Designlab

I was in search of a UX Design course so I could gain experience, build a credible portfolio, and have some sort of certificate for proof of my professional education. My criteria when looking for a UX course/bootcamp was the following: 

 - Online, but well structured
 - Affordable
 - Self-paced as an option (in case I needed to work on the side)
 - a mentor or similar (for my questions and feedback)
 - a reputation online
 - project-based.

Designlab fulfilled all of these. While I can't say Designlab is the only one that checks all the boxes, I will say that I have zero regrets going with Designlab. I've loved the course and would recommend it to anyone looking to get started in UX Design! If you're trying to decide if you should go with a credited college/university, or go with an online course, consider this: Which one puts everything it has into the design course, and specifically for your online learning? Probably isn't the traditional college. Besides, colleges are almost always more expensive.

Something unique I didn't expect but that I've really liked, they give you a time limit (deadline) for each of your projects for you to submit it. This is real-world practice as it's not uncommon that you'll have a deadline and unfinished work that's expected to be handed over. They encourage you to submit unfinished work all the time. And then, after submitting it, you can finish it how you like and then submit a version 2 (an iteration, if you will). As a perfectionist, this was really tough for me to want to do at the beginning, but I've gotten better with submitting. It's improved my prioritization skills, helping me to get things done, and then sharpening up those projects with what time I have left. Real-world skill right there. 

Ps - There is "Job Assitance" with the UX Academy (which follows the foundations), but this isn't available for the foundations alone. For this reason, I left the "job assistance" rating as "not applicable" Read less

The biggest advantage is to work with an experienced mentor in the design field. My mentor has provided a ton of valuable feedback, told me a lot about the industry, junior designers, gave me practical tips and tools. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. 

The con is more personal - I underestimated how much time the practical part would take. I studied part-time and still needed quite a lot of time to complete the course.  Read less

I learned so much about design principles and the why behind UX/UI Design.  This allowed me to create a deeper connection with the material.  I enjoyed the suggested time plan that was provided in each unit to help guide me through assignments.  Read less

The best part of the course was my mentor who encouraged me to continue moving forward when I was behind. I truly appreciate her expertise and the resources she provided. Foundations is a precourse to the actual bootcamp. I would 100% recommend taking this course even if you have some graphic design experience. The course focuses on UI and teaches you how to use design tools - Figma and Sketch.  Read less

Had a great experience going through the UX Academy Foundations course on Designlab! It's a great start for anyone looking to break into UX/UI/Product Design and familiarize themselves with the software and processes. The courses are timed well, and I can't say enough great things about my mentor Chris. I was working full-time while going through the academy, and he was super flexible with our sessions — allowing me to work at my own pace while providing me with the guidance through every module completion. He answered every question, even those unrelated to the course itself (I had lots of questions about UX design in the real world!)

If you're on the fence, definitely make the jump! It's worth it! Read less

I finished the UX Academy Foundations course yesterday and I want to say it is an excellent for those who are new to design. The course is online/self guided and will take you anywhere between 4-8 weeks. The structure of each lesson is reading + projects. This course focuses heavily on the fundamentals of design and ease you into UX/UI concepts. You are also paired up with a mentor, who can give you feedback to your project as well as industry insight. Overall, I was very happy with the course and the way it was taught. Read less

I can speak highly enough about my experience in the UX Academy Foundations course. 
From my initial enquiry all the way through to the end, whether through emails, webinars or calls, everyone I had contact with at Designlab was super helpful and super friendly. 

This Foundations course took me eight weeks to complete as I was balancing another course on web development at the same time. You can however choose to finish the course over four weeks if your schedule allows. The course content itself is well structured and builds up upon itself as you progress through the units.

One of the best things about the course is having a mentor. It was excellent having someone go through your work, chat about design/UI, give you advice. My mentor gave me honest and encouraging feedback that made me enjoy the work and want to do even more.

Designlabs - a great team of people, a good course and an awesome attitude overall!  Read less

I took Designlab's UX Academy and really enjoyed every part of it. The course not only taught me essential design principles, but also helped me create 4 case studies to showcase my work. My mentor was very knowledgeable in the field and I am so grateful for his advice -- from honing pixel perfection to overarching design thinking. Also Career Services really helped gave me insightful tips on my job search! Totally recommend this course 100%! Read less

Design Lab offers good structure, light reading and interesting coursework to work on each week (something that I look forward to!). The mentor program is definitely useful for someone who has no UI/UX background. Over the 8 weeks, I can certainly see progress from my deliverables and I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in kickstarting a UI/UX career!  Read less

I took the UX Academy Foundations course this summer and am very satisfied. I came from a background with no design experience and now have a grasp of basic design principles and feel comfortable using my design tool of choice, Figma. I really enjoyed having a mentor who I could meet with after each unit to discuss any questions I had along with my project work.  Read less

I really enjoyed my experience taking the Foundations course. I found the curriculum and projects manageable yet challenging (in a good way). The best part of the program was working one-on-one with a mentor that is a successful designer. Designlab also has a really active Slack community, and I found that to be a great way to connect with other students and stay in the loop on any updates regarding Designlab, including frequent webinars that they hosted about various topics (they were all really well done and valuable). 

