Designlab Reviews
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Vicky Nguyen
100% will not regret!
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I have always wanted to pursue UX Design but was either too scared of starting over or always thought it was too late. Eventually, I finally built the courage to go for it and after doing lots of research on the different bootcamps, Designlab stood out based on the 1:1 mentoring and it surely did not disappoint.
My mentor was the best I could have ever asked for. He was extremely passionate about the field as he was always happy to share his knowledge and additional resources. He also took the time to answer all the questions I had and when he had feedback on my projects, he would ask me my thought process and ask me additional questions instead of giving me the straight answer to come up with a solution on my own. What I appreciated the most was how much my mentor cared about my growth and I couldn't be more thankful!
Overall, the course was a great preview of UX Design. They broke it down into chewable units and within those units, they give you lessons to read along with optional resource links, hands-on practice to get better at the design tools of your choice and provide unit projects to apply what you learned. I completed the course within 4 weeks as I left my previous job to focus on becoming a UX Designer. I chose this route because I wanted to invest in myself :) -
Wes Siegrist
Great intro course to UI Design
As someone who has had self-taught graphic design experience in the past, this was a great course to see what skills transfer, as well as a primer for what the full UX Academy includes. My mentor was great.
My only complaint was that some of the projects had unrealistic timeframes for skills that you are just learning. Other than that, I would recommend. -
Lyla Davis
UX Academy
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I had a great experience at DesignLab, the breakdown of the lectures followed by the projects followed by putting together a portfolio was the perfect flow. GroupCrits and Mentors were also an additional bonus to the course, learning how to give and receive feedback as well as having a mentor to guide you through the course work and projects helped me understand that I was on the right track. I really enjoyed this course and I recently found a position as a UX UI designer. -
Stacey Tokuda
UX Academy Foundations
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I was able to complete this 8 week course in 4 weeks. You can go at your own pace for each unit but you have 8 weeks max to complete the course. This course was definitely worth it before the UX Academy. The final project can be used as your submission when you apply for the academy. Foundations covers all the general groundwork you need to know about UI design. I highly recommend it! You get 8 1:1 meetings with your assigned mentor. A Discord server is also offerred so you can connect with other students! -
Perry
Interesting but prepare to read
It was interesting. Learned the concepts and the know how with building apps and webites. -
Carolina Martins
UX Academy Foundations
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My journey started on the wrong foot. I didn't have a great experience with my mentor. Designlab was incredibly understating and accommodating and assigned me a new one quickly. I had a wonderful experience with my new mentor, Anthony Faria. I learned so much these past 4 weeks. The entire design lab experience is easy to follow and fun. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in pursuing design. -
Gilbert
UX Academy Foundations
The UX foundations course from Designlab was a great introduction to the UX/UI field. With the pairing of an experienced mentor, I was able to get comfortable and ask questions in order to really understand the material. -
Nestor
Designlab Foundations Review
My experience was great I learned a lot about UI where I can definitely say I learned more than just the foundations and I think I have a good base to progress into this as a career. The mentor system is a great idea but it can be a double edged sword so you have to work ahead and really listen to what your mentor wants in each iteration. -
Haley McCambridge
DesignLab Foundations
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DesignLab Foundations is exactly that. It is a foundation for those considering a career change to UX/UI. The course consists of 8 units that flow cohesively and ends with a final project that can be submitted as an application to the UX Academy. The content is helpful, easy to understande, and well organized. The mentorship while intimidating is very helpful in student progression through the course. The mentorship aids in providing students with more answers regarding the "why" and pushes students to think as the user. DesignLab Foundations is a great option for those considering a career in UX/UI. -
Sofian Baer
Academy Foundations
This class was amazing. I learned so much and received wonderful criticism from my mentor that helped improve my work so much. -
Endia Spencer
Student
This school is like no other. It, as the name indicates, provides its students with a solid foundation in the UX UI field. With guidance from experienced mentors, supportive peers, and phenomenal coursework, students fill well prepared for the step in their UX UI journey. -
Ana Diaz
DesignLab Foundations
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Designlab's Foundations course gave me a great foundations in UI and some UX skills. The modules were challenging, yet very fun and rewarding to do. The larger projects I think really prepare you to apply and succeed in UX Academy. I really enjoyed having a mentor throughout the course to guide and help me; also getting to take the course at your own pace was great. Highly recommend the course - definitely worth it! -
Chloe
Student
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This course was great in getting a test run of UX/UI without committing to a 6 month course, though the Foundations course focuses largely on UI. There is a final, optional, introductory course for UX that you can take to see if you want to commit to the Academy course.
