Designation Reviews
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Ryan Verified via LinkedIn
My Experience with DESIGNATION
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My Background:
I stumbled across this program after my previous industry had crashed and left me with little opportunity. I was forced to pivot and discovered UX design when researching new careers. It sounded awesome! But I had zero experience in design and programming. I also had zero connections in tech to reach out to for advice. A degree in psychology was my closest applicable experience.
Why DESIGNATION:At the time, DESIGNATION touted a 94% post-grad employment rate. Since employment was the goal, I put faith in their message and enrolled.
The Good:
-1871. It was great to be completely surrounded in the tech world. 1871 is full of super motivated people and is very inspiring to improve oneself.
-Intensity. You will improve greatly. You are forced to work under intense time constraints as you learn new software, design methods, and how to work in a team (surprisingly difficult in close quarters and long hours). The intensity could be too much for some. I have seen multiple people break down and cry, but hey, you do learn something.-Know-how. You can learn 95% of it online on your own, but some stuff you just need to experience. Mostly working with others and how to communicate design effectively. You will develop thick skin :)
-Guidance. It was most helpful in showing me the path to get that first job. Stuff like what recruiters look for in a portfolio.
The Bad:
-Some instructors. They had egos and some drama would come from that. They could come off as kind of pretentious. My favorite faculty member by far is Mike, who works to connect the students with the real world. He is there because he's truly passionate about helping people succeed in design.-Starts off slow. The earlier curriculum can be too novice, but they want to get everyone up to speed. It is a good review of the basics, but those who already have experience might find it mundane.
-Don’t expect a job. You are competing for jobs with your cohort, the cohort before you, and the cohort after you. I knew awesome people who are still having trouble getting work. Don’t rely on this program to give you anything. The connections I made here did NOT help me get any of the design jobs I’ve held. You still need to grind on your own to make an awesome portfolio and nail those interviews.
Overview:
This program is just one way to start. If you want to work with awesome people in a supportive environment, this could be for you. You will still need to put in the work. Just know that you can’t become a pro designer with one course. This is one method of learning what is needed to get you an entry-level position. -
Tom
Embark on the Journey
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Designation was very much like what I’ve read about the archetype of the hero’s journey in the works of Joseph Campbell. Designation was a departure from the ordinary and a chance to learn something new. There were obstacles to leverage and overcome—and new people along the way that taught me something. When finished, I had grown considerably by the experience.
I transformed from an average graphic designer to a successful and competent UI designer with some UX chops. I learned to use new software meant for building interfaces—but more importantly, I developed a process to better solve problems.
I met many new people while in the program. There was a shared struggle I felt going through the program that created a strong sense of community. I still keep in contact with many Designation grads and when I meet someone who also went through the program there is an immediate connection.
The online portion of the program did a nice job of exposing me to what goes into UI/UX. I learned more about the tools, concepts, design history, methods like user research and how to distill that information down into something useful.
The most value came to me in the in-person phase. I was in a true design environment with a clear structure that contained creative directors, clients, and fellow designers. I built confidence and refined my skills.
Designation stressed throughout the entire program is no one is a finished product at the conclusion of the program—we all need to continue our evolution as designers in the years to come. However, the skills coming out of the program are expansive enough to find a new gig.
I highly recommend Designation to anyone who has an interest in design and wants to start a new career. Like design itself, no program is perfect but the staff at Designation continually look to make improvements and take feedback to heart.
If you’re on the edge of taking the leap to do a program like this, I say embark on the journey.
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MacKenzie Hanaman
They'll teach you how to think about design, and that's rare in a curriculum.
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There's no doubt, Designation was the single best design program I've been through. No program is perfect, and I'd like to see minor changes, but if you can stand to give up the better part of your time for six months, it will absolutely teach you how to critically think about design and prepare you for design roles in a digital economy.
My cohort was great and supportive, which was also key to being successful and not something that other programs I've been through utilized as a means of shaping the minds of participants. I'm closer to some people from my cohort than people who have been in my life for years. It's a tough experience that requires you all to get to know each other's personalities, and even histories, it's a bonding experience and it's pretty great.
Coming out of Designation, there has been a great surplus of career opportunities compared to what I was drumming up before hand. My life as a designer is markedly different. It's not always the case that hard work gets you results, but there is a definite correlation between how much work you put into your case studies after you're done and what work you will find after Designation.
THAT BEING SAID, in terms of career support, in the latter half of 2018, I wanted to beat my head in every time I saw a post asking for 3 - 5 years experience for whatever position. It would be great if there was more support for those of us trying to get that first job. So that may mean having an entry level jobs channel in slack, or having someone at Designation organize an entry level hunters community group. Obviously Designation doesn't control the availability of entry level jobs, but your older alums need less support than your most recent one's even if that's an active conversation.
Even in it's current state, don't walk away from this review thinking that Designation leaves you high and dry. They provide you with 3 weeks of career phase, which helps you write a case study and teaches you about creating application materials (resume, etc.). You'll have access to a job opportunities channel for news about opportunities from all over. Your instructors and designer's in residence will critique your materials. And your career mentor should be there to set you up for successful strategies for applying to jobs and practicing interviews.
If I can sum this up, if you are interested in design and you want to be viable in the current digital economy, there's not much more to do than apply.
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Josh Berman
A stand-out program
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Overview
I wasn’t doing the thing that I loved, but I didn’t know what that looked like yet—then I found UX. I didn’t want to spend 2 years getting a HCI degree, but I wanted a program long enough that I would have the time to flex my mental muscles. Designation was the longest bootcamp I could find, and on top of the duration I would cap the program off with live client work. I was sold.With Designation’s guidance and support, I transformed myself over 6 months into the passionate designer I knew I could be. I think this is an important point, while Designation provides all the resources and guidance that you need to be a designer, in the end you need to put in the work. The program is long and grueling, but if you approach it with passion and rigor you will leave as a well-rounded design professional. You will start from the bare basics and cap your time off working in close-knit teams at a breakneck pace to create exceptional user-centered experiences for live clients. Basically, you will leave a professional.
My Experience
I had a wonderful experience. This program is so far from a walk in the park, but they call it a bootcamp for a reason. From the very beginning I felt the support of instructors and mentors. The first 3 months of virtual work is a huge growth period. This is where you build the skills you’ll need for in-person.Once you get to the office, the dynamic totally shifts and you’re engaged in teamwork and professional level design projects day-in day-out. Here, you solidify your skills and build your design portfolio. The people are diverse, curious, passionate, and engaged and the work is both difficult and enriching.
The career section is a wild change of pace. Your work is solo and you are responsible for self-sufficiency. You are given access to an amazing wealth of resources, but here is where the dynamic of accountability shifts. You no longer have a team where each person is helping to keep the entire team accountable, you have to be accountable to yourself. That said, you’re prepared at this point. You absolutely can leave with the professional materials you need to land a job, but many people do need a couple more weeks to clean up their portfolio work.
While overall my experience was excellent, I do have one piece of critique worth mentioning. Designation constantly iterates on their program based on internal feedback. There's no doubt that this yields many excellent benefits, but it's not always well communicated why the program changes. The program did change midway through my tenure and to be entirely honest, I was frustrated. But I trusted the program and I trusted the staff and here I am on the other end with a job in hand.
I do think the staff could have done a better job recognizing that all of us took a risk enrolling in Designation and taken a little more time to communicate the change with respect to that reality, but like I said I trusted the program and it worked out. It’s hard to argue with results.
Speaking of which…
Results
I am a professional designer. I’m happy I took the risk to dive into this program and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to change careers in only 6 months.Designation is well-known and respected in the Chicago design community. The program carries weight here for the quality of the designer they consistently create. Even if you choose to head elsewhere after the program is over, you will bring with you all the qualities and skills that helped designation grads earn their reputations in the first place.
The most exceptional aspect of Designation is the community that they’ve built. The Designation community is strong and remarkably supportive, and it’s a huge benefit after you leave the program. That said, it’s also a resource if you’re curious about enrolling in the program. So, if you’re curious about Designation, reach out to an alum. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will anyways: We’re friendly people and happy to answer any questions you might have
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Sarah Klimek
Designation is a life-changing learning experience
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Summary
Designation will give you the necessary tools to succeed as a UX Designer. Before Designation, I studied design in college and had marketing roles in the professional world. I wanted to change my career and become a UX Designer. I chose Designation because of their “learn by doing” concept. I thought it would be the best way to fully immerse myself in the UX/UI design process and build a portfolio for job interviews, which turned out to be true. I learned a lot fast. After six months, I walked out as a confident designer with an abundance of knowledge on UX/UI, stronger soft and hard skills, a solid portfolio, a great understanding of the industry, and even new friends. After about 3 months of actively applying, networking, interviewing, and reiterating on my portfolio, I landed a UX Designer position at an agency located in downtown Chicago.Takeaways
Those six months during the program consisted of a ton of hard work, dedication, and fun. If you are passionate about design and serious about transitioning into a career in UX/UI design then this program is for you. Here are my key takeaways:1. You'll learn SO much very fast.
2. You'll work nonstop long hours from the beginning of the program up until you receive a job. But, if you're passionate about design, it won't even feel like work.
3. The staff is super hardworking, supportive, and knows the industry very well.
4. Working with real clients is the best learning experience and essential when creating your portfolio.
5. You'll develop skills you never knew you had.
6. The alumni network and staff becomes an invaluable resource during and after Designation.
7. The program is not perfect, but they're willing to listen to feedback and improve.
8. The career phase prepares you very well in regards to interviewing, networking, and creating your portfolio so that you can land a job. The two weeks was more helpful than my portfolio center during college.
9. View the program as a stepping stone for landing a job. You'll have to work just as hard after the program ends and the job search is your responsibility, as it should be.Final thoughts
Designation was the best decision I ever made for my career. I'm finally in an industry that I'm truly passionate about and on a career path that is both challenging and exciting. At my current job, I feel confident as a designer and fully capable of the tasks that come my way. Of course, there's always so much more to learn in this fast-changing industry and that's part of the fun. The program's curriculum and experience is the reason why I'm a UX Designer today. -
Michelle
Changed my career in less than 7 months
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Designation took me further in my career in a much shorter amount of time than any formal schooling I’ve had. I got a job immediately after graduation. It propelled from me from a dead-end job to a full-time product design role in a great company within 7 months.
