hands-on; they just own more of the decisions. Typical pay for each role is on the comparison page.

That’s what it’s built for. Product designer roles ask for more than screens: running discovery, managing stakeholders, testing with users and backing decisions with evidence. Modules 03, 05, 07 and 08 cover exactly that, and your case study shows you doing it on a real client project.

It gives you the core skills. Module 02 covers agile UX and working in sprints, module 04 covers user stories, acceptance criteria and requirements, and module 10 covers playing work back to stakeholders and handing it to developers. Many designers grow into product owner roles after a few years as a product designer, and your mentor can help you plan that path.

No. You need good English, a laptop and a few hours a week. Graphic and web designers often move fastest because they already have the visual skills, but module 01 starts with the building blocks of a good interface, and your mentor works at your pace.

Figma for interface design, prototyping, design systems and developer handoff, plus Figma AI; Miro and FigJam for workshops and mapping; Jira and Azure DevOps for agile work; Askable for recruiting test participants; Optimal Workshop for card sorting; Framer and Proto.io for prototypes; Canva and Adobe Photoshop for assets; and Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini as AI assistants.

Yes, in two ways. You use AI tools throughout the course to speed up research synthesis, ideation, copy and prototyping. Module 09 is about designing AI products, including agents that act for people: showing confidence and sources, asking before irreversible actions, undo, and handing back to a person. It’s led by Sai Constantine, who leads agentic UX design at IDNZ.

No. CAUXPDE isn’t a coding course. Module 10 covers the HTML and CSS concepts designers need to talk with developers and write a good handoff spec, so your designs are easier to build.

Yes. Each module adds a section to a case study built on a real client project: the problem, research, flows, prototype, testing and outcome. In week 11 you pitch it to the client, and the internship that follows gives you a second piece of work to show.

Two ways. You present your client project in a final pitch, then sit an online, proctored exam with 200 questions in 2.5 hours, and the exam fee is included. Pass both and you’re a Certified Agile UX Product Design Expert, with a certificate and LinkedIn badge.

If you’ve never done UX work, start with the 5-week Agile UX Design JumpStart. It covers UX principles, research, personas, Figma prototyping and usability testing, with unlimited mentoring at times that suit you, and you can start any week. It’s $2,597 + GST. When you’re ready, step up to CAUXPDE for $2,557 + GST, so the whole path takes 16 weeks and costs $5,154 + GST. If you already have design or digital experience, you can start CAUXPDE straight away.

Choose a diploma if you need an NZQA qualification, Fees Free or a StudyLink loan, and can commit to most of a year at 15–20 hours a week. Choose CAUXPDE if you want to keep working, start sooner and build real work quickly: 11 weeks at 6–8 hours a week, intakes every two months, a real client project and a real internship. The certification comparison page sets the options side by side.

Yes. CAUXPDE is online and built around a working week: about 6–8 hours, with the module in the portal and mentor sessions booked at times that suit you, including evenings. The UX JumpStart works the same way over 5 weeks.