Salesforce's Designer track contains two certifications: Certified Platform User Experience (UX) Designer and Certified Platform Strategy Designer. Each exam has 60 multiple-choice questions plus up to five unscored ones, lasts 105 minutes, and costs US$200 to take. Neither has a formal prerequisite, but the guides recommend different experience levels: roughly six months of UX experience (with three to six months on the platform) for UX Designer, and at least three years of strategy design work for Strategy Designer. Study toward the exam you choose: UX Designer weights Declarative Design (27%) and SLDS (21%) heaviest; Strategy Designer weights Value Design (32%) heaviest.
Two certifications, one designer track
The Salesforce Designer track on Trailhead includes two certifications: Platform Strategy Designer and Platform UX Designer.
Trailhead's certification overview lists the Designer track with exactly two credentials. Certified Platform Strategy Designers use design methods to create experience strategies that drive business outcomes on the Salesforce Platform. Certified Platform UX Designers build and design human-centered experiences on the platform, whether they are new to design or experienced.
This means "Salesforce Designer certification" is a path, not a single exam. Each certification has its own exam guide on Salesforce Help, its own passing score, and its own release alignment. Decide which credential fits your role before you build a study plan.
Sources: Certification – Salesforce Trailhead (Designer certifications) — Designer certifications section
Who each exam is for
The UX Designer exam targets designers earlier in their platform journey; the Strategy Designer exam targets experienced, senior practitioners. Neither requires a prerequisite certification.
For Platform UX Designer, the exam guide describes candidates with a baseline of core UX problem-solving and design knowledge, able to deliver experiences using the platform's core features. The guide recommends at least six months of hands-on experience in a UX-adjacent role — designer, engineer, administrator, stakeholder, facilitator, or researcher — plus three to six months applying UX concepts on the Salesforce Platform.
For Platform Strategy Designer, the bar is materially higher. The guide describes candidates who align organizations around systems-level design work, and recommends at least three years of hands-on experience as a strategy designer or similar role, one to two years on the Salesforce Platform, and at least two years leading complex projects.
Important distinction: these are recommended experience levels, not enforced prerequisites. Both exam guides list the formal prerequisite as none. You can register for either exam without holding another certification, but the guides state that on-the-job experience combined with self-study gives you the best chance of passing.
Sources: Salesforce Certified Platform User Experience Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections; Salesforce Certified Platform Strategy Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections
Format, fees, and delivery
Both exams share the same structure — 60 scored multiple-choice questions plus up to five unscored ones, 105 minutes, US$200 — but the passing scores and release versions differ.
Each exam may include up to five additional unscored questions used to gather performance data. They are randomly integrated and do not affect the result.
Both exams are proctored, either onsite at a testing center or online. You may not reference hard-copy or online materials during either exam. Registration costs US$200 (JPY 30,000) plus applicable taxes, and a retake costs US$100 (JPY 15,000), per both guides.
| Exam | Scored questions | Time | Passing score | Version alignment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform UX Designer | 60 multiple-choice | 105 minutes | 65% | Winter '24 release |
| Platform Strategy Designer | 60 multiple-choice | 105 minutes | 70% | Spring '23 release |
Sources: Salesforce Certified Platform User Experience Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections; Salesforce Certified Platform Strategy Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections
Platform UX Designer exam topics
Six weighted areas, with Declarative Design (27%) and the Lightning Design System (21%) carrying nearly half the exam.
Discovery (13%) covers choosing research methods for a set of business requirements, gathering requirements against current user experiences, and knowing the key Salesforce UX personas and the processes they normally follow. It also asks how Salesforce can add value to user experiences.
UX Fundamentals (16%) covers selecting the right UX method for a scenario, the impact of corporate branding and styling, design principles for accessible and engaging experiences, and mobile UX design fundamentals. Human-Centered Design (12%) covers weaving human-centered design into customer solutions and explaining why inclusive design matters.
Declarative Design (27%) is the heavyweight. Expect scenarios about how core Salesforce objects behave and affect the end-user experience, when to customize them, and which declarative features improve presentation, hierarchy, and efficiency across steps. It also includes global configuration choices for user flow, options for onboarding and support, and applying branding to a solution.
Testing (11%) covers planning design validation with end users, techniques for optimal experiences, and evaluating and managing design changes. SLDS (21%) covers what the Salesforce Lightning Design System is for, choosing out-of-the-box design consistent with Lightning Experience, and using SLDS to create new and customized component functionality.
Platform Strategy Designer exam topics
Four weighted areas, with Value Design alone at 32% — framing problems, defining success, and defending strategy.