I did a ton of due diligence and research before committing to Designation. While Designation gives you the chance to work with real clients, what really hooked me was the close network of people posting jobs and giving design advice on Slack. Once you leave Designation, the community is still alive on Slack. You really will feel like part of a close-knit community.
The 6 months is really what you make of it. If you want to push yourself to learn, do better and do more, it will be intense in a good way. If you want to sit back and do the bare minimum, you can get by with doing little work, but you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot.
Pros:
It will get you from Point A to Point B if you are passionate about design, willing to do the work, and push yourself to become a better designer.
If you need organization and hand holding, this bootcamp is for you. Designation will keep you accountable 100% of the time. The instructors, DIRs, and your personal mentor are usually accessible and will help you if you ask.
You will never feel like you are in this alone. Your peers and the whole Designation team are there nonstop from the time you start to the time you finish.
The phases of the program were very well organized and transitioned you fluidly into the design process.
Mike is amazing and will push you to be a better designer and a better version of yourself.
Most importantly, they helped me achieve my goal from Day 1: get full-time product design job at a great company.
Cons:
There was less of a focus on technical skills and more of a focus on soft skills. While I know that soft skills are important, Designation spent way too much time focusing on presentation skills and ignores other important skills like white board challenges, UI skills if you are UX (vice versa). Designation could have also done a better job introducing various prototyping tools and teaching the Adobe Creative Suite, etc. since many individuals came from non-design backgrounds. While you can learn these skills in your own time, time would have been better spent learning these tools rather than forcing us to prepare for constant presentations (I would say a good 2.5/7 days revolved around just presentations)
The group design challenges are also a joke, and the whole exercise ends up focusing on who can get the most laughs out from the crowd. It will not prepare you for the individual design challenges or case studies you will face at actual interviews. Thankfully, I had done case studies when I interviewed for my previous jobs so I knew what to look for going into them.
Overall, it was a great experience. Designation taught me to embrace ambiguity and be confident in myself as a designer. I love the design community that Designation has built and met so many different people from all walks of life with amazing backgrounds.
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Dora Duo
Great program for career shift
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I joined DESIGNATION for a career change and it definitely helped me a lot. I learned most of the basic knowledge and methodologies of UI/UX design. I think the project-based classes were super helpful and got me a pretty solid portfolio to begin with.
Although, after job hunting and working as a product designer. I do have some suggestions for DESIGNATION:
- Try to blend UX and UI together. During my job hunting, I’ve seen a lot of jobs that require candidates to be able to conduct the design process from the concept to final product, especially when I search for product designer roles. I know DESIGNATION tried it before and it didn’t work out well.
- Try to bring in some development-related knowledge into the program. My cohort didn’t teach us about handing off to the development team and it took me some time to figure it out myself. It would be really helpful if future cohorts have some knowledge about hand-offs and technical constraints.
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Andy Cho
Hard work pays off
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Before Designation, I graduated with a statistics degree and was working at an advertising agency doing data strategy work. While I enjoyed the work, I felt that I wasn’t quite creating products that were meaningful for people and I wasn’t being creatively challenged. I was doing design before as a side gig/hobby, and as I started to research product and UX design, I felt that it would be great opportunity to make a career transition. I looked at a slew of different programs, ranging from Master’s programs to bootcamps, but at the end of the day, I selected Designation (and I will tell you why in this review). Having now gone through Designation, I can say with full confidence that this was the best decision I made for my career as it not only equipped me with the necessary tools to succeed but gave me the confidence to step out into the workplace and call myself a designer.
What I liked:
Working with actual clients - This was the biggest reason why I opted into Designation and flew out to Chicago from California. The real-life client work gave me opportunities to deal with actual constraints and stakeholders, things that academic case studies wouldn’t be able to replicate. In addition to that, having actual client work on my portfolio proved to be invaluable in the job process as it gave significantly more depth to the projects over case study work.
The staff - As we were taught to embrace empathy as designers, it was clearly evident that the staff at Designation embraced empathy in their practices as well. Throughout the entire program, they took the necessary steps to grow us into designers, providing valuable insight and constructive feedback. Shoutout to Megan and Dan for being amazing art directors that challenged me to think out of the box and embrace the ambiguity of design.
The cohort experience - Having solid teammates and a willing community was extremely helpful in my growth as a designer. The energy of having like-minded people desiring to grow was a huge motivator in keeping me optimistic and energized, especially on late nights working on problems statements.What I thought could be better:
More opportunities to work both in UX and UI - The program locks you into either the UI track or the UX track. While I understand the intention of keeping students focused on one at a time, I do wish there were more opportunities to practice both. While job hunting, I there were many positions that required skills in both, so I did have to spend personal time outside of the program preparing my portfolio to reflect those skills.
Raising the barrier to entry - While the virtual phase of the program did filter out individuals potentially not fit for the program, I did feel that there was a need to better screen candidates. With the majority of the program being spent in teams, your experience with the program is so reliant on having good teammates, and it was clear that teams with uncooperative and unwilling teammates suffered.Final Thoughts
Designation was a tough but extremely rewarding program. Don’t expect it to be a typical 10-6, but be ready and willing to invest large amounts of time and energy into the program. You get what you put in, and that really is up to you at the end of the day. -
Kendra
Offer a month after graduation
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I would not be where I am today without Designation. I came to the program with 15 year's experience working in boutiques, mostly in sales. I wanted to make a career change, and I read everything I could about UX and the industry. I chatted with designers who had gone through the program, and they all said pretty much the same thing, “it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it’s 100% worth it once you get your first job.”
Before starting the program, I’d done a good amount of research and informational interviews about UX and Designation, so I had a good idea that I had a passion for it. I enjoyed learning about the field and chatting with people in the industry. I can’t recommend enough spending that time up front learning on your own. Once I started the program it was fast moving and pretty trying at times. All those people I talked to and a lot of the reviewers here say it as well, the program is challenging. If someone’s not ready for it or sure it’s what they want to do, I don’t know how they’d get through it. For me, every phase took more time than the allotted time suggested on the website. I wish I'd known that before starting the program. I adjusted my life to fit around Designation, not the other way around, and I’m so glad I did. It was my entire life for 6 months. Finishing the program, I realized I got what I put into it. It’s important to be fully invested in Designation during the program (as well as before and after). The following resources that come with the program are amazing if you use them:
Staff: The staff is very knowledgeable and they all have different communication styles. From design essentials to career phase, I had great instructors, creative directors, and DIRs. Use them! Ask questions, schedule time one-on-one with them (it’s super easy), and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
A big draw to the program was the career phase, and it’s one of the top reasons I feel comfortable starting my position as a product designer. As mentioned before, Designation isn’t always easy. Some of my toughest times came from the client phase. The projects are quick sprints and groups work with real clients. It’s as much real-world experience as you can get before starting a job. I had to fall back on my design process, learn to defend it, and humble myself when I was wrong. I learned so much about myself and how to be successful when working with a client. I wasn’t completely on an island: I had my cohort, team, and the creative directors, who were both great. Both creative directors acted as sounding boards for ideas, sometimes offering a conversation about the problem to help spark ideas or team conflict resolutions.
During career phase (the final phase of the program), Mike Joose, Designation’s president, leads with workshops, office/studio tours, and helps edit work as it’s prepared for portfolios. He was one of the best resources for me. As hard as it can be to let someone edit drafts of your work, do it! He’s amazing and very well connected in the industry. He and all the staff at Designation have vast networks and they want to help the cohort find the right job for them. Mike was supportive of me as I was interviewing for jobs and always asked for updates and offered advice.
2. Time: It’s longer than other programs, but that’s a good thing. The 24 weeks flew by and I needed every week to develop as a designer. The fact that I got to go through my design process a few times was very helpful in building confidence and learning hands-on with projects. With a shorter program, I don’t think I would have left as confident to start a career in this industry.
3. Materials/Coursework: I wish I had known just how challenging the virtual phase was going to be for me. It’s a lot of reading, watching lectors/talks, learning the terms and basics. It will take more time you expect. It took me about twice as long to get through all the coursework, plus the project I was working on. When it comes to the virtual phase of the program, I highly recommend not working if it’s possible. The materials and coursework are essential to having a good in-person experience and prepared me for immersion and client phase, but I read everything. There’s really important information there that builds on itself for the remainder of the program.
I’ve been out of the program for about a month and I landed my first UX job 3 weeks after graduating. I was starting the interview process during my final week at Designation. Yes, Designation was difficult. There's no sugarcoating that, but for all the trying times and late nights, I laughed with my cohort every single day once we started working in teams. It’s hard, but I wasn’t in it alone. After completing the program, it did what I had hoped I would: I had an offer, a great offer, and now I get to start a career as a UX designer. I would not have been able to get any interviews, let alone an offer, without Designation. For that reason, plus the 3 reasons listed above, I highly recommend Designation if you know UX/UI design is what you want to do.
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Cassie
Great option to jumpstart a career as a UX/UI Designer
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My background
Previously, I was a business analyst at a technology consulting firm and wanted to become UI/UX designer. I decided to join Designation because of the positive reviews I heard from coworkers who had gone through the program. I was familiar with design, technology, and business constraints, but many of my peers were not. One great thing about Designation is that people come from a wide variety of backgrounds and often provide unique and valuable perspectives.
Positives
- Hands-on learning—Designation, like most boot camps, differs from a traditional educational environment because you learn by doing. I worked on 5 different projects and got many chances to practice the process and hone my skills. I found the opportunity to apply what we were learning, real-time, drove the process home.
- Client work—Working with real clients on real projects is a huge differentiator for Designation. I was able to practice balancing business needs and requirements with the creative process. I also got comfortable presenting to clients, outside of Designation, that didn't understand the design process.
- Knowledgeable staff—I’ve had the opportunity to work for Designation after graduating and work more closely with the creative directors. This only affirmed my trust in their level of design knowledge and insight.
