Creative, User Experience (UX), & Accessibility Practice

The Creative, User Experience (UX), and Accessibility Practice (CrUX) partners with teams across Duke to strategically shape digital products from concept through delivery. User experience, or UX, is how someone experiences a website, app, or digital tool. UX design is the process of making those experiences easier to use and understand, and more effective.

Accessibility is a core part of our work. At Duke, the Web Accessibility office is part of the CrUX practice and provides free training and accessibility assessments to help make Duke’s digital products usable by everyone. 

How we Help

We support projects through:

• UX Research: 
  Understand real user and stakeholder needs.
• Usability Testing: 
  See how people actually use your product.
• Information Architecture: 
  Organize content for clarity and findability.
• User Flows: 
  Map and improve the user journey.
• User Interface (UI) & Visual Design: 
  Create intuitive, consistent, and engaging interfaces.
• Workshops: 
  Align teams and solve large problems together.
• Web Accessibility: 
  Ensure experiences work for everyone. 

Types of Projects

• Applications
• Websites
• AI-powered tools
• Digital products

We bring creative and strategic expertise through user-centered research, design, and accessibility. By aligning user needs with business goals, we help teams reduce guesswork and rework, validate product decisions, and move projects forward with clarity and direction. 

We also help design and improve AI-powered experiences, including AI content, chatbot and interface design, usability testing, accessibility, and improving the quality and clarity of the information AI tools provide.

Student Partnerships:

We love helping students build skills, improve projects, and prepare for careers in UX and design. We provide:

• Student UX/UI Consultations: Bring your school or personal project ideas and get expert feedback.
• Free Workshops + Training: Join semester workshops to learn research, design, and testing methods. Visit the UX/UI page on the Pathways site each semester to view and sign up for current offerings.
• Portfolio Support: Get guidance on presenting your work to future employers.

Staff Partnerships:

We collaborate with departments and units to improve Duke websites, products, and applications. We bring research, design, and accessibility expertise into the development process to support stronger product and service outcomes.

• Provide free accessibility assessments and guidance for Duke compliance and inclusivity.
• Partner with product and development teams to align features, content, and interfaces with validated user needs.
• Improve website navigation, content structure, and page layout through our custom UX packages.

Faculty partnerships:

We support faculty who want to bring UX and accessibility practices into teaching, student projects, and academic work. We offer:

• Custom workshops for students in your class on UX topics such as user research, usability testing, interface design, accessibility, and more.
• Consultation on student projects, from conducting user studies to improving designs and portfolios.
• Guidance on creating clearer, more usable, and more accessible digital experiences for academic and research contexts.