I fast-tracked the course in order to finish in time to apply for the Academy, but that is only a part-time commitment. If you don't fast-track, it's even less. Each assignment has a suggested time frame, so estimating how much time you're going to spend is really easy. They even encourage you to submit unfinished assignments for feedback if you've used up the recommended time, though your mentor may have you go back and iterate, which would increase how much time you spend.
If you are trying to finish this course in a shorter time frame, having a mentor that gives quick feedback and responds quickly is extremely helpful. This is dependent on your mentor, so it's good best to communicate your goals and expectations early on, though you can switch mentors if you would like.
Some positives:
-The information wasn't overwhelming
-Easy to estimate time commitments
-Lots of projects to practice design skills
-Ability to receive feedback and improve your designs
-You can choose the pacing
-I think the course achieved its goal of providing a good foundation
Some negatives:
-If you have a mentor you don't mesh with, your experience may be worse
-The units felt a bit repetitive
Ultimately, I gained a lot from this course. I learned a lot, was able to practice important principles, and built up my confidence more. -
Jose
UX Academy
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UX Academy made possible for me to boost my UX/UI skills up to today standards. This allowed me to promote in my company to Product Designer, which I am very happy to share.
I highly recommend the bootcamp, it's worth the money for the quality of the material, organization and the mentor I had the luck to work with. After graduation there's Career Services, where a seasoned couch helps you through the daunting task of job search.
There could be less reading material, but that's a minor downside. You'll learn a bunch with this bootcamp.
All in all, I can only recommend it! -
Dhruv Verma
Student
I found the group crit sessions, mentorship, and slack community to be very helpful in the learning process. -
Tamara H.
Great Prerequisite for the Academy
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Designlab UX Foundations really helps to lay the groundwork for the academy. You will learn design basics, how to use the software, the purpose of UX as opposed to just graphic design, and how to iterate your own work and that of others. Each student has a mentor that basically acts as your one on one instructor which was great for me. My mentor had over 25 years in this business and was a well of information]\ -
Julia
Easily digestible and really fun!
I love this course! The way the lessons are organized makes it really easy to retain information and I love that they provide cheat sheets. I also really liked the mentor program and slack community. Overall, 10/10 would recommend! -
Dominika
Best UX Design course
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Starting UX Academy Foundations was the best decision I made. They truly care about the students, answer all the questions you may have. The course is definitely not easy, which is good as you can learn so much in a short period of time. I like how most of the material is about creating your own projects. Designlab matches students with highly experienced mentors that help you during the course. I know that there are many other UX Design bootcamps but I believe that Designlab is the best one. -
Catherine
Great Intro to UX Design
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I've been thinking about getting into UX design for years and I decided to get out of analysis paralysis mode and just learn more to see if this something I could consider doing as a job. I really enjoyed the format of the content and how it was a mixture of reading and real practice projects. It felt like it was broken up in a good way where no unit felt too overwhelming, and was a good balance of learning new concepts and gaining confidence using the tools. The most valuable aspect of the course to me were my mentor meetings. Getting to know their experience and get a feel for what it actually is like to be a ux designer. I would highly recommend this to anybody who's wanting to dip their toe in the water to see if this is a field they want to pursue. -
Curtis Knecht
Fantastic foundation course
The course is very well structured. The mentor experience is fantastic and the projects are the right level of challenging to build the necessary skills. Only drawback is timing. The reading is timed to read through but if you are taking notes or trying to really take time and absorb it takes a bit longer than planned. -
Brooke
Beginner friendly with no prior design experience
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I really enjoyed my foundations course through DesignLab. My mentor was great and really supported me well through the entire class. I completed it in 4 weeks while working full time. It required a lot of discipline but I got it done. I had no prior design experience either. I found the program fit for beginners and there was a lot of supplemental/optional activities to complete throughout the course. I would recommend doing them as they help you understand figma or sketch better. -
Saba
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I'm nearly done completing the Foundations course and it exceeded my expectations for a self-paced online program. The coursework was thorough, thoughtful, and they laid out the basic principles of UI design fantastically. My mentor was also fantastic! Highly recommend. -
Suki Liang
Great Design Foundation Course
I have a no design background. By the end of the course I gain the necessary user interaction design skills which allowed me to design a website landing page and app screen layouts from scratch. The information are detailed enough but not in-depth enough. My favorite part is the mentorship and the support group from slack. -
Diego Martinez
An unique opportunity for Design beginners
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I had been toying with the idea of transitioning to tech from my creative media background for a while since the second half of 2020 but I didn't know exactly which way to turn on that until I remembered my deep appreciation for all things design. Being based in the Bay Area, I was knowledgable of the high demand for UI/UX design jobs, and after much research, I was dead set on learning more about this discipline. Then came the almost grueling task of selecting the right intro course...and that lead me to Designlab's UX Academy Foundations.