- Job search support—Designation prepares you well to develop case studies, a resume, and a portfolio. There are 2 weeks devoted to working on these deliverables and receiving feedback and direction. There is also an extensive network of designers to aid in the job search. I found my job through another Designation designer.
Considerations
- Time commitment—Designation is 70-80 hours a week (in-person). This is well worth it to learn a lot quickly, but you should come in prepared to work hard. Collaboration is crucial and spending time in the Designation space is important for getting the most out of the experience.
- Hands-on learning—Hands-on learning is an incredible way to learn quickly and understand how to apply what you are learning. The downside of this style of learning is that it doesn’t work well for everyone. It doesn’t give you as much time to sit and think about ideas. Often it is more about taking action and figuring it out as you go.
- Highly collaborative—Designation is a very collaborative environment. During the in-person phase, you will be on a team and work closely together. It is a great opportunity to practice communicating ideas to others, but it can also be challenging. Be prepared to learn to have empathy for not only your user but your teammates.
- Professional environment—The expectations for designers going through Designation are more like the professional environment than traditional education environments. The creative directors will not tell you exactly what to do, but rather expect designers to figure it out on their own. Like the professional environment, you will need to be more comfortability with ambiguity.
Overall
The designation was a great experience. I grew immensely as a designer and as a person. I learned to communicate more clearly, collaborate effectively, present frequently to clients, and think more creatively. I worked for Designation immediately following the program and was able to lineup a UX design job starting 2 weeks after that. Designation not only served its’ purpose as an opportunity to switch to a new career, but it also served as an opportunity to gain confidence and grow professionally.
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Tomi
Upgrade You
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summary - designation brought me from a to b! a - working as a paralegal, doing good work with good people, but wasn’t sure what i wanted to do long-term. b - interaction designer (contractor) at an agency, confidently presenting designs to a client my first week, excited about the future. why designation psych + tech = yay. as a comparative human development grad (basically psych and anthropology), i loved talking to people, learning how they make decisions, learning what makes them tick. this framework was helpful when teaching kids and working as a paralegal, where i listened to people’s problems, relayed them to their lawyer, and worked towards alleviating said problems. teaching kids how to make robots got me interested in tech, but i wasn’t sure at the time where i’d fit in. eventually i heard about ux through an edtech blog =) real life projects w real life clients. i think the opportunity to work with clients is what sets designation apart from other programs. i wanted to graduate with a portfolio of work to show potential employers, not just assignments. cheaper and shorter than a masters degree. i figured id learn best on the job so i wanted to work asap but also didn’t think i could learn enough in 10 weeks... the phases design essentials - so like, what even is ux and do i wanna do this fr fr? a taste of design from user testing to high-fidelity prototypes. i worked full-time while doing this. i wouldn’t recommend doing that. by the end of this, you’ll have to choose to focus on ux or ui. virtual - workin hard in yr jammies. start working on teams and delve into the design process. immersion - lol this is your life now. long days and nights and sometimes weekends but so much fun working with other designers in-person. *pro tip: take walks together. client phase - my fave. no handholding but the creative director’s there to advise and remind you of the deeper questions. career phase - pretty clutch. mike’s amazing. he and your directors in residence (teaching assistants) will edit your case studies, resume, cover letters (basically whatever you get done in time to show them) and you'll get paired with a design professional who can give more feedback on your portfolio site and guide you as you begin to job hunt. i do wish i work at an agency that does development and design so it's really important for me to understand how to communicate with developers. at designation, i learned to annotate wireframes for different audiences, including dev. but i do wish we heard from dev folx first-hand during the program. -
Amanda
A whole new career in 6 months
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For me, Designation was a fantastic way to change my career path in six months. The staff and curriculum gave me the tools I needed to succeed. The program is challenging, be prepared to hustle! I chose to attend Designation because it offered the most design experience (including real client projects) for the money, it was located in Chicago, and 94% of their graduates were employed. I figured Designation was doing something right, so I signed up for the prerequisite course, Design Essentials.
Design Essentials
Over six weeks, Design Essentials gave me a deeper understanding of UX/UI. I liked being able to complete the course while working, and I found the time commitment to be around 20 hours a week. I'd recommend DE for anyone who is interested in UX/UI and looking for a test run. DE gave me the confidence to sign up for the virtual and immersion phases of Designation.Virtual Phase
The virtual phase of the program is full-time. I spent around 40-50 hours a week splitting my time between readings and project work with my teammate. Fortunately, my teammate and I were both located in Chicago. We found it helpful to meet up together to interview users. I chose not to have a full-time job during virtual. I wanted to focus on the new material to set myself up for the in-person phases.Immersion Phase
The immersion phase was one of the most challenging phases in my experience at Designation. It took everything I did in virtual throughout six weeks and condensed it into four 70+ hour weeks on-site with three other teammates. During immersion, my team received tons of valuable feedback. My team got used to presenting our work on a weekly basis and learned from our mistakes. We made countless iterations to deliverables and pushed our boundaries. I felt I learned the most during immersion and it prepared me for the client phases.Client Phases
The client phases of Designation are a game changer. I found it so valuable to apply everything I learned to a real client project. The client phase allowed my team to showcase and practice our skills as user advocates. My team also learned how to work within business constraints and communicate with clients. The client projects served as great conversation pieces during interviews.Career Phase
The career phase at Designation goes by fast! The President of Designation, Mike runs the career phase. He conducts daily workshops that help designers create quality portfolios, resumes, cover letters, etc. Mike gives fantastic feedback, and he spent a lot of time reviewing my case studies. The career phase took a lot of hard work and dedication. I received many compliments on my website during interviews post-graduation. My case studies wouldn't be half as good if it weren't for the career phase and Mike's feedback.Post-Graduation
Six weeks after graduation I landed my first gig as a contract Product Designer. Designation will give designers all the skills they need to land a job, but it will not hand designers a job. It takes a lot of work, networking, and right timing to secure a position. It can be hard to stand out from the competition at times. From my experience, Designation has an excellent reputation in Chicago which is very helpful when job-searching. At the end of it all, I'm glad I chose Designation, its given me a new career that is challenging and rewarding. It took a lot of hard work to get here, but its worth it! -
Rachael
If you're serious about UX/UI, Designation is a great investment
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TLDR
Designation is a worthy investment if
- You are serious about changing careers into UX or UI
- You are willing to put in the work
Designation is not for the faint of heart. It will absolutely dominate your world for about 6 months. You’ll have to sacrifice income, time with friends, binging on Netflix, etc. BUT it's 100% worth it in the end. And you’ll meet some pretty awesome people along the way.
My Background
I graduated college with degrees in business and public health promotion. After working for 2.5 years for a health insurance company I was ready to make a change. My last title before starting Designation was IT Project Manager and I had zero experience in design. After researching UX and trying DE, I decided UX was the right career for me.
My Overall Experience
I joined Designation as a part of the Amethyst Cohort in March 2017. After completing DE and Virtual I decided to move to Chicago to complete the in-person portion of Designation. My goal was to land a full-time job and stay in Chicago after graduating.
The end result was that, after graduating, I was asked to stay on as a DIR (more on that below) with Designation for 3 months. After that, I received and accepted an offer for a full-time Product Designer role at a Fortune 100 company.
Design Essentials
I completed DE while abroad. It was a little challenging because I was 16 hours ahead of my teammates. But luckily the teamwork was concentrated towards the first couple weeks and then individual work started in the third or fourth week. I had some challenges getting stuff turned in on time because I was working and then moving back to the states. The instructor, James, was really understanding and flexible. Also, he was always available to answer questions or give feedback.
DE was immensely helpful in helping me confirm that I wanted to do UX instead of UI. It also confirmed that I wanted to continue on with the rest of Designation. At the end of DE, I met with the instructor, James, for about a half hour to review my performance in the course (he does this with everyone) and he also confirmed that he thought my skillset would be better suited towards UX. However, the nice thing about Designation is they leave this decision up to you so, while James confirmed what I was already leaning towards, the decision was still 100% my own. Also I loved that I got to make the small investment in trying DE before making the larger investment to complete all of Designation. This is what sold me on trying Designation over other bootcamps.
Virtual
By the time virtual started I moved back to the states so it was much easier to meet with my three teammates. We were all located in different cities, though, so we would meet about every other day over Hangouts for a few hours. These meetings had all the usual challenges of meeting virtually with strangers. It’s hard to gauge how people are truly feeling about the decisions and sometimes people are hesitant to take action. But overall, I was able to learn the basics of the design process and we were successful in completing our project.
We also had twice weekly check-ins (the entire cohort) with the Virtual instructors. These check-ins were sometimes frustrating because we’d go over material that was different than what was in the assigned readings. Or sometimes instructors didn’t feel as engaged as they could have been because they were both working full-time. However, Designation has collected a lot of feedback on this and they’re making adjustments to Virtual so it may be completely different now than it was then.
Also, I didn’t work during Virtual. I spent on average 40 hours per week working with my team, working individually, or going through the course material. I felt it was important that I dedicated my attention to learning the material during that time and I think it served me well later during the in-person portion of the program.
Immersion/Client Phase
The in-person portions of the program are where, in my opinion, I got the most value. Immersion taught me more about working in a team in-person (at least for the UXers, UI works more individually) and further solidified what I learned in Virtual. During all of Designation, you get out what you put in, but this is especially true during the in-person phases. Projects will be much more successful if the entire team is dedicated to putting in at least 60-70 hours per week. While that sounds crazy, I got used to it and, again, since my teammates were equally as dedicated it made it easier and more fun to work late hours.
During client phase I learned to work within business constraints. I learned how to communicate decisions to stakeholders. I learned how to work quick! Each client project is only 3 weeks long. And I continued to learn to work on a team and make design decisions. Overall, I felt client projects gave me experiences to talk about in job interview and proved to companies that I knew what I was doing. Clients may not always use your work but, regardless, it’s a great learning experience and, at the very least, I got to help the client better understand their users. Also, these projects will helped me create case studies for my portfolio.