Overall, I think this class is a great introduction to UI design and serves as a great pulse check before you commit to a full bootcamp. It helped me understand if I would like to learn on an online platform and assess how much time commitment it would be. I'd definitely recommend this course.  Read less

I decided to take UX Foundations first to see if I actually liked UX design (coming from a background in project management). After taking the short 8 week course, I fell in-love with UX and took the plunge to enroll in UX Academy. The course was very thorough and all of the staff and students were extremely helpful. I learned so much about UX and how it’s all around us. I was able to design 4 responsive projects which were super helpful. I’m order to get an interview or a job, it is typical to have at least 3-4 projects in your portfolio. The only not so great thing I can say about DesignLab is that the part-time course, really isn’t part time. It required me to put in an additional 10+ hours a week, while I was working full time. I also wished that at least 2 of the projects were team based and collaborative. It would have made the course much more enjoyable and I’d also be able to discuss how I worked in a team while in an interview. Instead, you’re working on your projects solo dolo. Other than that, I would honesty recommend to take the course. It is so we worth it if you desire a career in UX. Read less

I had a amazing experience with Designlab's UI short course. The tasks and assignments were very interesting and inspiring and I really liked the self-schedule time management. I think the mentor aspect was particularly important. Talking to a real experienced designer and getting feedback has helped me a lot. I would highly recommend the Designlab to anyone who wants to improve their UI design skills. Read less

I'm reviewing the UX Academy Foundations (4-8) introductory course.

This was a really solid course. I learned a ton about visual design, UI design, color, and typography. I also found the mentor sessions really valuable. My mentor was great: supportive, insightful, and helped me many times along the way. The course is broken into eight units, with multiple readings and projects in each. One thing I really liked about the course was the teaching style. Most units involve a few readings to learn about basic ideas and concepts, then a project where you copy as closely as you can a successful website doing that concept, then you get a prompt where you are making the creative decisions yourself. I really liked the copywork where you're learning both the mental skills and the technical Figma/Sketch skills to make various things happen before you then start making the creative choices yourself.
There were one or two projects that were a little frustrating, but my mentor and the Slack community helped me out a lot.

I was able to complete the course in 4-weeks, putting in about 25-30ish hours each week. Read less

This program was honestly a great experience. I'm an extremely honest person and I wouldn't write a review unless it was really good, or really bad... haha. I really did learn quite a bit when it comes to UI design standards. I also learned my chosen design software (figma) to a good extent as well. The projects seem to heavily focus on getting comfortable with the software which is what I needed. I found that the reading was a bit dense at times but there were some great resources and concepts that I learned from them. The projects were a bit vague at times but I liked that because it leaves room for creativity and interpretation. It was a great start into my career switch and really is designed for students like me with no prior design experience at all. 

On a personal note I want to share that I experienced the greatest loss of my life by losing my mother and grandmother while I was taking this course. The staff was exceptionally understanding and flexible to my needs.

My critique would have to be being paired with a mentor who is on a completely different page then you. Having strong design skills and a passion for design doesn't necessarily make you a great mentor.  I'm sure there are provisions and accommodations if you really don't mesh well with your mentor, but since it's a short course I would recommend just buckling down and bearing through if you're not a fan of your mentor. But that was the only part of the course that didn't sit entirely well with me.  Read less

I attended this course to help me get to understand what UX/UI design is and to affirm that it was a good idea to shift my career to this field.
I have a biochemistry background and have always loved tech. I wanted to shift to tech and specifically to UX Research and design so as I can be able to use my skills and love for tech to solve daily problems affecting our society.

I got this from the UXA Foundations course. It opened up my view on solving problems and how to approach a challenge.
I learned UI Skills, including color & Typography.
The last 10-hour design challenge was so wonderful and I enjoyed administering my learning skills to execute the project.

Thank you the DesignLAB team for your help and My Mentor for guiding me through the course.
I am definitely going to join the UX Academy Bootcamp with DesignLAB so as to continue my journey in UX/UI design.

This course will definitely help you decide if you wanna continue in UX/UI design. Read less

The pros are an excellent curriculum, support from the staff, lots of extra webinars, and a weekly meeting with a mentor. I did not know what to expect when I registered and was anxiously excited. The program far exceeded my expectations and I could not be happier. I'm enrolling in another course immediately.  Read less

DesignLab UX Academy Foundations is a really good online/mentor-based, that will give a UI base skills to get into a UX world. Expect to expend some extra time on the course than the one stated in the description by DesignLab, and note that 8 out 9 units are UI focus. Read less