What I first liked about this course was its very structure. You're not tied with a seemingly never ending, intensive course. In the 8 weeks, and through all the projects assigned, the criteria starts to form whether this is right for you or not. If it is, it gives you enough drive to embark on the fully-fleshed UX Academy bootcamp. If it isn't, at least you learned extremely valuable tools and perspective on making things pretty...with a purpose. You're also paired with talented UX designers who are, for the most part, eager to share their insights with the students. For the entirety of the course, I was mentored by a Google UX designer, and every single week, I'd be excited to show my progress with him, and discuss certain questions I had on that week's lessons.
By the end of my 10-hour design challenge, I felt beyond accomplished and motivated to tackle the biggest challenge yet: applying for UX Academy. But quite honestly, if you had any curiosity about the world of UI/UX design, and you want to push yourself through the competitive landscape of tech, this intro course is worth every penny! -
Paul Kang
Sometimes challenging, but learned a lot
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I am just about to finish the UX Foundations course and plan to move on to their UX Academy.
The website is easy to navigate and use to turn in assignments/projects. There is consistency in the progression of units and the assignments to help students naturally develop the useful technical and creative skills. Many of the lesson materials were developed in-house in a way that was clear and digestible as opposed to some other programs that might only just directly refer you to videos and readings from other organizations which can be unfiltered and lengthy. I had an experienced mentor who pushed me to work hard while also being respectful and understanding. -
Michelle Doan
Registered Nurse
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The foundations course has been very rewarding so far. I've been learning a lot and the content has been very interesting. One of my favorite parts is the weekly mentorship experience. It is a lot of content even doing part time and I hope that in UXA I get to learn more of the theory behind it. My curiosity and passion for design is growing and I feel confident that DL is helping set my feet on the right path. Overall DL is very well designed and well thought out. Every person I've talked to that works for DL has been so friendly and communicative. I'm thankful for this journey! -
Emily H.
UX Academy Foundations
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Pros: 8 one hour long 1:1 video call sessions with a design mentor, many fun hands on projects, slack community
Cons: lessons are very reading heavy. I wish there were more video demonstrations/lectures/audio recordings/interactive elements in the lessons to engage the student more and also ensure retention of the material.
Overall, I definitely recommend UX Academy Foundations to anyone who is thinking about studying product/ux/ui design. -
Jason Holt
The boot camp introduction of my dreams.
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Like many others I did a ton of research on various boot camps that would allow me to break into and begin studying UX. I looked into Springboard (had a friend in it), Google’s UX Professional certificate on Coursera, Udacity, Dribbble’s product development course, and more. I actually took the first course in Google’s certificate program before I transitioned to DesignLab. What stood out to me about DesignLab the most was their process for helping you develop your UX skills. It should be noted I’m a teacher and as a teacher I’m always looking at other teachers process, their why, for teaching something a certain way. This helps me get into their mindset and best apply what myself in my own learning. So how do they start? You can find their blog about how they start by teaching UI fundamentals—the principles of design, typography, and color and how to read a design brief and put together what amounts to a high-fidelity mock-up. This is the entire foundations course. DesignLab starts with this because they feel that as a designer, whether you end up building UI’s for a living or not, what the user ultimately touches is a UI. Having a base skill set is important therefore for any UX job. It also helps put the rest of UX in a more understandable context, making it easier for you to understand how your research, wire-framing, and user testing will eventually tie into your product. I felt like because of this explanation this was a great place to start. After getting into the foundations course I felt the program was well paced overall. The mentorship was really great, although the particular mentor I received was really busy with a masters degree and working for two companies and I felt couldn’t give me as much attention as I wanted. However, whatever feedback I did receive was helpful, clear, and to the point. She understood my questions clearly and was able to direct me on my learning journey, offering many helpful tools and pointers. What eventually really sold me on DesignLab was the group crit. This was an incredible experience. Having tried to teach high school students how to give meaningful feedback, I was really wondering how this would go. But the curriculum does an awesome job of helping you learning how to properly give and receive a critique on design work. My project for that unit improved a lot because of the critique and I also discovered I was able to give meaningful feedback myself. Overall this was a great experience. The only thing that would hold me back from going into the full Academy from Foundations is the minimum time requirement of 25 hours a week. I felt like Foundations part-time at 10 hours a week was really hard so I’m not sure I could do the full Academy and work full-time at the same time. I highly recommend this course for anyone looking to explore design as a possible career path! -
Mary Doss
UX Academy Foundations
Highly recommend. The student slack channel is very active so you still have a lot of interaction with the other students even though you are working at your own pace. Scheduling mentor sessions that work for your schedule was also very helpful. -
Cori Jade
DesignLab Foundations
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I just completed the Foundations course through DesignLab after leaving a job as a graphic designer. The course was very informative but the part I felt was most beneficial was working one-on-one with a mentor for each module.