Value Design (32%) is the core. Scenarios ask you to craft an effective challenge statement that pairs a business objective with a user problem, then identify the metrics and signals that define success. The area also covers how internal organizational dynamics and external context should shape your recommendation, how to defend strategic directions against business and user needs, and how to advocate for ethics and values on behalf of users and the organization.
Tools and Artifacts (23%) covers connecting user needs to high-level Salesforce capabilities, judging feasibility, desirability, and viability in a user experience, and choosing co-creation methods for customers and stakeholders. Intangible Deliverables (26%) is about the work that is not an artifact: creating alignment, identifying the key relationships a challenge needs, matching presentation techniques to an audience, and using tools for productive cross-discipline collaboration.
Leveraging Adjacent Roles/Skills (19%) covers turning an aligned vision into a feasible implementation roadmap, determining the technical and business capabilities that underpin delivery, facilitating collaboration when business and technical deliverables diverge, and spotting the knowledge or skills a vision effort needs to bring in.
Choosing between the two exams
If your work centers on designing platform experiences, compare it with the UX Designer objectives. If it centers on design strategy and organizational alignment, compare it with the Strategy Designer objectives.
The weight profiles point in different directions. The UX Designer exam concentrates nearly half its weight on platform mechanics — Declarative Design and SLDS — so it rewards hands-on fluency with Salesforce's declarative tools and design system. The Strategy Designer exam concentrates its weight on judgment work — Value Design and Intangible Deliverables together are 58% — so it rewards facilitation, alignment, and the ability to defend strategic choices.
The recommended experience reinforces this split. The UX Designer guide addresses aspiring or experienced designers with months of relevant experience; the Strategy Designer guide addresses practitioners with years of strategy leadership. Match the exam to the work you actually do today, then let the weights drive how you divide study time.
Sources: Salesforce Certified Platform User Experience Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections; Salesforce Certified Platform Strategy Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections
Practice: framing a challenge statement
A complete worked example of the highest-weighted Strategy Designer skill: pairing a business objective with a user problem and naming success metrics.
Value Design scenarios ask you to produce a challenge statement that frames the altitude and scope of a design project. Try the exercise below before reading the answer, then compare your framing against the explanation.
Practice exercise
Scenario: a regional utility company operates a customer portal on the Salesforce Platform. Its business objective is to reduce routine status calls to the contact center by 30% within a year. Its user research shows that residential customers cannot find outage status in the portal, so they call the contact center instead — even during storms, when hold times are longest. Draft a challenge statement that pairs the business objective with the user problem, and identify two or three metrics or signals that would define success.
Show answer
One possible challenge statement: "How might we help residential customers find outage status in the portal, so that routine status calls fall 30% within a year while customers can still get the help they need during major outages?" Suggested measures: (1) routine status-call volume against the stated reduction target; (2) the proportion of participants who can find the relevant outage status during a defined portal task test; (3) feedback after that test on whether the status information answers their question.
The statement connects the supplied business target to the observed user problem: customers cannot find outage status. It does not assume the information is inaccurate or prescribe a specific interface. The call measure tracks the business result; the task test checks findability; feedback checks whether finding the information resolves the question. These are proposed measures for this original scenario, not mandated Salesforce metrics.
Preparing and staying certified
Both guides recommend combining hands-on experience, training, Trailhead, and self-study mapped to the exam outline. Each certification requires an annual maintenance module on Trailhead.
For UX Designer, the guide points to a dedicated trailmix, "Prepare for Your UX Designer Certification," and the module "Salesforce Platform User Experience Designer Certification Prep." For Strategy Designer, the equivalents are the "Prepare for Your Platform Strategy Designer Certification" trailmix and the "Salesforce Platform Strategy Designer Certification Prep" module. Beyond those, both guides advise searching Salesforce Help for the topics in the exam outline and studying the related documentation.
Because the UX exam leans on Declarative Design and SLDS, prioritize time in a practice org reviewing core objects, declarative features, and Lightning's standard look and feel. Because the Strategy exam leans on Value Design, practice writing challenge statements and success metrics for real or invented briefs — the exercise above is the pattern.
Do not overlook maintenance. Each certification requires you to complete its maintenance module on Trailhead once a year; if you miss the due date, the certification expires. Check the maintenance due dates on Trailhead when you pass, and confirm current exam details in the official guides before you schedule, since each guide states the release its questions align to.
Sources: Salesforce Certified Platform User Experience Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections; Salesforce Certified Platform Strategy Designer Exam Guide – Salesforce Help — About the Exam and Exam Outline sections
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