Discover what designers are calling the "missing piece" in the product design process. Harmonize cross-functional collaboration around a systematic, effective, and fun methodology. Deliver naturally intuitive user experience design that makes you look and feel like a (really nerdy) rockstar. Make it happen — Even in the most complex problem spaces.
Until enrollment for the OOUX Masterclass closes
Sharpen your UX and information architecture skills so you can see the matrix inside of the matrix. OOUX is often called “rocket fuel” or“X-ray goggles”. Take on the most complex design challenges without hesitation — and always know exactly where to start. Bye-bye, lingering imposter syndrome.
With OOUX, you can drop the guesswork — creating technically-feasible designs that check all the boxes when it comes to mind-boggling business rules and test beautifully with users. Finally, you can be confident in your design decisions — even if your access to good user research is ...errr... sparse.
Reduce frustrating miscommunication and misunderstandings (by like a lot) — reducing rework, increasing design quality, and making working together actually enjoyable. Facilitate productive deep work sessions that bring out the genius of each diverse team member. A Rosetta Stone for product teams.
The OOUX Masterclass shows you how to create a shared language — bringing a cross-functional team of business stakeholders, developers, content strategists, and UX designers together into collaborative flow.
Leverage repeatable, scalable, flexible, and step-by-step playbook that frees you to focus on that actual problem and not the process needed to solve the problem. ORCA is known among OOUXers “the key” and “the missing piece” to solving complex design challenges. It's been tested and wildly successful in hundreds (if not thousands) of problem domains. Yes, it will work for yours, too. Really.
In this robust continued-education program for UXers, content folks, PMs, and developers looking to stretch into design, students learn the ORCA Process: a simple but comprehensive framework for synthesizing chaos into a clear scaffolding for design. This process is methodical — and so much fun.
In short, feel truly connected to the amazing people on your team (even the toughest clients and stakeholders), while experiencing a deep inner knowing that you are capable of solving complex problems — reliably and efficiently.
And joyfully.
You'll get lifetime access to all 19 modules of transformative learning content. Get out your Trapper Keeper — it's time to take some notes.
I really can't even count how many extra resources you'll get to help make your job (and your certification experience) easier. And we are always adding to and updating our Resource Library, and once you have access you're in for good.
The OOUX Masterclass will challenge you with 15+ exercises and assignments as you follow the lecture series through the course. Take an project through all of the assignments and you'll come out the other side with an impressive portfolio piece that showcases your ability to think beyond screens and deep into strategy and structure.
This is where hundreds of OOUXers trade notes and become internet besties. As a student of the OOUX Masterclass, you'll get access to premium spaces like Masterclass-only monthly Q&A with Sophia, the Job Board, the Arena (for peer-to-peer feedback), and the showcase of Unintuitive Object finds.
When you enroll in the Self-Paced Course, we don't promise any individual feedback. You can post your assignments to the Forum, but unlike in the OOUX Certification Program you won't get a dedicated mentor, access to Office Hours, or an official certificate.
But here's the awesome part—you'll get a credit to join a future cohort that will offset the cost of the Self-Paced Masterclass by 100%. Yep! That's a $997 credit that you can apply to any future certification cohort.
ORCA lifts the fog that hides complexity and becomes a broadsword for slaying dragons of misalignment! 5 out of 5.
A revolutionary approach to UX design. Must do for every product designer! Whether you're a beginner or an experienced designer, this course equips you with valuable techniques and strategies to enhance your Product design skills. Highly recommended for anyone looking to level up their design capabilities! 5 out of 5.
The ORCA process helps us to get to a better, more complete understanding faster, and helps us communicate that understanding across a large organization where it might not be shared…It’s amazing for your toolkit — you will look like a superstar.
Something I’m glad that I did do, was take the self-paced course first. I was able to really focus on the assignments during the certification course and not worry about having to understand the concepts (for the first time) at the same time. It’s what I advise everyone to do who I’ve talked to about the course.
