Designlab

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.

Foundations has been an extremely helpful program and I have learned so much along the way! Excited to move forward and learn more.

I took the Design 101 course and followed it with the full UX Academy course (from Dec. 2019 to Aug. 2020).
I can say from personal experience, that the overall experience was great. The coursework, group critiques, mentor sessions and many more really helped me become a better designer. I enrolled in the UX Academy as a part time student because I really wanted to take my time to understand and practice the things I've learned. But if you have more time and really want to get through the courses quicker, full time is definitely do-able as well. I would say the most important part of the entire course was finding the right mentor for you, because if you can communicate and connect with your mentor well, it will totally help you improve as a designer. Definitely recommend DesignLab's courses to anyone looking to transition to this field.

This course helped me go from knowing very little about UX/UI Design to gaining the skills set to build a website from scratch and mobile app screens. It is self-paced and the weekly one-on-one meeting with my mentor was super helpful. 

Overall, great course for someone with no design background. The content was interesting and up-to-date, most of the course was devoted to hands-on projects that were then discussed and iterated on with feedback from your mentor (best and most helpful part), and course structure was switched up just at the right times to keep up motivation. Great student community and great support from Designlab team.

I thoroughly enjoyed Designlab. The curriculum was engaging and my mentor was amazing. I felt encouraged and supported the entire time. Just from taking Foundations, I have learned so much and now have a solid base knowledge to go off of. I highly recommend Designlab!

Nothing but positive things to say about Designlab's Foundations course! I started four weeks ago with 0 experience in design, feeling unsure about whether or not I had what it took to become a designer. Fast-forward to today and having just finished the course, I can say that I have so much more confidence in my design abilities and have learned valuable skills that I feel will help me on my career journey to becoming a UX designer. The staff at Designlab has clearly put a lot of time and effort into creating a curriculum that helps even a design newbie like me confidently learn and build skills. If you're concerned about whether you can do this course part-time, don't be: the course is structured so that you can choose to finish on a full-time or part-time track. One of the best part's of the course, in addition to the Slack community of fellow students, is having one-on-one time with a mentor. Designlab clearly puts a lot of thought into who they choose for their mentorship program and I feel that this was a major key to my success in the course. The mentor assigned to me for the duration of the course has over ten year of experience in UX/UI design and I learned so much through working with him throughout the course. Being able to ask questions, hear about industry trends and real-life design projects and experiences was invaluable to me. If you're on the fence about taking a course, I highly encourage you to sign up for an informative webinar and/or chat with someone from Designlab! In addition to having a friend who graduated the course prior to me, speaking with Designlab staff and getting my questions answered during the webinar is what helped me make the decision to invest my time and money in the course and I'm so glad I did!! I now feel confident and excited to continue on this path and I plan on continuing to the full UX Academy. 

I've been really impressed with Designlab and the whole experience overall. From the very start you're able to "stick your toes in the water" through a series of live video sessions (or "open houses") that they encourage anyone that is interested in learning more about their program / courses and what sets them apart from the other opportunities out there. For me, I was able to help grow my knowledge while experiencing hands-on environments, incredible software (some free and others at discounted rates), group crits, and a weekly one-on-one meeting with an expert in the field known as a mentor (she was a rockstar encourager and challenged my creative process and thinking so well) - this is a big area that sets Designlab apart from others. That and the killer site they've developed for those enrolled. Seriously, if you want to have a good UX/UI experience, look for the places that actually have a good UX/UI experience.  Designlab stands out lightyears above the other places I researched before committing.

I really enjoyed being able to grow my portfolio while walking through the learning process and to see the differences from the start to where I am now. There's still a lot to learn and move forward in, but I'm excited to continue moving towards whatever might be next in my creative journey with Designlab helping me get there!

Coming from a qualitative research background, the course helped me to get a practical grip of the design process in the digital space. The assignments were practical and I enjoyed the hands-on approach to learning. My mentor was great in giving me design industry insights and sharing constructive feedback on my work. I highly recommend this course!

I enjoyed the UX Academy Foundations. I learned so much. I struggled along the way but my mentor was always there to help me out. I am so happy I took the course.

I loved the DesignLab Foundations course. It taught me all the basic of UX/UI Design and how to build and create nice, clean webpages and app screens. The pros to the Foundations course includes: 1) Assigned mentor: You have a mentor there that you can used for 8 sessions to schedule appointments with for feedback and additional help. 2) Saved Coursework: You are able to review your peers coursework in the Designlab website for inspiration. This helped me a lot when I got stuck with trying to design things. Also, if you need to look back on your work and edit it, it will stay on the course website. 3) User-Friendly: The Designlab courses are user friendly and extremely easy to navigate. Although there are a lot of pros, there is one con that I can think of for the DesignLab course. For example, the content is strictly online only and you have to teach yourself. There are no distance learning or in-person courses.