Also, the Creative Directors are awesome. Each one has a different style so working with them will teach you again about working with different types of stakeholders. They will also help shape your approach to challenges and, in general, they’re a great sounding board for ideas and decisions.
Career Phase
I was really impressed by career phase. Mike Joosse, the leader of this phase, puts a ton of time and effort in to creating workshops that help designers create their portfolio, resume, cover letters, personal statements, LinkedIn pages, case studies, etc. He gave me every tool I needed to take the job search on full force. In my opinion, what makes the difference between someone who finds a job quickly and someone who doesn’t is how closely they follow Mike’s advice. It takes hard work and dedication, but if you follow the general guidelines set in this phase then you’ll likely be successful in landing your first role. And probably many more roles down the line.
End Result
After graduating from Designation, I stayed on as a Designer-in-Residence (DIR). A DIR essentially serves as a mentor to a younger cohort, support to Creative Directors, and pseudo-project manager to help designers get through their Immersion and Client projects. Not everyone gets the opportunity to do this and I found that it did make a difference in job interviews because I was able to more confidently speak about my design experience.
During my time as a DIR I interviewed with companies and was lucky enough to land a few offers. A lot of this happened because I followed the advice Mike gave during career phase. I approached the job search with the same dedication I approched Designation, putting in long hours and spending most of my weekend working on my portfolio. Looking back, I think that helped me to be successful in getting offers. I accepted a full-time position as a Product Designer for a company in downtown Chicago and have been working there a little over two weeks.
Doing Designation was a great decision for me. I can now call myself a designer and have improved in both hard and soft skills. I would have never been able to get the job I have now without completing Designation and I'm very happy to be starting down a career path I love!
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Pedro
Best decision I've made
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Before Designation, I was an English high school teacher. I never had any formal Design education or experience.
I researched several UX design programs (bootcamps), but decided on Designation because of the real client work experience. Being able to get a job was a main concern for me. I was not a recent graduate living at home, looking to explore an industry. I am an adult with a career, bills, rent, and other responsibilities. This career pivot was a big risk as I had a lot riding on it.
Designation offers a UX or UI specialization, not both. Before applying, I already knew I wanted to be a UX designer. Since discovering the profession, I had been learning as much as possible on my own.
Because of those bills and responsibilities I mentioned, I decided to align the program’s schedule with my teaching schedule to try and maintain my income as long as possible. I tried to align it with my summer break. Working full time and attending the program is possible during the part-time phase of the program. I wouldn’t recommend working full time during the other phases. I worked full time for most of the full-time virtual phase and it was challenging at times. It depends on your stress threshold and personality.
Some thoughts on the different phases of the program:
Design Essentials -
This is a high level introduction to UX and UI. Even if you already know what you want to specialize in, like I did, this is a great way to understand the entire design process. If you don’t know what you want to specialize in, it’s a good way to explore both. By the time this phase kicked off for me, I had already read a bunch of UX literature, so I was familiar with most of the material covered. While it helps to know the concepts, putting those concepts into practice is a very different thing. For most, this is the first opportunity to put these concepts into practice.
Virtual -
You have to choose UX or UI before the start of this phase. Essentially, this is another opportunity to work on a UX or UI project from start to finish. This phase goes a bit more in depth with the process. In my experience, some components of this phase were lacking. A few lectures/discussions were not as useful in terms of learning new knowledge or building on what we learned in the Design Essentials. Some of the assignments were not designed to best make use of our time. Lastly, my biggest point of criticism for this phase was the lack of feedback from the instructors. As students of design, we need feedback to validate or disprove our design decisions. This is how one learns. That said, Designation is excellent about listening to feedback regarding the program and making changes accordingly.
Immersion -
This is when things get a bit crazy. Time gets a little whacky in this phase. It’s the first time you get to work with your cohort in person. You and your team work on a mock project from start to finish with the guidance of the the creative director. There is a gradual release of responsibility throughout the entire program. There is less hand-holding from the directors at this phase. You should already be familiar with the process and different methodologies to employ. This is also when you really get to work on your soft skills.
Client Phase -
There is even less hand-holding at this phase. The program does a great job of letting you and your design team run the show. You are essentially working as a designer at this point. You make all of the decisions on strategy, methods, client meetings, etc. The directors are available as resources, but it’s up to you to ask the right questions. These client projects are the ones that will make it to your portfolio.
Career phase -
This can be the most difficult phase. You have two weeks to work on all of your career materials such as your resume, portfolio, and case studies. The career phase instructor, Mike Joose, is an invaluable resource. He is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Much like the rest of the program, you really need to put the work in.
Final thoughts -
It works if you do. This is not high school or even college where you can just show up to class and get by, This is not even school. In fact, if you think of it as school, I would recommend changing your mentality. I always referred to it as work. This is not for a certificate or a degree; It’s for a career. As most reviewers have said, you get out of this program what you put into it.
If you plan on applying simply to explore, I would advise against it. Do some research. Figure out if you really want to be a designer and most importantly WHY. Think deeply about what your intentions are for getting into Design in the first place. What are those reasons? I say this because it comes with a tremendous responsibility. The power of design is incredible. It can bring so much good to our world, but it can also make things really bad. The world needs good designers, and not just people that can make things look good, or create something just for the sake of creating it.
This was the best career decision i’ve ever made. I landed a job as an associate designer at an agency within a couple weeks of graduating. It’s not very common to get a job that quickly, but it happens. Designation does an excellent job of preparing you enough to hit the ground running at your first job.
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Wojciech Peliks
A great, intense, thorough program
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I'd highly recommend Designation if you're interested in pursuing UX or UI design. The curriculum is Very thorough and I found it rigorous, which was something I was looking for.
The program divides UX and UI into separate classes, but they are not fully exclusive. I went through the UI program. First everyone had a mock project of designing an app from scratch (UX and UI process) and depending on what part of it you liked best that's the direction you focused on for the rest of the program (UX: research, ideation, interviews - UI: visual conecpting). Next, for the UI program, came the "virtual phase" where over 4 weeks I worked on another fake app idea, but now started from given wireframes and crafted the visual style, prototype, logo, and animation. During this part we met once a week over video hangout with an instructor and the other classmates and had a lot of internet reading material assigned. The last portion of the program took place in person in Chicago. The last phase was divided into 3 projects. Another fake app design, but this time carried out in 3 weeks instead of 4 with simultaneous workshops and classes. The 2nd project was for a real client who wanted a website redesign. And the 3rd project was for another real startup working out their financial software product design. The biggest difference designing for real clients during the last phase was that we tested our designs each week with real users and iterated based on their (and clients') feedback. That said, the program is committed to improving every cycle and so small changes to the process may take place.
After the collective 6 design projects we had 2 weeks of a "career phase" during which we worked on our resumes, portfolios, linkedins, interviews, job hunting skills, etc.
Overall the creative directors and everyone working in the program was phenomenal and extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The program is intense and there is a ton of material provided to learn from. Since completing the program I have landed a job within 3 months. However, I have worked in tech for several years before and have had connections across many companies which was extremely helpful in getting interviews. For those choosing betwen a bootcamp and a 1-2yr Masters program I would probably recommend the bootcamp (faster, cheaper) if you've worked in tech before or want to start out at an agency or similar setting (not a product company like Google, Facebook, Lyft, etc), although I'm not saying that's impossible, I just think it may be hard without previous experience in this industry based on the interviews I've had (and didn't have). If you don't have previous experience in tech or design and would want to work in one of the Silicon Valley product companies I'd probably recommend the 1-2yr Masters at Carnegie Mellon or UW or another college, these are the 2 good ones I have friends at or know people from. From friends who have done those programs I've heard that they've had an easier time finding jobs as companies seem to have more "faith" in the traditional degree. Obviously the process is longer and more expensive, but you still work with real clients for projects, and you have the advantage of doing internships which companies generally (again not always) refuse to nontraditional bootcamp graduates.
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Colleen Pellissier
Best Decision
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Here's the tldr: Deciding to attend Designation was one of my best life decisions. This program helped me make a pretty big career pivot into UX design from journalism. I was well supported, well educated, given all the tools and resources I needed to navigate myself into a UX career.
I think if you are trying to make a decision between boot camps/intensive programs Designation is a great choice. You will have real experiences and time with actual clients, you will have access to a cohort of folks who will become one your best cheerleaders and career support systems, it's in CHICAGO which is amazing, and the program leadership is very smart, aware of the pulse of the industry and always striving to improve.
In addition to looking at other boot camp type programs, I also considered grad school. I ultimately decided on Designation because of the real-life experience but also the quickness of getting me to the job market. I've found in the design industry it's not about the school you go to (which is refreshing) it's about the work you've done. All of that said and the folks at Designation will tell you the same thing... what you put in is what you get out. Success is also dependent on your ability to continue education and growing skills after the program this might be through an internship or a mentorship or freelance design work before landing that first job. I also believe and saw with my own eyes that the instructors, mentors, and leadership at Designation truly care. They are invested in helping to grow, shape and give you the tools to help you be successful.
I'd also like to stress I did not come to Designation with any design experience. I was worked as a reporter and producer for public radio and while in the program you will learn how to talk about your previous work experience in a way that supports your job search effort. You will also learn to identify the skills you used in your previous professional life and how they can be integrated and capitalized on during your job search and in your design career. You will be exposed to a number of professional speakers and talks all of these are ways to grow your professional network and get a better understanding of the design industry.
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Stephanie
Best career decision I've made!
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Before Designation, I was working as a Visual Designer for an Architecture firm. I wasn’t completely content with what I was doing because I was siloed and craved collaboration. A friend mentioned I’d be a great fit for UX because I was always asking “why” and could carry a conversation with anyone. After doing my research, I chose Designation to transform my career path. And, after putting in countless hours of hard work, I landed a few very exciting job offers. I recently started working as a UX Designer at a global user experience agency where I get to work on all types of industries like healthcare and more!
Here’s a breakdown of the phases of the program:
DE Essentials:
DE was a great introduction to both the UX and UI field. You are given access to an incredible amount of online resources and the ability to learn and discuss various topics with your cohort and instructor multiple times a week. The instructor, James was AMAZING. He really challenged the cohort to think critically and encouraged discussion instead of lecturing the whole time. Since this part of the program is virtual, you need to be able to stay self-disciplined and structure your days so you get the most out of this phase. This was really difficult for me at first because I was working full-time BUT if you push through, it’s completely doable.