You'll learn to dig into the often-overlooked critical product requirements that have immense implications for UX, content, and development — saving your team and organization piles of time and money. You'll learn a method of documenting those requirements that is organized, scaleable, collaborative, and even sometimes called "delightful".
You'll learn a completely new way to scope, plan, and iterate on complex systems — giving you the skills to facilitate and lead strategy and road map conversations. You'll not only help reduce The Kludge, your help prevent it in the future.
You'll also learn how to intentionally prioritize and arrange design elements, never again placing UI arbitrarily. No. More. Guesswork. 100% rationale for even the smallest design decision. Usually results in better sleep.
You'll learn to really use sticky notes — like really. Sticky notes are great for a loose brainstorm or squishy affinity map, but they can also be leveraged to help you craft elegant information architecture, content strategy, and database design — collaboratively. You'll be the person who always has a stack in their bag.
You'll discover what is so often called "the missing piece" of the design process. You'll now have strength and structure to contain the "soft science" of UX — giving you confidence, clarity, and results that you and your team can be really freaking proud of.
Take advantage of big discounts and complementary Office Hours with Sophia Prater when you enroll more than 3 people at your company.
Currently, the Self-Paced Masterclass is only $997 — for a program that will vastly increase your capacity for wrangling complexity. We also offer payment plans and group rates for teams!
You'll get lifetime access to all the video lectures (22+ hours total), as well as lifetime access to all of the slides, templates, and worksheets from the course. In addition, you'll have lifetime access to all the most up-to-date course content as it's updated into the future.
Of course. We are so confident that you will love OOUX that we promise a 90-day hassle-free Money-Back Promise. We just ask that you get through the Discovery Round of ORCA and try to take some small steps to practice OOUX in your work. If you get that far and you are still disappointed with what you are getting out of the course, just let us know. We simply ask that you shed a little light on your experience — let us know how your attempts at OOUX went and provide us with some feedback to help us understand what was missing. No hard feelings and a full refund ASAP.
If you’ve listened to the OOUX Podcast, read all my articles, and watched my talks on You Tube, amazing — thank you. I’d say you are an OOUX White Belt. If you’ve been practicing and taking copious self-study notes, you might be at an OOUX Yellow Belt.
If you’ve taken the Udemy Course (OOUX Fundamentals) or attended an workshop, you might be at an OOUX Orange Belt, if you were an active participant and you’ve been practicing more on your own.
The OOUX Masterclass can take you straight to an OOUX Black Belt. I say “can” take you to Black Belt, because many OOUXers do find that leveling up true mastery requires the hands-on personalized coaching of the OOUX Certification. (Think of the OOUX Masterclass as the textbook for the OOUX Certification. Some people can read the textbook and become an expert without ever going to class. If you decide you want to join a Cohort — amazing, you already have the textbook! You’ll be able to put the cost of the Masterclass towards the cost of a Cohort spot.)
Post-certification, some OOUXers go on to my advanced training program, mentoring Certification Cohortians and earning stripes on their OOUX Black Belt as they step up to leadership, take on more facilitation, and learn to spot a junction object from a mile away.
(Thank you, Karate Belt System for helping me explain that!)
Sometimes people see “object-oriented” and think that OOUX is all about appeasing developers. I’ve heard: “I want our product to be USER-oriented, not OBJECT-oriented!” It’s true that developers love it when designers start to work this way. That said, the main reason we are so obsessed with focusing our design on clear, valuable, recognizable objects is because humans think in objects.
We build our mental models in objects; we think and navigate our memory through relationships between objects. The cognitive science (which you’ll learn in the Masterclass) is clear: to understand an environment (digital or physical), you have to understand the objects that make it up. OOUX is about as human-brain-centered as it gets.
Oh, and in case you are worried, In the OOUX Masterclass, we won’t show you one line of code. But you will learn about cardinality, inheritance, and a little something called Junction Objects. OOUX has been called “design technical” — as a term of endearment. We’ve been fed a lie that UX is 100% a “soft science” and a squishy process allows our wild creativity to flyyyyy! 🙄 ORCA gives needed structure to the softness, balancing the art and science of our profession.