I chose to do the course full time so I met with my mentor twice a week and he provided invaluable feedback, tips and additional learning resources. It is a wonderful introductory course and great for those who like to work self-paced. -
Valerie Kellogg
"UX Academy Foundations
This was a great course. It was a great introduction to get a feel for how the academy will be so that I can make a decision whether or not to move forward without investing all the money. The curriculum was really good I really enjoyed working with a mentor and I learned a lot through the slack channel as well. Overall lots of good support would definitely do again -
Ben Dib
Great intro to visual design for UX/UI!
I really loved going through each lesson and making progress. The curriculum is thorough and informative, and their mentorship program is awesome. I learned so much and was kept motivated by my mentor. Great first step for any budding UX/UI designer. -
Holly Johnson
UX Academy Foundations
Very positive experience. I was nervous about the asynchronous learning but the coursework is broken up into manageable portions. Having a mentor helped too. I learned more than I would have ever expected in just under four weeks. -
Timothy Sayson
UX Academy Foundations
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I first heard of UX Academy Foundations from a friend of mine who took the course. Although my friend had industry experience, they did not need to take the Foundations course (this course). I am a person looking to transition into a UX/UI design career from a completely different and irrelevant field with little to no experience in design. Foundations helped me feel a little less intimidated, and much more enthusiastic. Foundations is a great place for anyone from any industry or job field to start their exploration with UX/UI. The curriculum was not too overbearing or overwhelming, and it did not feel like I was enrolled in a college level course with copious amounts of busy work. The course aims to make you feel comfortable with UX/UI design software at the same time, helping you explore your creativity. You are also paired with a mentor who will give you feedback and answer any questions you might have about the course or design in general. My mentor was very informative and direct. They helped me understand the mind of a UX/UI designer at a superficial level.
Definitely would recommend the course to newcomers and seasoned designers. -
jane
UX Academy Foundations
Excellent course. Lots of great support from mentors and counselors. The workload is heavy if you have no design experience. However, you will gain valuable practical UI design skills that can be applied in the workforce. -
jessica
Loved it!
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I had been self learning UX/Ui for the last year, I had learned a lot, but was lacking in confidence when trying to apply it. This course filled the gaps for me, I have walked away feeling confident in the design decisions I make and feel ready to explain those to a team and my employer. The mentor sessions did a lot to help that process along. this is a really well-built course that at no point was stale! it kept me challenged and engaged. -
Alexandria VanWitzenburg
UX Academy
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I started my UX journey trying to watch tutorials and learn independently but quickly realized that wasn't effective for me. I spent a lot of time researching UX Bootcamp's and finally settled on Designlab due to positive reviews and tuition costs. I enrolled in foundations, figuring if I didn't love it, I wouldn't enroll in the academy. I've now graduated from the UX Academy and gained full-time employment (which is really the ultimate goal) and can confidently say Designlab is overall an incredible UX Bootcamp and worth considering. -
Isaac
Challenging and fun
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I came to Designlab after self-teaching design through coursera over the past year. It had been put on my radar a few years prior, but hadn't been a place to follow through with it. I wanted something a bit more structured, and to have a bit more feedback and guidance. I was also interested in UI/UX, as the industry seems to be budding, and checks all the boxes for me.
I'm super pleased to have taken the Designlab foundations course. In the short span I took part, I learned a lot. I found the curriculum well organized and well paced. Everything added up well, and I never felt too overwhelmed from the information (I also took the part-time track. I thought I was going to finish sooner, but there is a decent amount of work to do and I rather take a bit more time to absorb the info). The mentorship helped a lot, which I really got a lot out of. Having someone in your corner while you work through the material was the icing on the cake for me. Not only that, the other students are really great. From onboarding to the end, you can tell there's a lot of care thats gone in. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in learning more about UI/UX, and wether its something they want to further pursue. From my experience I've decided to continue on, and go for their Academy program. I look forward to learning more!
(One thing to keep in mind though, is that the foundations focuses on giving you more of an understanding of UI design vs UX. That's held off until the academy.) -
Mckenzie
Challenging in the right way
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As a career switcher with a little knowledge about design as a whole, the foundations course was great! My mentor and I hit it off fairly quickly and even had the same sense of humor, he always made sure to explain things to me in multiple ways to make sure the information really drove home. There were a few assignments that I felt were just challenging enough for someone like me who has a past in art, I was able to actually learn new information through each unit. The staff is super friendly and always answer any questions within work hours fairly quickly. -
Lenny
Great course!!
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This course was well organized. Each students gets a mentor they meet with each week. Mine was incredibly valuable my success in the course and in understanding the content. Responses were quick and they offer so many resources through the course itself and through slack and other students. I feel more knowledgeable and prepared to move on to the part-time 28 week course.