Virtual Phase:
Going to be honest, was not my favorite phase BUT I think with a few changes, it could be vastly improved. I will also say, the staff conducts objective feedback interviews to find out how they can improve the program (and they actually listen and try to implement our feedback).
Anyway, here’s why: You meet together twice a week to discuss assignments and listen to a lecture about a new topic and/or go through a design tutorial. I found some of the lectures dry and not as informative as I would have liked. I’ve also found it difficult to encourage designers to participate in group discussions when it’s remote (perhaps it was the cohort I was in). Other than that, it’s great practice who designers who want to/have to work remote.
Immersion:
Immersion is all about applying the skills you learned in DE+Virtual. It is also VERY different than the first 2 phases. You are working in-person with designers on small teams 40+ hours a week. After a week + 1/2 into it, you’ll start to get used to the hours and then it’s no big deal at all. After all, it’ll be what you sign up for and trust me, it’ll be worth it in the end!
Working in small teams comes with ups and downs. You don’t get to pick your teams but the staff tries to pair you based on skillset and personalities. So, you might get paired up with someone you don’t jive with. If this happens, learn a productive way to work through it and learn from it because that could happen in your future workplace. Also, If you like to work solo, UX is not the tract for you. You must collaborate and communicate and you’ll do great.
The instructor, Doug, is one of the nicest humans you’ll ever meet. He’s very supportive of you learning as a new designer and always wants you to push yourself just a little further. You’ll get really good practice working in small teams and improving your presentation skills (you’ll be giving a lot of those)!
Client Phase:
This phase was one of the main reasons why I chose Designation because you get the work with REAL WORLD CLIENTS. By the time I got to this point, I was confident I knew the process and could easily adapt it to any project I was given. I got to work with an AMAZING client and a so-so client. The staff really tries to pair you with different types of clients and designers to work with. It’s not always perfect but it definitely prepares you for future engagements. Megan and Dan were the creative directors for this phase and they, along with the rest of the staff are also AMAZING. Always pushing you to think critically through every design decision and to make sure you have research to back it up. They are also super fun to work with!
Career Phase:
I was lucky enough to go through this phase twice! Once as a designer and the next time as a Designer in Residence (DIR). Get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions this phase! This was probably the most challenging and exciting phase for me. You have 2 weeks to work on a LOT of material that will set you up for your job hunt. By the time you get to this point, you'll feel overworked, exhausted and "ready to start applying for jobs already." Just remind yourself, you can't apply for a job without these materials. So, buckle down and push through it. It can be very overwhelming in the beginning but Mike Joose does a great job organizing those 2 weeks so that you can feel at ease while you tackle one task at a time. Mike gives you his undivided attention for those two weeks. He's there to review your materials, provide feedback, answer any questions you have and most importantly, help you find a job (if YOU give him the tools to do so). He even managed to help set me up with a contract job the Monday after I graduated from the program. Don't slack off during this phase and you'll finish feeling super prepared for entering the job market!
Trust the process and the program. If you put in the hard work, push yourself, and stay passionate about design, you’ll be so happy you chose Designation.
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Mariana Garcia Robles
I thought my design career was over, then I found DESIGNATION
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A year ago, I started DESIGNATION, I was in the UI track of the Yucca Cohort.
A bit about my background. I moved to the United States from Mexico about 1 year before starting DESIGNATION. I came with a degree and a few years’ experience in Graphic Design but was having a difficult time getting interviews in the United States. I quickly realized that lacking skills in Digital, not having connections, and no prior ‘working’ experience in the United States was probably holding me back. When I came across DESIGNATION I realized it could give me all of that, in an immersive and accelerated way.
Starting out I was nervous, I was afraid of how my language barrier would affect my progress in the program.
DESIGNATION not only taught me new skills and trends in design, it also helped me to be more confident in myself; You give presentations each week to share your work, in front of real clients. in the begging I was so afraid to present/talk to people that I just met, but as the time passed I felt more confident and secure in what I was doing.
Designation is really a full-time program once you hit immersion phase, you are not going to have time to think about anything else except design, design and design. If you work hard and complete all work, at the end for sure you’re going to feel satisfied.
One of the most important parts of the program is the portfolio, it is where you’re going to show all the work you created in DESIGNATION. Without it, it can be really difficult to sell yourself to companies.
I got a job offer 2 months after completing DESIGNATION, now I’m working in a full time UI position. I definitely could not have done this without the help from all of the DESIGNATION team together. It was through DESIGNATIONs network of designers that I got the opportunity and the coaching that got me through the interviews.
Now I can say without a doubt it was one of the best experiences I have ever had, I met a lot of new people and some of them are still close friends today.
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Kyle
A great way to start your design career
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Designation will serve as the starting point for your career in design if you're willing to put in the effort. You will not come out of the program a senior designer or with the same knowledge as a graduate program/portfolio school (obviously), but it's absolutely possible to land entry-level/associate positions within 2 months. The instructors and staff genuinely care about your success and are invested in your growth throughout the 24 weeks, as well as during your job search post graduation. You'll learn how to think critically and dive deeper than simple surface level solutions, skills that in turn make working with startup clients a rewarding experience for both parties.
Background/advice for current designers:
I'll preface this review with a bit of background in order to provide some context. I came into Designation with a degree in graphic design and years of freelance/in-house experience, so the UI curriculum wasn't particularly beneficial to me. When I initially applied to the program it was advertised as "full-stack", a distinction that has since been removed from the description. That said, it's important to know what you want before coming into the program and to think about your career goals. If you have a design background already, I strongly suggest that you consider the UX path of the program in order to round out your abilities. There's way, way more value in the program if you steer towards being a product designer or hybrid UX/UI (that has real, practical UX experience combined with your graphic design skills) than a pure UI designer. Again, this is strictly for those who have design experience.
Pros
As I mentioned earlier, the staff at Designation is dedicated to your development as a designer and your experience in the program. The enormous emotional and financial cost is not lost on them, and they work hard to improve the experience for the designers daily. They care about strengthening your skillset and are active members in the design community. Mike Joosse and the career phase that he leads could be a paid service in and of itself; his industry knowledge and actionable advice will guide you through creating a strong portfolio and interviewing for jobs with full confidence.
There's a stronger emphasis on thinking/presenting than technical ability. I'll address the flipside to this in a minute, but Designation definitely errs on the side of teaching soft skills. From my experience, being able to think the right away and communicate your designs is far more important than being a wizard in Sketch of Photoshop. Anybody can make some pretty gradient crap on Dribbble working without constraints, seriously. You'll leave Designation with the confidence to speak through your thought process regardless of your prior working experience, and you'll learn to ask the right questions to get you there. That's what'll get you hired at the right places when you're interviewing, anyways.
The sense of camaraderie amongst your cohort is a very unique experience that you won't quickly forget. It's impossible to spend 80+ hours a week with a group of people and not come away with some life-long friends. Additionally, you'll become a member of the Designation community, which might just provide you with a referral or interview.
Working with real clients is a gamechanger, and sets Designation apart from any other bootcamp. Hiring managers want to see practical experience, and you get that here. The quality of the client can be hit or miss, but that's no different from the working world. Having a client set real constraints and working with scrappy startups is much more rewarding than doing mock projects.
Cons
It's been mentioned in other reviews, but the barrier to entry isn't very high. It's hard to blame a business for wanting to grow, but there needs to be a stronger application process. It's clearly a delicate balance. I do know that there's been some change in leadership recently, however, and that this issue is on their radar. It's a shame to have one bad apple spoil the lot, so hopefully there will be some guidelines or language drafted to hold people accountable for their lack of effort and actions.
Technical workshops would add a lot to the curriculum. It's the one main weakness of the program, especially during the first 4 weeks of the in-person phase. Often times, designers in the program get anxious about bringing their concepts to life because they don't have the confidence in their industry knowledge or technical ability. Hard skills are something that can be learned independently, yes, but imposter syndrome leaves a lot of people anxious and unwilling to even try. Additional workshops on best practices, industry standards and emerging technologies would benefit the designers' growth and their relationships with the clients.
Summary
It helped me take the next step in my career, and it can do the same for you. Don't expect to walk into the room and be handed a guidebook on how this thing will shake out, it's not a traditional education model. Keep an open mind, cultivate enthusiasm for what you're learning and you'll be a working designer a few months after you graduate.
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Cindy
Designation works if you do.
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TL;DR
Designation is an amazing program that speeds up the process of starting a career in UX. However, you need to be prepared to put in the work (like a good 90+ hours/week) and put the rest of your life on hold. If you have the resources and you love design, it's a small sacrifice to make for the massive difference it'll make to your career.
Thoughts on the Program
Pros
- Client phase. Over the course of two client projects, I learned how to apply and tailor various design thinking concepts and technical skills to real-world problems. Thanks to this portion of the program, I had a portfolio to show at the end of 18 weeks and enough experience to discuss with potential employers.
- Mike Joosse. Our community director was an amazing resource during Career Phase. He knows his stuff and the feedback he gives on your case studies, resume, and cover letters is always on-point.
- The instructors. Everyone I worked with was extremely passionate about design, incredibly sharp, and super dedicated to making Designation the best it could be. What surprised me most was how much they were personally invested in me and my cohort. Nobody is there just to collect your tuition and make a profit. As corny as it sounds, they genuinely care about helping each designer reach his/her potential and find a fulfilling career.
Areas for improvement
- More instruction on technical skills. When I went through the program, there wasn't a huge emphasis on Axure, which is a difficult tool to learn on your own since there aren't many online tutorials for it. Aside from one workshop during Virtual Phase, we pretty much had to muddle our way through it on our own. The upside is that the information sticks when you do it yourself. The downside is that you have no idea if you're doing it correctly or following best practices in the industry. The staff is actively trying to implement additional workshops and recruit designers with more expertise to give lectures, so it's definitely something they are aware of and working to fix.