This might turn out to be true. But don’t worry — you don’t need to become a crusader for OOUX, you don’t need to push others into it, and definitely don’t need to identify yourself as a diehard OOUXer! That is, unless you want to and you're in a position to do so.
As soon as you scratch the surface of the OOUX Masterclass you’ll start seeing the opportunities for a bright new day with your team, but we actually recommend you start with “quiet OOUXing.” In other words, don’t ask for permission — just do it. OOUX is a tool for understanding, and you never need permission to use a tool that helps you understand complexity!
Within the first couple modules of the course, you’ll start asking better questions and producing cleaner designs. Eventually, others will notice. It might take a few months, but people will get curious about your well-organized sticky notes and uncanny understanding of the business. Don’t stress about being a boat-rocker unless that’s your vibe. Let them come to you.
OMG! You have a legit IA, content strat, and design system practice? That’s amazing! Count yourself lucky. This just means that your organization is that much more ready to up-level with the ORCA Process.
See, ORCA is a methodology for bringing IA, content, and UX together. It doesn’t replace these practices, it enhances them and helps them shine. Neither does OOUX even pretend to replace a design system, but it can add a critical semantic layer atop your design system. OOUX-style sketching helps you create a rulebook for how best to put all those UI legos together.
(And if your team doesn’t have any IA, content, or a design system practice? OOUX! Now! Now! Now!)
If mind-melty complexity, chaotic collaboration, and a hectic and haphazard design process are top professional headaches, you are in the right place. Imagine if you drastically improve those areas — how much easier will everything else will be?
But you are right — our industry is always changing and there is always something new to learn and some of it feels urgent. But here’s the twist. ORCA is a tool for understanding complicated stuff. I’ve had so many students say, “I wish I’d had this in college!” Or “I’m using ORCA to help me learn XYZ!”
They say our brains are elastic (neuroplasticity and all that). I can’t say that the OOUX Masterclass will make you smarter, but it sure as hell will help you feel and operate smarter. Whenever I am confronted with a new thing to learn, ORCA is my go-to tool and it can be yours, too. Cheers to a lifetime of learning, with that killer whale as your powerful sidekick!
In my experience and in all the hundreds of stories I’ve heard about OOUX bringing design and development together, I think I’ve heard two head-scratching reports of developers not “getting” OOUX and wondering why the designers are doing the “fun part” of their job. It is true that in OOUX we use slightly different terminology (for example, what we call objects, your developers might call classes or entities) — but always with good reason. That’s why the glossary that you receive in the Masterclass has a column for “dev speak”. Throughout the course, we continuously tie in the developer’s perspective to make sure you don’t sound like a clueless poser when you talk to them — because you won’t be. Instead, we make sure you sound like a godsend — a designer finally speaking (something really close to) their language.
Nope! Scrap everything and blindly use ORCA! Please spend 8-weeks-solid building an Object Map consisting of 10,000 sticky notes.
Just kidding!
Ok, so yes, ORCA is structured and methodical, providing a step-by-step process that brings peace-of-mind to the whole team. But it’s also flexible, remixable, and scalable. OOUXers have loved blending it with Jobs to be Done, How Might We Statements and Design Sprints, the Core Model, and all of their existing favorite practices. ORCA can be stretched to a glorious 8-week massive modeling effort, or it can be squeezed into 2-hour sessions here and there. It can apply to a massive redesign of a complex legacy enterprise system, or it can apply to a single feature. Slip OOUX in where you can and you’ll start to reap the benefits.
In the OOUX Masterclass, ORCA is taught in four rounds: we iteratively define and design our objects, relationships, CTAs, and attributes. One of those rounds is Prioritization. As you learn about how to prioritize, plan, and phase the growth of your system through the lens of ORCA, iterations actually become more strategic. Divvying up complexity into sprints starts to make more sense.
