Designlab

I  am marketing undergraduate and I wanted to have a design experience. This is a fairly new field so there are not that many information available on youtube that I found useful.I signed up for designlab foundations and I was amazed by how much I learned in just 4 weeks. The courses are very straightforward and designed very well for a person who has no clue about ux. My mentor was amazing. he helped me a lot for understanding figma, ui, design principals,ux careers and the future of design/technology. I applied for ux academy and I am very excited to be in ux academy to learn more. Read less

Designlab's UX Foundations is my first on many levels.  This is my first bootcamp course.  This is my first online course.  This is my first exposure to the UX industry.  Of course (pun intended) everybody's first experience is memorable, but not everybody's first experience is favorable.  The overall Designlab experience is very favorable from beginning to now.  I came away with a skillset in UX/UI that I feel confident in as I move forward.  The knowledge I gained from the course and my mentor experience was well worth my time and resources.  I'm very confident in recommending this course to anybody looking into a career in UX/UI.  Read less

I took this part-time Foundations course to prep me for Designlab's full-time UX Academy course, since I had very little design experience or education. I LOVED it. The emphasis was definitely on visual design basics and fundamentals, which I found very helpful for my situation. I don't have experience in any other bootcamp so it's hard to know what to compare it to, but I was constantly bragging to my partner about how well organized the course is, how much I loved the structure, how interesting the content was, how much fun I had with the projects and how much they made sense, flow-wise. I really was impressed throughout the process and I can't wait to get started in the full-time course! I did a TON of research on various bootcamps leading up to this decision (y'all should see my spreadsheet...) and once I started with Designlab, I didn't look back. Read less

I've been looking into a career switch and have always been interested in web design/graphics/etc. After checking a bunch of articles and videos I learned more about UX design and saw a few recommendations for Designlab's UX Academy. Since I didn't have a portfolio to submit with my application I took this foundation's course. I managed to completed the full time track (~20hr week) while working a full time job. The pace was great and my weekly meetings with my mentor were a huge help filling in the blanks. The only con at first was I wish they went into more details outside the design process. But they explain the reasoning at the end why they structured the course this way - and it makes sense. My experience in this course was awesome and as soon as I got the final projected approved I immediately applied for the full UX Academy. Read less

When I applied to DesignLab, I was completely unaware of how much of a great fit it was for me. It is a very supportive environment, with an emphasis on providing hands on experience and providing a solid foundation to the design world.  The faculty is very caring and understanding and has a genuine interest in students' success. There is a lot of potential to get involved in research, and a lot of students make use of those opportunities. You simply will not get an on-hand experience like you will at DesignLab anywhere else.  Read less

I started Foundations knowing just a little bit of design, and had a pretty good handle on graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. These helped in learning the core software for Foundations, and the UI/UX industry Figma. I would say that just learning Figma has helped my skill set for finding a career. Along with learning the software, I picked up a lot of good information on basic web and app design, color theory and typography. My mentor was very talented and had a critical eye.
So that's the good - here's the not as good. I don't think I could have survived without at least some design background. One student posted that they had no design background as was really struggling to learn all of Figma in the time allotted. And I agree. Learning how to work with vector drawing, font management, color management, basic layout, grids and columns, photo clean-up -  it's a lot, especially if you're on the fast track 4 weeks course. If you don't have the background, expect to need twice as much time.

I think the course content is good, but there's some Figma lessons that should have taught first, like plug-ins for type and icons.

Overall, I'm coming out of this as a better designer, certainly not at a professional level. But, enough to move on the UX course, which was my goal.

As for the price - Foundations is $500, which is counted towards the cost of the UX course. If you only take Foundations, I'd say it's worth it for the mentor feedback, peer reviews, and extensive content. Note that job support is not included in this part of the course. That comes with the UX program. Read less

Because I didn't have any background in UX/UI design, I took the Foundations course before applying to UX Academy. I really enjoyed the Foundations course and I also had an great mentor who taught me a lot. UX Academy itself is intense but I've learned so much and have landed a UX Design job quickly after graduating. The hard work pays off! I did thorough research before choosing Designlab by comparing programs online but also by asking people in the field which programs they recommend. The main benefits of Designlab are: the 1-on-1 mentorship, the weekly design critique sessions, a lot of room to choose/create your own capstone projects to build a portfolio that stands out and 6 months of Career Services after graduating. The reason I'm not giving an overall 5-star rating is because the mentor pairing can be hit or miss (it's very personal!) and the process to change mentors wasn't always that smooth for me.  Read less