- Better integration of UI and UX concepts. Designation makes you choose between UI and UX after the introductory Design Essentials course. It was an easy choice for me, but most members of my cohort had a strong interest in both. It's nearly impossible to gain a strong foundation in UI and UX over the course of just 3 months, but I think Designation could do a better job of linking the two. During my program, I felt like I was in a UX bubble. I only had a very vague understanding of how a UX designer should collaborate with and handoff projects to a UI designer.
- Stronger vetting processes. Although Designation tries its best to only admit strong candidates to the program, occasionally someone who may not have the appropriate work ethic or temperament does get through to the in-person phases. Since UX is extremely collaborative, the rest of the team's experience will suffer as a result of that individual. I was extremely lucky to have had wonderful, hardworking teammates for each of my client phase projects, but I know this was not the case with everyone.
Finding a Job
I will preface this by saying that I experienced an easier job search than most, since I was employed by Designation as a Designer-in-Residence (a TA/PM kind of role) after the program ended. As I had a steady source of income and a job where I could continue learning about design, it gave me more practice, extra time to work on my portfolio, and the luxury to be choosier with the roles I considered. The staff do make introductions occasionally, but it's largely up to you to network, reach out to recruiters, finish your portfolio quickly, etc. Help is readily available, but you have to be proactive about reaching out for it. Designation can't help you if they don't know you need it.
If you don't have a design background, it's less likely you'll end up in a senior-level position. However, the work you've done at Designation (if you've put in the effort) and the preparation you've gone through during Career Phase should be enough for most entry & associate-level roles. I started interviewing as soon as my program ended and I received an offer after about two months, which is close to the average time it takes for most people (around 3-6 months).
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Tyler E
UX/UI Designer
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My exposure to DESIGNATION is unique from most. I had friends who went through DESIGNATION years before I did. I eventually went through myself as a UX Designer and earned a position working as a Designer-In-Residence for several months after I graduated from the program. I saw many different sides of the program and the people that make it up over a period of time. With those experiences and knowing so many people who participated, I can say with absolutely certainty that DESIGNATION works.
I will start by saying it is NOT easy. You have to make sacrifices and truly dedicate yourself to learning a new craft. There is no hand holding involved. I have seen a number of people struggle through this program and not get their dollar's worth because they expected to be spoon fed solutions to problems. This is not a traditional educational setting and I think you have to understand that before you take the plunge. There is not really a lot of formal instruction. You are given tools to design, introduced to a supportive community of fellow alums/designers and challenged to figure out a lot for yourself.
DESIGNATION does an incredible job preparing Designers for their new careers. The last phase of the program is dedicated entirely to working on your portfolio, resume, and preparing yourself for the job hunt. Making it to this point of the program is worth more than admission as the staff works endlessly to get you where you need to be if you're willing to put in the work. Like most things in life, you will get out of DESIGNATION what you put into it.
9/10 - Would recommend -
Ellie
UX Researcher
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DESIGNATION is a great experience, but it definitely isn't for everyone. It can be a huge help if you have the resources and want to transition careers, and even just the first phase is a great introduction to UX/UI if you're looking to learn more.
If you do the full program though, you need to be prepared to put a lot of things on hold for about 4 months and work REALLY HARD. A lot of people come into the program and think they can treat it like college - you show up, you work hard for a while, have fun for a while. It's not that. It's a professional training program, and every instructor is your new boss. Make a great impression, work like hell, and they will support and boost you.
I came into the program with several years of professional print design experience, which was definitely a huge help. I had plenty of cohort-mates who didn't have a design or design-adjacent background do a great job though, so don't let that dissuade you, just know that it will be that much more challenging. Anything you can do on your own to get some familiarity is great – look at resources on color, typography, hierarchy, that kind of thing, and start reading articles from UX/UI blogs and industry groups.
I chose DESIGNATION over General Assembly in part due to my background, and how much work I had put into becoming a professional print designer. In my opinion, you can't effectively help someone learn to be a professional, hireable designer of any kind in only 12 weeks. The length of DESIGNATION, and their recognition that having real-world client experience is crucial, both indicated to me that they are very serious about helping their designers effectively enter the workforce. I found that to be true, by and large, IF YOU PUT IN THE WORK. The instructors will do everything they can to help and support you, but at the end of the day how much you get out of it is on you.
I recently became salaried (from being on contract) with a good group of people, doing cool and collaborative work as a research/design hybrid, via a recommendation from DESIGNATION's career services. I might have been able to get here on my own, but it would've been incredibly difficult. DESIGNATION helped me get experience, meet the right people, and transition smoothly into an exciting new career.
If you've looked at the program, it looks exciting to you, and you have the resources, it can be a fun, challenging, and rewarding program!
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Noel Puno
Life-changing experience.
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My Designation experience was the hardest and most rewarding experience of my life. I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be able to call myself a true designer yet Designation helped me attain that title and much more. I viewed Designation similar to how I saw my own design experiences. They are evolving and can improve on certain things to become a stronger design program. But overall, it brought out the best in me and pushed me to my limits. I worked 70 + hours a week and listened to the critiques and feedback for my hard/soft skills to get better, as this helped my position in landing a design job for a startup company. This was an opportunity for me to help all kinds of people in our forever-evolving world of technology and I'm grateful to have been a part of it.
Things I loved
1. The staff always helped me with questions about deliverables or career aspirations. More importantly, they challenged me to solve problems with design solutions supported by data.
SPECIAL MENTIONS: Mike Joosse and Megan Mueller.
2. I loved the resources given to me on Canvas. There are thousands of learning materials online but I loved how Designation was there to point me in a good direction.
3. I made life-changing relationships in this place. The other people in your Cohort may be designers like you but don't think of them as strangers. They can be great people to talk to.
4. The knowledge I've gained. When you go through this program, you learn about the design process and the tools necessary to create different things. Take advantage of that.Things That Can Improve
1. I'd like to see more implementation of UX and UI groups. I feel mixing them together in some way could be beneficial to everyone involved, even potential clients.
2. Keep a fair balance for working groups. I think a group of 4 is too difficult for some people since there are so many opinions in the air. There needs to be the right balance especially if these projects run for only a few weeks.
3. I think improved communication regarding the "best way" to do certain things is important. It's true how we as designers need to think for ourselves and figure out our own approaches to different problems. But in some cases, Designation is the subject matter expert so just pointing us in one direction can be appropriate at times.Overall, it was a humbling and memorable time for me at Designation. The experience rejuvenated not only my career but in a lot of ways, my life in general.
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Kelsey
Helped Me Get My Life on Track
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I once came to this website in your shoes, wondering if this program was worth thousands of dollars and 4 months of my life. I was suspicious of the positive reviews, to say the least. I was up the night after submitting the tuition fee, wondering if I was making a terrible mistake.
But I was in a borderline crisis because I’d been applying for job after job and getting nothing. I was educated and eager, but I didn’t have any relevant experience.
Now, almost a year later, I’ve completed nearly two months at my new job. I work at a downtown agency with a hip, collaborative office. I get to do interesting work I enjoy and I like my coworkers. And I can wear jeans to work.
It sounds too perfect to be real, and I still can’t believe it. It sounds super cheesy, but I believe going to Designation was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. They did far more for preparing me for the job search than my four-year college did.
No, the program wasn’t perfect, but everyone there cared about the success of the students and they are working to improve. There were actually quite a few times I was frustrated but I gave them five stars, because in the end, it all worked out.
Like the other reviews here say, we work long hours, and you have to be ready to put the rest of your life on hold for a few months. But if you’re serious about getting into digital design but you aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend this program.
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James N
Intense but worth it.
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Overview:
DESIGNATION helped me achieve my career goals. Through the experience, I built the skills necessary to land a great job in UX design and significantly increase my salary. It should be noted, however, that DESIGNATION was only one piece of this equation. It also took my other work experiences, tremendous hard work, and self-motivation to reach my goals.
If you are really interested in becoming a practicing experience design professional, have some previous work experiences, and are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gain, this program is for you.
Pros:
- DESIGNATION does a great job of teaching an industry standard design process that becomes second nature after practicing it five times (two online mock projects, one in-person mock project, and two in-person client projects). I felt very confident talking about my design process during interviews after graduation.
- The program provides the opportunity to work directly with clients. This is definitely a plus especially for people interested in doing freelance work or working for an agency or consultancy. This helped me develop client interaction skills that I could speak to during interviews.
- I thought the Creative Directors did an awesome job answering my questions and providing solid feedback and guidance when needed. The career advisor was also incredibly knowledgeable and gave spot on resume and portfolio feedback. He was a great resource in my job search as well.
- Personally, I met some amazing people in this program who are now good friends of mine. There is also an extensive network and community of alums who serve as a resource during and after the program.
Cons:
- There is a low barrier of entry. Graduate programs require GRE scores, a portfolio, and a college degree and transcript to be accepted. DESIGNATION doesn’t require any of these. You might be put on a team of great designers or you might not.
- The career phase is only two weeks, which isn’t enough to really learn the nuances of the industry. I did most of my learning through formal and informal interviews with various companies.
- Most companies use Agile methods for product development. While you learn the basics of this in theory and work in sprint cycles at DESIGNATION, you do not get the opportunity to work with developers on a cross-functional, Agile team.
- DESIGNATION recently split the program where students choose a focus, either UX or UI, but there are still plenty of UX/UI hybrid positions in the industry.
Overall, this program was perfect for me and my needs, and I would absolutely do it all over again.
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Caylie R.
UX Designer
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I started my career in IT recruiting/account management and always felt that something was missing. Being creative! I worked on placing UI/UX designers and decided that I wanted to make a career shift into design. I definitely did my research on bootcamps. I met with people who had gone through different bootcamps and I heard the best reviews on DESIGNATION.
DESIGNATION is a great investment if you know UX/UI design is something that you're interested in. It seems like the industry is always changing but DESIGNATION seemed to be up to date with all of the tools and processes they tell you to use. It's also great that you get to work with ACTUAL CLIENTS which I stressed a ton in my interviews. The tight timelines and actual client work give you a taste of the real world and future employers were always impressed when I told them how much I got done at DESIGNATION in so little time.