You might be! I’d say if you are brand new to UX design and have less than a year’s experience in the field, you might want to give yourself some more time to break in your shoes before you come on this particular journey. Most of our students are mid-level, senior-level, and director/leadership-level. That said, often those with only a few years of experience find OOUX easier than those that have been in the field for 10+ years. It requires an open mind and a willingness to turn a few aspects of your existing process inside out — which can be hard for professionals set in their ways. So, enroll with at least some basic industry knowledge and a growth mindset.
To be clear, we are talking about the OOUX Masterclass here, not OOUX in general. OOUX and ORCA is for everyone — even non-technical end users can learn the basic ropes in 10-15 minutes, allowing them to actively participate in co-creation ORCA workshops. I’ve taught OOUX to my 70-year-old neighbors, to help them plan their local non-profit website. And we had so much fun.
If you are the type of person that wants to be a complexity wrangler, if you enjoy tough problems but just feel like you are using blunt tools to work through them, if you are accused of "over-thinking", if you prefer moving sticky notes around to moving pixels around — I'm not worried about you! But you may have read some testimonials about how tough the course is and how mind-melty parts of the course can be. Remember, that's a good thing. Learning to do hard stuff is what will set you apart. There's rarified air on the other side of the OOUX Masterclass. And if you need extra support? Monthly Q&A is included (indefinitely) and if you need to book a call with an OOUX Mentor for some added support, their rates are usually around $100/hour. There's also so much access to peer-to-peer support in the OOUX Forum. You are in good hands!
The Self-paced Masterclass is, of course, "Self-paced," so you will not have to stick to the 10-week, guided schedule that the Certification students go through. You can complete the course at your leisure. Check out the side-by-side comparison!
The first 4 years of my UX career…were kind of hell. I loved the idea of UX, but in practice, I was rushing to deliver wireframes for complex products I barely understood. My designs were constantly in need of rework, because they didn’t meet some obscure business requirement or some aspect wasn’t technically feasible. I was designing in the dark, with a shoddy flashlight that kept flickering on and off. And every time I’d shine the light in some corner of complexity, the pieces seemed to have moved around.
I sort of hated my clients. I was constantly screaming in my head, “WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THAT???” I felt like I was being set up to fail and I had no idea how to get everyone speaking the same language, how to shake off the self-doubt, and how to make “discover-design-deliver” actually work for me.
Around 2012, things started to change. Through a series of “right-place-right-time” circumstances, I started to learn about modular design, OO design principles, and pattern libraries. A framework began to click together. I started speaking about that framework, writing about it, and practicing it with my freelance clients. In 2015, I coined the term “Object-Oriented UX” in an A List Apart article that went viral. It was one of the most-shared, retweeted, and talk-about articles that year.
As I continued to see my practice become more systematic, reliable, fun, collaborative, and effective — I started hearing other’s stories about how OOUX transformed their practice. Thus, I was hooked. It wasn’t just me looking for a faster way to understand complex systems — other’s needed this, too. Teaching and practicing-what-I-teach has become my life’s work. I absolutely love seeing the lightbulbs go off (often explosively). OOUX.com/testimonials is my greatest pride.
I’ve brought OOUX to companies like Delta, Autodesk, Adobe, Facebook, Atlassian, HelloFresh, and so many more. I’ve trained thousands of product professionals through my highly-rated courses and workshops. I created the OOUX Masterclass as an alternative to my live workshops — allowing me to deliver deeper, more comprehensive training on your schedule. The OOUX Masterclass also serves as the “textbook” for the OOUX Certification Program, my rigorous one-a-year, flagship, live experience that awards students my official seal-of-approval.
Today, with the value of OOUX firmly established, I offer my sought-after one-week ORCA Sprints at the value-based price of $40,000. I say that not to be tacky. I say that to let you know what is possible. Am I promising that you’ll be able to charge $40k/week right out of the OOUX Masterclass? Of course not. But with practice and determination, I know you’ll be able to leverage your powerful killer whale sidekick to provide immense value to businesses — and get paid for it. Did I mention that this course is only $997? I wonder how soon it will pay for itself…
