D652: Design Applications

Design Applications turns design theory into a hands-on portfolio piece — storyboards, wireframes, and a real low-fidelity prototype.

What D652 covers

The course guides students in applying the knowledge and skills gained in Foundations of Design, gaining experience using storyboards to formulate visual representation of design concepts, evolving into wireframe and low-fidelity prototype design using industry-standard tools.

Prototype designs focus on visual composition, interactivity, and usability, applying key user-centered design principles: balance, thematic consistency, visual aesthetics, and ethical considerations. This produces industry artifacts for students' professional portfolios.

The D652 performance assessment

Expect a performance assessment requiring you to build a storyboard and low-fidelity prototype for a design concept, applying user-centered design principles.

Key topics in D652

• Storyboarding
• Wireframes and low-fidelity prototyping
• User-centered design principles
• Portfolio artifact production

Writing tips for D652

Follow the task instructions and rubric line by line

WGU performance assessments for D652 are graded against a fixed rubric — every rubric line has to be visibly addressed, usually with a labeled heading that mirrors the rubric language. Skipping a rubric point because it seems minor is the single most common reason a competent submission comes back "Not Yet Competent" for revision.

Ground your work in a specific audience or organization, not generic advice

Courses like D652 typically hand you a specific audience, brand, or organizational scenario and expect your work to genuinely fit that context, not communication/design principles in the abstract. Evaluators check whether your reasoning is grounded in the specific scenario given.

Because WGU is self-paced, don't let "no deadline pressure" become no submission

There's no weekly due date forcing progress, which means procrastination costs more at WGU than at a traditional term-based school — a stalled task can quietly eat weeks of a term. Treat your own target date for the D652 assessment as a real deadline.

Why students seek help with D652

Candidates sometimes build a visually appealing prototype without the user-centered design principles (balance, consistency, ethics) explicitly applied — the rubric typically wants those principles genuinely demonstrated.

How GradeEssays helps with D652

Share your design concept and rubric, and your writer will build a prototype with user-centered design principles genuinely and visibly applied.

Prerequisites and program context

D652 requires Foundations of Design (D651) as a prerequisite.

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