Designlab

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!  Read less

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. Read less

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. Read less

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. Read less

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. Read less

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! Read less

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. Read less

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! Read less

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]\ Read less

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. Read less

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.  Read less

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.  Read less

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.  Read less

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. Read less

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.   Read less