Designlab

My friend took classes with Designlab and recommended it to me while I was doing course searching. He said it's rigorous and has the most comprehensive curriculum. I didn't quite follow his advice and subsequently took a few other UI courses, but felt like they just weren't rigorous enough for me. So finally, I took the courage to enroll in Designlab's course and I am really glad I did! I have learned so much during the last 8 weeks - I've never felt this comfortable using Figma and I am more confident than ever before when it comes to following the design process. Kudos to the Designlab's team for creating a wonderful curriculum and being supportive along the way. And last thing I'd mention is that they are continuously improving the curriculum based on student feedback, which is great to see.  Read less

The UX Academy Foundations is a great course for anyone who doesn't have a visual design background and is looking to get into the UX/UI industry. The course provides a good knowledge of visual design principles and their applications. One of the major perk of this course is the mentorship support. I personally found the weekly mentor call to be super helpful and effective to enhance my skills. The course moves pretty fast so it is important to be on top of your projects. However, if you plan properly, it should be manageable to get through in time. Overall, this is one of the best course if you're a looking to get started your UX/UI career journey.  Read less

The mentorship and program was amazing! It was very easy to follow along with the information. Reading the material is a MUST. Each unit perfectly guides you through to the 10 hour challenge. My mentor was very helpful. Gave great input and was very easy to talk to. I definitely will be applying to UX Academy. Read less

The course was very challenging and my mentor was extremely helpful. Some of the course material was a little outdated (e.g. Figma screen recordings were from an old version) so you have to watch more recent tutorials on YouTube to keep up with the new versions. 

My mentor made me question all my design decisions and forced me to base them on research and not intuition, which turned out to be extremely important when I went through job interviews. 

Since UX/UI is quite popular right now, it will not be easy to land your first job in your new career. You definitely have to put in extra work in addition to the projects you do in the bootcamp to stand out from the competition. I did the full-time course with some extra work on the side, and I got extremely tired halfway through the bootcamp. I had to take 1-week breaks between projects to clear my head and avoid burnout, so beware.

The Career Services was OK. My mentor kept me motivated while I was looking for a job but wasn't able to identify the weak points in my portfolio or interview skills.  Read less

UX Academy Foundations provides students with an invaluable set of skills to help them navigate their journey to becoming UX/UI designers. One of the standout features of Designlab is the one-on-one mentorship program, which allows students to work with a dedicated mentor who provides personalized feedback and guidance throughout the course. This personal touch ensures that students receive individual attention and have the opportunity to learn at their own pace.

The curriculum at Designlab is well-structured and covers a broad range of design topics, from user research and interface design to typography and branding. The courses are designed to be interactive, with hands-on projects that give students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in real-world scenarios.

The instructors at Designlab are experienced professionals who are passionate about design and teaching. They provide clear, concise feedback that is tailored to each student's needs and skill level. They are also available to answer questions and provide support throughout the course, which is incredibly helpful for students who are new to design.

Another impressive aspect of Designlab is the supportive community of learners. Students have access to a Slack community where they can connect with other students, share ideas, and collaborate on projects. This community creates a supportive environment that encourages students to learn and grow together.

Overall, Designlab is an exceptional online learning platform that provides students with the tools and support they need to become skilled designers. With its personalized mentorship program, engaging curriculum, and experienced instructors, Designlab is an excellent choice for anyone looking to learn design. I highly recommend it! Read less

I have learn fundamental design knowledge and design tool (Figma) for 2 months at Designlab. It was very nice learning experience with well- structured course content and mentor system. Cornelia Varlam is a very knowledgable mentor with a lot of design experience. We have one meeting section every week. She answered all my questions patiently. I am very satisfied with Designlab, and I am applying for UX academy at Designlab now.






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My experience with Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course was overall very positive! I thoroughly enjoyed the material and thought everything was really well presented. The hands-on learning experience worked very well for me and helped to build confidence for the next steps toward a new career in UX Design. Read less

I had a great time going through the DesignLab UX Foundations course. As someone who has had little to no background experience in the field I learned a lot about what goes in to designing a beautiful and easy to use website or App. The modules were easy to follow and understanding. Some did take a little longer than the allotted time for me to get through (the auto layout lesson took a lot of extra research and practice). The whole team is very helpful.  Read less

Fantastic introduction course for Ux designers! Productive weekly meetings with a mentor and several, albeit tenuous, but effective assignments. Beyond the projects the lessons are structured nicely and very helpful with getting a newbie started with a design program.  Read less