I started Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course in October. I attended part-time (10-15 hours a week) for 8 weeks. I did heavy research on programs; a Designlab mentor on the UX design subreddit ultimately tipped me over in favor of Designlab. I just completed the foundations course this week and wow, it was a very rewarding experience. I learned a lot in a short period of time and I walked away with many tangible skills, including using Figma and understanding UI design principles. My weekly meetings with my mentor was the true highlight - I got constructive feedback each week and an opportunity to ask questions to an expert. The Designlab projects are actually fun to work on and I looked forward to coming home from work each day and getting started on my classwork. My only regret was not having more time each week to dive in to the content more (e.g. read the recommended supplemental articles) - there's so much interesting stuff to learn. I am applying now for the Designlab full-time academy in hopes of changing my career to UX/UI design. I will be leaving a 12-year professional career in education, so making this transition is a big risk - yet I haven't doubted this decision once since starting with Designlab. Read less

Im glad i picked design lab for learning ux designing. They gave the best content. The people who work for design lab are it's assets. They go out of the way to help students to accommodate their needs. Super approachable and very understanding. The content itself is well organized, easy to follow with videos and lots of project work for practice.  Read less

I was debating between designlab and careerfoundry. I ended up choosing to enroll on designlab's foundations class because that would be a great way to see if their teaching style matched me before committing to a full payment. 

The focus of the class is to get you up to speed with current UI design tools and design principles; with the idea of preparing you for when deeper lessons in the UX field are introduced in their Academy program. 

I wasn't expecting to have such a dedicated staff, easy to digest content, and all the resources provided. Being paired with a mentor and having weekly check ups was a fantastic push to stay on track. 

What impacted me the most is the scope of the projects, how much hands-on material there is, and the amount of content you can get to cover in so little time - without feeling overwhelming. 

The results you'll get out of the class is definitely based on how much effort you put into it. After taking this class I feel very confident about diving into the next subjects such as UX, research, and the job search in the near future!

I would definitely recommend if you're considering a career switch but don't want to fully commit to a full boot camp!

Read less

I think this is a good course for anyone considering stepping into the UX/UI field.  For an online course, it will definitely be what you make of it but Designlab provides a good amount of resources to start off with.  For anyone who hasn't worked with design software before, it's a great intro to Figma & Sketch and helps familiarize you with the basic functions. While the course offers recommended time spent on each project, you can really choose to move at your own pace which I found really helpful for someone balancing a full time job while enrolled. The best part though was that even though it's just a foundations course, you are paired up with a mentor!  Read less

As someone who never did any digital design and 0 experience with design programs, the course was very daunting at first. But DL's program babies you into the world of design and UI elements. It's a great idea for someone who's interested in UX but not sure they want to pay for a full-on course just yet. The "reimbursement" to pay for the UX Academy is great too. The learning portal is clean and simple, easy to use and straightforward. Mentors all seem quite experienced, and you can even look through their work on the DL website and get linked to their resumes. The school's ambassadors are very active and there are multiple optional webinars throughout the course. 
FYI mentor sessions are 1 hour in UX Foundations and Academy, and you're free to take them whatever direction you'd like, but since most people are doing this after their daytime job, you may have to schedule times before/after normal working hours (they take into consideration your time zone and whatever else you request on a survey before assigning you a mentor). 
The only cons are that the learning material itself is a bit lackluster, somewhat dated (you can just tell from the screenshots of old iPhones), and you probably can find most of the material online somewhere else. But the projects and mentorship sessions are the main gems that you'll get. 
One piece of advice to anyone coming from a non-design, non-UX background: try the Coursera UX courses for $40/month to feel it out first, and then if you're wanting to continue, give UX Foundations a try ($40/month vs. $500!)  Read less

I had a really positive experience with Designlab's UX Foundations course. Going in, I was worried about a couple of things: it would be too difficult to learn new tools/ software remotely and I would have a tough time staying on track with my full-time work schedule. The way the course is laid out, the support offered by both the Designlab admissions team and my assigned mentor, and the slew of resources they provide throughout the course were so incredibly helpful. The actual course content and projects were engaging and challenging but never left me feeling clueless or unable to move forward. I learned a lot in the 8-weeks I took to complete the course. I finished the course with a design project I am proud of that I can use to apply for UX Academy, a solid base of foundational knowledge I'm excited to build on, and the confidence that I made the right decision to switch to a career in UX/UI. Read less

I had a great experience in the DesignLab Foundations course. The coursework was easy to follow, even for someone with zero experience in the industry. I enjoyed meeting with my mentor, the feedback from someone in the industry was incredibly helpful and appreciated.  Read less

I've been taking online classes through Designlab for about two months now. The curriculum is easy to follow, well designed, and motivating. You have constant support through Designlab's team, as well as a personalized mentor for you. The mentor commits at least an hour a week to meeting with you and talking about any questions you have about the course, UX design, or job opportunities - anything you want really! There's even a slack community where you can link up with other students (there are a ton!) and critique one another, so you get practice with aspects of collaborative design as well. I highly recommend the course for all of their support and ease of learning. Read less