While it is a ton of hours per week, I never felt it was neccessary to stay until all hours of the night. If you and your team work efficiently then there should be no reason why you can't get your work done within the designated hours.
Career Phase: I cannot stress enough how crucial it was that I got my portfolio done in the two weeks we were given. Stay focused during this time.. if you have to be at 1871, use your time wisely. I had my portfolio up the Monday after my cohort graduated and a month and half later I am employed at one of my target companies!
You get what you put into it but I would say that overall, my time at DESIGNATION was a positive one. I'm so glad I made the career switch and got the real client experience. It helps a ton!
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Scott Trebes
Great Program
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I am someone who was employed at a company for 18 years and then let go due to a reorg. I looked for a job, went on interviews, but found nothing. Then I throught of going through a boot camp. I first went to General Assembly for Front End Development, but then found out that it wasn't for me. So then I went to DESIGNATION, because a former co-worker recommended it. With a design background I found Design Essentials relatively easy. But when I got into virtual then it started to get a little harder (I was learning more). What I liked the most was Immersive and Client Phase. I learned how to think more critically about my work and how to explain my design decisions. I also learned how to work fast, you have no choice. I finished with a few good portfolio pieces. The Career Phase was a good way to learn more about how to professionally present your work. I wish Career Phase was at least a week longer to really get all my case studies done (I am a slow writer). Overall, the course is good and the faculty really want you to succeed and they are there if you choose to use them.
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James
Great Experience!
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I agree with pretty much everything that has been said in the other reviews. So for those still unclear about how Designation stacks up against other programs for UX and UI design, there are a few things which I think make Designation a unique, and ultimately worthwhile experience:
The Community: When you join Designation, you’re not just joining a single cohort; You get access to a community of incredibly talented and enthusiastic designers (graduates, instructors, mentors), all of whom stay active and participate in discussions, events, and mentorship opportunities over the Designation Slack channel. Everyone is excited about design and they all (especially the instructors) have a vested interest in helping each other succeed. The career advice and mentorship program in particular goes way beyond anything I ever experienced in my undergraduate or graduate education.
Client Phase: I doubt that other immersive programs for UX design, or even graduate level HCI programs, have a comparable structure for gaining real-world experience. There is definitely a utility to working on imaginary projects, but at certain point, if you want to be competitive in the market, you have to gain real-world experience. Not all of the clients have well-developed ideas, but that is part of the challenge, and ultimately what makes this part of the program so important.
Iteration: Designation is constantly changing (maybe less so now than in the early years), and some might find this annoying. Personally, I really appreciated the fact that they are constantly tweaking the program. They practice what they preach. And apart from the fact that this constant iteration has improved the program over time, it helps you think more critically about the material.
Overall, this was a great experience, and if you're willing to put in the work, Designation is a good choice.
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Siri
You get out what you put in
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You will hear it over and over, but, trust the process. Designation gives you space and the tools to learn about UX and UI design in order to kick start a career in UX/UI design. But, you can't just sit back and enjoy the ride. The knowledge and skills won't come if you aren't willing to work hard and be proactive about your learning and your future career. Coming from marketing, graphic design, and sales, I could have gradually worked toward a career change, but it would have taken me years and a lot of luck. This bootcamp allowed me to make that change in just 6 months.
I chose Designation because of the Client Phase - you get to work with real clients to solve real problems that you can use in your portfolio. This gives you a leg up on your competition when you start applying to jobs because you can talk about real work experience instead of just lab work.The career phase was the most important phase, in my opinion. Two weeks devoted to writing and thinking and talking about the work you have done over the last 22 weeks in preparation for applying to jobs when the program is complete.
I learned so much about myself and my working style in addition to a new way of thinking about and approaching human-centered design.Instructors:
• The group of instructors really care about your learning and want to see you succeed. They work hard to give you all the tools you need to strategically accomplish each step of the program.
• Unfortunately, I felt that some of the instructors lacked sufficient real-world experience to be truly effective in some cases. I was disappointed to learn that it wasn't a requirement to have at least some experience outside of the program before being offered a job as an instructor.Curriculum:
• I have spoken to this a bit already, but I like how the curriculum is built. Each phase of the program thoughtfully builds upon the next so that when it comes to the end of the program you feel confident and knowledgeable in your new field.
• Most importantly, I think, you leave knowing what you don't know and having a really good idea what role or area in UX/UI you want to focus on in your career.Career Prep:
• I found the final two weeks to be the most valuable portion of the program. It was worth all the time and money just to be able to leave the program ready to start the job search with a solid portfolio, resume, and game plan. Also, take full advantage of your time in this phase with the instructor(Mike). He knows his stuff from years of experience and will give you great guidance and advice. I was the only member of my cohort to finish my portfolio in the two weeks provided. I would say, if you make it a goal to finish before the two weeks are up, you will. But, know that there are resources available to you even after you finish the program – Designation ultimately wants you to succeed and do well as designers.
• After graduation, I jumped right into job hunting and treated that like an extention of the curriculum. That dedication paid off because I found a great job as a UX designer for a startup in just under a month.
Final Thoughts:
• You will not do well in this program if you are not self-motivated and willing to work hard for the career you want. This is not your typically learning environment where the instructors feed you all the information. You are expected to be hungry to learn and find the answers you are looking for. They will give you the tools you need, but if you want to do really well and excel, you will need to put in some work too.
• The price of the program is considerable. You are not only paying $15,000, but you are also taking 24 weeks out of your life. But, what I can say is that if you have the means or have the support that allows you to take the time and you really do want to make a career move to design; do it. This program will kick start your career.
• And finally, if you are having any questions as to whether you want to do the UX or UI track, take stock of your current skill set and if you think you could teach yourself what you want to know about Sketch, Illustrator, and Photoshop follow the UX track. You will get so much more for your money following the UX track, but this comes with a caveat: You will have an easier time finding a job if you can do both User Experience and User Interface design to some degree. It is much harder to find a position that is strictly one or the other, so consider your skill set and where you feel you need more work before choosing one track or the other. -
Tracy
Outstanding experience
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I learned so much during DESIGNATION and I found this very helpful in starting my design career. I feel like this program has prepared me what I needed.
Design essential: it was great to experience the flow of both UX and UI. I first learned Sketch during this time and the program as very structured in a way to start from the very basic of design to actually applying thought process and skills. Even though it was short, I learned a lot during this time.
Virtual Phase: I was already putting most of my day life on doing assignments for this phase, I had trouble finding time to complete everything the way I wanted because there was a lot to cover but the resources were there and it was mostly my part to put in the work.
Immersion phase: for me, it was mostly meeting new people in the field and building the connection while working had long hours. I learned not only just designing but also how the working environment is and what it's like to be working in the team, communicating to one another and giving each other feedbacks.
Client phase: this has prepared me so much for going out to the professional world, the first time asking strangers to spare their time for the user testings were challenging but I feel like I grew my social skills as well as getting feedback and become a better designer.
This experience has been incredibly helpful and supportive of what I have always wanted to do, the program is very organized and structured and DESIGNATION has opened the door of the chance for me to be an UI designer.
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Jules
mixed feelings, overall net positive
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I wish I could say I absolutely loved this program and highly recommend it to everyone, but there were too many moments of frustration that makes it hard to spew out those exact words.
I'll start with the bad and transition to the good.
- Instructors - I really enjoyed learning from the UX instructor; however the UI instructor was hands down terrible despite his numbers of experience and other credentials. I'm not sure what the interview process is like for them, but the first and foremost criteria to look for is the ability to teach. I was appalled at the instructor's shoddy presentations and how he would look at his watch in the afternoons when he was supposed to be providing the team with design critique. I found the occasional weekend classes taught by the original founders to be a lot more engaging and useful. Please dedicate more resources to recruit the best design instructors so it's not a "hit-or-miss" learning experience.
- Day-to-day / Curriculum - I'm really glad the program has been iterative and many improvements have been made based on student feedback. However, I was shocked at how little our direct feedback throughout the program was taken into consideration. I fundamentally believe that certain changes can take place overnight if deemed reasonable. The fact that we had to do daily stand-ups to have everyone repeat the same thing they were going to accomplish that day (aka. the assigned work) was an utter waste of time. I was once reprimanded for writing the schedule on a whiteboard because we were supposed to be using Canvas; yet the the information on that site was not up-to-date. Nothing made much sense. I didn't think the program itself was that intense. It certainly didn't feel much like a bootcamp and much of my motivation was sprouted from within. The curriculum could have been much more rigorous. I wish we crammed in more information during the lectures and covered some of the topics more in-depth. Outside education content is fine to include, but some of the videos that were selected provided very little value. Perhaps the program managers can include a survey after each video to better curate the list.
- Job Assistance - I'm glad we had this one-week session but companies are vastly different that it's hard to get beyond generic advice. We were able to visit a few offices and hear from previous cohort graduates, who were pretty helpful. I wish we learned more about various companies and their design culture. The interviewing season is quite depressing for bootcamp-trained-newbie designers. I personally longed for some messages of encouragement during this transition period. I wish the staff members could have leveraged their networks in order to connect us with potential employers.
- Team - The people I met during this program were really great. It was one of the more diverse environments that I have worked in – in terms of experience, background, stage in life and personality. I went in thinking "I'm fine with #nonewfriends" but the relationships I have built made this program worth it.
- Startup Partnerships - I thought this was the program's competitor advantage but realized that other bootcamps also following the same path. I enjoyed the startup projects, but it sounded though as across board, many did not implement our suggested changes. That is ultra lame and such a turnoff for a lot of interviewers. I guess it's a bit out of the program's control, but could not help wonder if my work was done in futility.
- Community - I am happy to start out my design career connected with a number of other designers. The organization has a very active Slack channel with individuals eager to exchange information and learn from one another.
Overall, (like most things in life) the program is what you put into it. The fact that it costs $15,000+ is a bit insane in my opinion. I would not call this top-quality education and am really interested in the breakdown of costs. To be really honest, I still want to receive additional, formal education in design/engineering but am too poor to do so. Perhaps working in the field a couple more years will change that thought and hopefully my current financial state, as well.