Pros - This is a UX Design Course - and in that context, Designlab has designed their curriculum, site, and online school to be as fluid and user-friendly as possible. The language is direct, friendly, and at times also fun (the use of emoji's in lesson text was cute and amusing). The course is self-paced, and there are many links within the coursework that I saved for future reference and perspective on the subjects being taught (history of design, sketching and wire-framing, iconography, color, UX software, etc). The lessons are also flexible, they don't require you to finish every project proposed, but more focus on time and structured productivity (except for the final project, where it's required to submit a finished design). I was able to easily monitor my progress through different visuals on the course site (both through unit thermometer and percentage visuals), and whenever I had a question, both my mentor and academic advisors were quick to respond with help and links. 
I had also never used Discord until becoming a DL student, and that was really helpful in a. learning how to use and b. connecting with students so you have a sense of community and support through solo learning. I never felt like I was alone even in the moments where understanding a mechanic or lesson was tough, I always had enough resources to figure it out. I also really appreciated that they give you the choice of UX Software to use, because I couldn't use Sketch (I'm too poor for a Mac update and my Mac is too old to support the software) so having the ability to learn on Figma was a huge relief. I am surprised this is just foundations, as a freelance artist I had really learned so so much just from this course that helped me in my own work as I was taking it. My visual design vocabulary and speed with software (ie, pen tool) has exponentially been increased from all the coursework. 

Cons- Since this is self-taught and self paced, as someone with ADHD I found the duty of reading lessons initially challenging. The lessons are not audio (though you can use plug-ins in accessibility for read-aloud on your computer, a new thing I learned). I wanted to retain all the information, and screenshots wasn't really helping me absorb it or pay attention. I really had to find what worked for me - and what I found was taking hand-written notes as I read the lessons line-by line. They do have a lot of software tutorials in small videos, which is good. My only issue with these, though you can slow them down and pause them, the editing is still not direct/slow enough, and without a large desktop screen, all the tools were super tiny in the videos. I found myself getting really filled with anxiety when I felt the teacher was moving too fast. I would wind up expanding a lot of the Figma lessons into Youtube Tutorials, which would then take more time to learn than the lessons were supposed to be. 
Sometimes when we were given copy-work projects with more involved, visually challenging and varied homepages (ie, real estate, travel) it was way too many resources at once to load into Figma. I think DL needs to realize students are not as quick and experienced setting up their resources panel, and this was pretty willy-nilly and time consuming. Sometimes, when a project was supposed to be 2h, I would have taken 40 minutes just gathering things and putting them into my Figma File and getting the frames set up. Besides those personal learning curve adjustments, I feel that having UXF was a very comprehensive, important course as prep for UXA. It really helped me get used to learning online, using the software, re-learning my graphic design process, and functioning as a solo worker with time management. It's jam packed with great info, advice, and resources as an intro to UX. Read less

As a complete newbie to the world of UX/UI Design (and nervous about starting something new/making a career pivot) UX Academy Foundations was the perfect introduction to the field.  The content of the course was structured in a way that made sense while being appropriately challenging and my mentor was so helpful every step of the way. Read less

Matthew, my mentor, was probably the best thing about the course. I wouldn’t have been able to do things the right way if I didn’t have his guidance.
It was a lot of information but the exercises was helpful at reinforcing what I read. They were also very fun to do!
I had a very great experience taking this course and had me really consider maybe doing a change in careers. I might have found a new passion of mine!  Read less

My favorite part of the course was having a mentor to guide me and help keep me accountable. Something many online programs don't offer. Not only that but the community access and support made it easy to find answers to any questions I had in a good time frame. Read less

I completed DesignLab's UX Foundations program in 4 weeks.  They say you can complete the Foundations course anywhere from 4-8 weeks and because I am currently unemployed, I opted to push hard and complete the program within 4 weeks. However, I feel like choosing to use all 8 weeks would have felt like a much more enjoyable pace. (If you also have a job while enrolled, I would recommend 8 weeks so you don't get burn out.)   The course is thorough and will challenge you, especially if you have no formal training in design (like me).  
The course is divided into 8 modules and each one contains a mixture of reading, videos and hands on design projects.  Like any bootcamp, you get out of it what you put in.  I watched dozens of YouTube videos and Figma tutorials along the way to supplement the coursework.  During the course you are paired with a mentor and I feel that can greatly affect a student's experience.  I was paired with a talented mentor who was quick to answer my questions and spent a few sessions showing me additional tips and functions of Figma while providing helpful advice on my projects.  DesignLab also has a wonderful community of students on Discord which I found extremely helpful and motivational!
There are dozens of small projects throughout the coursework  that are all designed to build upon the skills learned in previous lessons, then culminating in a 10 hour design project. The submitted 10 hour project is required to meet certain standards to grant you admission in to the full UX academy. (which I hope to be approved for and begin soon!)
Overall, I am very happy with the course curriculum, the mentor support and the Discord community channels that DesignLab offered.  I am amazed looking back at my projects, how much I've learned and how far I came in 4 weeks.  It was definitely worth the cost and I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the basics of UX design. Read less