I landed my product design role with great thanks to this experience and am very thankful. It's true people can become designers by teaching themselves with free information found online, but it's a much better experience to learn with others who are as hungry to improve their design skills.
One importance realization I had during the program was that design is merely a tool. It's hard to say that design itself is my passion; it is how and what you design that speaks to your passion and your work is just an extension of your character.
This program is not perfect and this review is extremely long.
tl;dr – I recommend.
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Stephen
Great Experience, Environment, and Professionals
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When I transitioned into the UX/UI field with DESIGNATION, I was coming from a Music Education/ Performance background. I was a teacher for 6 years.
I came in worried about this career change, but after going through the 6 month program, I can honestly say, it was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made.
The teachers care about your success, and the fellow students are passionate. Almost everyone participating in my cohort came from different backgrounds, and were driven and hard working. I learned many things, and gained an immense network of professional designers and new skill sets. If you're hesitating about doing this, I would say give them a call and just take the plunge. You won't regret it.
Pros: Work with Real World Clients AND iterate on the UX/ UI Agile Process over and over again until it becomes like second nature. THE PEOPLE, and the connections you make. Also, the environment (1871) really makes you want to work hard because of the start up-ish vibe. Lastly, the teachers and the career phase. Extremely helpful, utlize it.
Cons: Find a window for some sunlight! The room can be a bit bare in the beginning due to the lack of post it notes.
Just a quick note: be prepared for a lot of work. That saying, "you get what you put into it", rings true here. The last two weeks of the program, the Career Phase, is probably the heaviest part, and it comes after the Client Phase. So you get into the mentality that you've "finished" the program, but you have to keep pushing through, because the Career Phase is arguably the most important part.
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Kate Doornbos
Trust the process. It works if you do!
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TL;DR: DESIGNATION can help you land a design job, but nothing's handed to you. The people that do well are the ones that have some work experience, take it seriously, trust the process, and work their asses off. The program's hard by design and constantly testing/iterating to be better.
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I worked with DESIGNATION both as a student and on staff (as a TA), and I'm super happy with the investment. I gained an awesome UI/UX job, solid portfolio, invaluable career advice, connections to companies, and access to a huge network of friends and other designers across the country. I learned. a. ton.
Pros:
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Mike Joosse and his portfolio / career prep
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Client phase: actual client projects with committed Creative Directors (GA doesn't do client projects)
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Immersion phase with our intsructor Andrew Twigg from Carnegie Mellon - he was awesome
Cons:
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The move away from teaching breadth in both UI and UX towards a depth in either UI or UX. Good for some folks (specialists), bad for others (generalists…)
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It’s a for-profit program, so it’s not the most selective. Your teammates might be fairly experienced and committed, or they might not…
- The program also seems a lot more difficult for recent grads vs. career shifters. It helps to have a few years work experience when going in
Overall, I'd choose DESIGNATION again. Do it! But only if you're serious.
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Daniel
Great Program for a Career Change
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If you have no design experience, but want to make a career change into it, you should definitely consider DESIGNATION because I was on the same boat as you. I came into the program with a background in Biomedical Engineering, while doing wedding videography on the weekends.
I chose this program because I wanted to learn the fundamentals of UX/UI, apply them to projects, which would help me to find a job. And that's exactly the focus of DESIGNATION.
A huge highlight for me was the client phase because the clients that I worked with were working towards impacting Chicago. One was working to shake-up the education space, to help teachers be able to focus more time on their students and another client was working towards minimizing food waste in the city. I think having opportunities like this makes DESIGNATION a lot more valuable, especially since it's in the 1871 space.
Design is constantly changing, and so is DESIGNATION, for their students, which I appreciate. They have built a process that does help students to find jobs, AS LONG AS you do your part in putting together case studies and a portfolio, so don't slack on that.
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Rose
Safe learning environment
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I valued my time at DESIGNATION. Before attending the program, I was a teacher without any formal design experience and nervous about the ambiguity of changing careers. Through its rigorous content and nurturing delivery, the program made me confident in my abilities. Working with real startup clients was an invaluable experience that strengthened my design processes. I also want to acknowledge DESIGNATION for being an incredibly inclusive atmosphere for LGBT people. I appreciate how empowering the experience was.
While DESIGNATION is nurturing, it doesn't coddle. The effectiveness of the bootcamp relies on self-motivatation. That said, the staff is extremely responsive and eager to offer support.
I'd highly recommend DESIGNATION to any ambitious people seeking a safe learning environment.
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Mitch Myers
A Fantastic Learning Experience
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I was looking to expand my design skills and break into the field of UX/UI, when I stumbled upon DESIGNATION on Course Report. As a web and graphic designer I had experience in design but this is a whole new level. The course is extremely challenging, but also extremely rewarding. I have learned more in the 18 weeks of this course than I did throughout a good portion of my college years. I truly believe that they have set me up, and will continue to support me, to get the best possible job that I can to start my new career.
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LJ
Well Worth It
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When I found DESIGNATION while looking for graphic design master's programs, I didn't even know what UX was. After doing research and meeting with several of the UX/UI programs in Chicago, I knew that DESIGNATION was my best option at finding a career that I would enjoy going to every day. The real world experience you get and the network that you make during the program are invaluable. I am so glad I stumbled upon their website less than a year ago and am extremely excited for my new career in UX/UI.
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Nikolas Payne
Tough, Fun, Worth It
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Designation was awesome, and I think it deserves a five star rating. The instruction was mostly great, I learned a ton—in part because it was a really fun experience—and I was able to build a really strong portfolio. I also got to know a lot of great new people, make some lifelong friends, fall in love with the city of Chicago (so much so that I’m staying), and launch my career as a UX/UI designer. I really believe I got everything I wanted out of the program.
I was able to graduate with a really strong portfolio and set of skills that has gotten me interviews at companies like Allstate, Accenture, Walgreens, Coursera, Jellyvision, BuiltinChicago, Civis Analytics. I’ve been working an internship at Perkins+Will doing UX and UI design, and it looks like I’ll be joining Walgreen’s Design team as a UI designer this fall.
If you have some prior design (graphic, visual) or development (websites, wordpess) experience—Designation is an easy bet. It will build on things you know, but at a level or rigor that’s hard to learn on your own.
If you are totally new to the field, but extremely motivated—the program could be for you, but make sure you’re realistic. Employers will be more cautious, since your portfolio will be lighter, and you may have to take an internship before landing that full-time job.
Bottom: Designation is tough, fun, and on the whole—worth it.
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Atanas
Very promising work in progress
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THE GOOD
Let's start by saying I would have had no idea where to start in my UX career without DESIGNATION. Their career councelor/guide is incredible and very intense. Mike is constantly pushing to make your work better and always available to review your work, and help you find a job that not only fits the companies needs, but yours as well. He helps build a portfolio, case studies, resumes, a linkedin, a personal brand, how to give presentations, how to act as a professional in the design community. The community building aspect of it is great too, and I certainly made some lifelong friends and a "network"(what a horrible word) of people that I now know within the design community.
You do actual work for real world clients and have the ability to put that experience on your resume, see what youve designed come into reality. Megan Meuller is an incredible creative director, and Dan Hopewell does an amazing job of setting up clients to work with.
WHAT'S CHANGING
So one of the things that DESIGNATION excells at is taking advice on what they can improve on, and listening to the job market to see how they can make their students as hire-able as possible. Students from now on will choose a UX or a UI career path as a major (though you will learn the essentials of both). They have removed the frontend dev/markup language part of the course because the vasat majority of jobs arent looking for a unicorn that can do all the UX the UI and the code, and even if they had one on their hands they'd most likely have them focusing on one field. Instead of coming out of DESIGNATION being mediocre at all 3 parts of Front End Dev, they push you to be incredible in one area, and use that as leverage into the other fields if they interest you. As a UX or UI designer the likelyhood that you will be actually coding for your job is incredibly small. It's a plus, a benefit, you'll need to know certain keywords to communicate with developers but you can learn all of that through treehouse or codeacademy with 20 hours of your free time. You dont need to pay a bootcamp to teach you that.
THE BAD
Right now, the community between the faculty and students (but really they treat you more like employees,which is a good thing) is a little weird. I wish that the staff rotated through giving 5 minute announcements at the begining of each day or something to put all of them in front of us more so we could have learned and empathized with their personalities more. We had an incident where we took an assignment as more of a lighthearted team building exercise, while the instructor definitely wanted us to take it waaaaay more seriously. We had only communicated with him once or twice before this and had no idea it would have been recieved so negatively. It was a minor slight, but it put a weird damper on our relationship with the faculty for the rest of our time. Also just in general moer transprency on decisions they make, and why. Continue pulling aside individuals that you have actionable issues/criticism with, instead of adressing the class as a monolith.
OVERALL
I've already recomended several of my good friends that are in a career rut that they should pursue starting their career at DESIGNATION. I'm from Atlanta and was more than happy with my decision to move to Chicago to pivot my career. 5/5, ten outta ten, gold star, blue ribbon. Oh if youre from out of town make sure you look up the walkingscore of your apartment youre gonna sublet/rent. and try and get there 30 minutes early everyday, it allows you to level your head, and making your team of 2-4 work, and start their daily plans without you is selfish (plus these are your friends youre gonna be looking to get a job with 5 years down the line.)
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Daniel
Great experience
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It was the most intense experience I've ever had and also the best. They have great instructors, always willing to help. There has not been one time when I've been stuck and couldn't find an instructor to help me, even after finishing the course. They offer top notch resources. Have no doubt that if you put the effort you will become a UX/UI designer. Most importantly, you'll learn how to be a profesional in the field. After learning for the first few weeks we then worked with real life clients on real projects. Eventhough we had guidance, I felt confident with my knowledge, skills and the quality of my work. There's no substitute for working with real clients and their feedback is very gratifying. I made great friends in the process too. I would do it again and double down. Be prepared to work hard, very hard. It's doable, but remember that what you take out is directly proportional to what you put into it. The only feedback I had was that they needed more people to assist with job placement but they took care of that already so it's cool.