Your bootcamp experience is really what you make of it. You can either do the bare-minimum to do the assignments and mentor sessions, OR you can do further reading on the additional articles/resources that DesignLab provides and ask additional questions with your mentor. Doing the ladder, the experience has been so useful in ensuring that I am making the right decisions with my career change and receiving guidance to help with my "What's Next?" step in life.

Foundations is a great starting point for getting introduced to UX/UI design, with a big emphasis if you understand the foundations of visual design. I've had a hard time learning Figma by myself, so doing this course has helped tremendously with the learning curve. Read less

I had zero design experience going in but UX Academy Foundations provided me all that I need to grasp design basics. It was valuable experience and I could not recommend it enough for anyone looking to make a career change into UI/UX Design! All the course are implemented with lessons, tutorials (Figma or Sketch that they give you free for a year), and projects to help give you a feel of what it's like to tackle real life projects as a designer. They also pair you up 1-1 with a mentor that is currently in the industry and they're there to help guide you throughout your journey. I was able to complete the course in 4 weeks, however, the course is designed for 8 weeks (pacing is up to you)! Overall, it was a fun experience and it sets you up for enrollment into Designlab's UX Academy. Read less

The course is easy to follow and understand. The lessons are straightforward. This course also provides optional lessons for those who need them. The assignments are challenging in the right way. Also, the mentors give honest and helpful feedback. Overall the experience is great and there is a lot to learn. :) Read less

The course material is important to review and learn to understand the basics, but in my opinion, your mentor will make or break your experience. Having a knowledgeable, empathetic mentor will be the key to your learning and advancing your skills. They will be the ones to teach you all the nuances and look at things in a different way. Their years of experience will flow to you in little tips and tricks from what they've learned. If you come prepared for your mentor sessions and are open to feedback, you will do great! 
You only have to attend one "design crit" during Foundations, but from what I've heard these sessions will eventually be the backbone of UX Academy. 
I highly recommend taking notes on each Unit in a separate doc, as well as notes from your mentor call so you can review and refer to them to consolidate the information. I used Notion to organize all my notes for each Unit. 
I think this course is also a great way to test the water, and see if you actually like UX/UI before jumping into the longer, more expensive UX Academy. This course will get you very familiar with a design tool of your choice (for me, I chose Figma).  Keep in mind though, that UX Academy will be more focused on UX research (from what I've heard). 
Pros: 

• self-paced
• fully online
• easy-to-follow video tutorials for learning Figma
• a dedicated mentor you meet with 1:1 8 times during the course
• supportive community on discord that you can interact with other students (get help, get feedback, ask questions)
• an aesthetic, easy-to-use platform for keeping track of your course progress
• lots of extra resources and links sprinkled throughout the course material for extra learning
• they provide a nice 1-2 page "cheat sheet" at the end of each unit
• they constantly ask for feedback and ways to improve at the end of each unit 

Cons: 

• Honestly not many serious cons for me
• If you're looking for a course that is only videos, this is not for you. There will be reading and hands-on projects involved, with some videos thrown in for tutorials on Figma
• If you're in a time crunch to finish this course and move on to UX Academy (like I was), you'll need to finish this course in under 4 weeks to be able to apply to the next month's Academy cohort - if you don't, you'll have to wait a whole month to apply to the next one. So, you may feel rushed to finish before the UX Academy cohort deadline. 

(FYI I finished in March 2023, but I was only able to select up to 2022 for this review)

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Designlab was a great experience for me. The mentor that I was paired with was extremely helpful and did everything she could to make sure that I understood the assignments and completed the projects to the best of my ability. The curriculum was pretty impressive. I felt like it covered a wide range of information but it didn't feel overwhelming at all. Although I've only just completed the Foundations course, I plan to continue straight into the Academy. If you're looking to make a career switch or simply add new skills to your resume, I 100% recommend Designlab. You won't regret it! Read less