Foundations is a great little glimpse into UX if you’re just starting out. The fact that you’re paired with a mentor is wonderful, they give you constructive feedback on your designs (and great life advice too). Overall, it was a fun experience :) 

After many hours of research, I chose Designlab to kickstart my UX design education. There are so many choices, but I had a good vibe from their site, and reviews online. I couldn't be happier with my choice. For real. 
I'm not a typical student for this course. While I have decades of graphic design experience, my interactive experience has been mostly as an entrepreneur, developing my own interactive-based businesses. I knew I had the underlying skillset to become a proficient designer and content creator. Most of my career has been in television development and production. 
After answering questions about the kind of mentor might be a good fit for me, I was assigned the ideal person. On the first call he asked me my goals, and understood that I wasn't a young person seeking a digital design career. He tailored his approach, interactions, and reviews perfectly.
And Designlab's platform is solid, well-designed, and a pleasure to work on. 
The coursework has been obviously honed over years, and thousands of hours of students' studies, and updated to be relevant to today's tech and trnds. The structure of each unit was ideal, and each unit built on the previous lessons. My mentor was always available for questions on Slack and weekly video and screen-share calls. 
I'm starting my next course, Designlab's 15-week intensive Academy, in a couple weeks! 

I really liked Designlab’s foundation course because of how fun and relaxed it is. The staff is awesome. There are many features to their program such as being able to explore your peers’ work, an open comment system for feedback, your own mentor, and group crits. It was a pleasure logging on because of how clean, fun, and easy their interface is! 

There aren’t any complaints on my end other than a few “could be better” moments with my mentor. Sometimes my mentor didn’t understand what I was asking, didn’t go into much detail about critiquing my work at times, and didn’t initiate the convo in most of our meetings. 

There were some moments where the projects given totally reformed, revamped, and improved my designs and I also learned how to design on Figma!

I would recommend this course for people who have never taken design and depending on your previous design experiences, this program could be a breeze for you yet still be of great value :)

I am a captain in the united states merchant marines currently working for a tugboat company in san francisco bay. However, I am considering a transition into a ux/ui role and this course was incredibly helpful for someone who knew nothing about what goes into becoming a ux/ui designer. The course was great and I learned a lot but where the real money is, I believe, is the one on one mentorship. I got along great with my mentor and feel like I have a strong foundation to build further on. I told him to be tough on me and he was fair about everything I turned in. Not only was this helpful for completing the course but we also got to talk about his experience in the industry, how he started out, mistakes he made and anything else I could think of. I would definitely recommend this to a friend.

I really enjoyed taking this course. The presentation of the coursework was well organized. They offer 1-on-1 mentorship which I found to be the best aspect of this course. After completing this course, I felt I learned a lot. I'd highly recommend this course to anyone looking to get into UX. 

I just completed the UX academy foundations course. I absolutely Loved it. I finished it within 2 months. The overall course was well planned out, every week i was definitely learning something new.  I started with no knowledge of design and now i look at websites and think " I could recreate that". ( The simple websites) but more than i could when i started. I met up with my mentor once a week and went over my course work. The reading material and the projects are great exercises.  As the course went on i looked at the upcoming projects i had to do and i was so intimidated by them, but once I got to it i knew exactly what i was doing. The support from my mentor and the slack group was great, and there's always something going on weather it be webinars, fun projects, and just if you need help with something somebody is always there to respond. As I said coming into the course I didn't know what I was doing if I was going to proceed into the academy, but i really enjoyed the course and I've applied to get into the academy and see what more I can learn. I would highly recommend this course for somebody trying to break out and try something new the foundations course will give you a taste of what more you can learn. 

UX Academy Foundations was a great start to learning UX/UI. They teach you design fundamentals and enforce it by pairing you with a working designer.

DesignLab has a good starter system for people who wants to change their career into UX/UI. I am a student who decided to change my career after I have graduated with a BA in Consumer Science. I wanted to share my experience with anyone who might in the same situation. During my search for a UX bootcamp, I found DesignLab to be the most beneficial in terms of projects and hands-on work. I thought it would be a good idea since I wanted solid projects on my portfolio in the end. I have only taken the Foundation course and it has been a great experience. I am in the process of applying for their UX Academy program. 

I have had a few issues regarding the system and my mentor, but DesignLab's team has always been super helpful and accommodating. The Foundation course is absolutely beginner-friendly, I would recommend this to anyone who is new to design and wanted to get more practice with tools like Figma or Sketch. The curriculum is easy to digest and understand while having the best results in projects. Meeting with mentors might be awkward, but I think they are super helpful in getting the student where they want to be. 

I guess the only cons that I could think of is the number of sessions you get with your mentor. Students are only provided 8 sessions and the first one is an introduction meeting to know more about your mentor. I do understand that the mentors have their own schedule, but limiting the sessions to 8 might be too little. I was able to fit everything I wanted into the 8 sessions, but I wished I had more. 

Overall, I do believe the pros definitely outweigh the cons. To rephrase, DesignLab Foundation course is a great program for people who are new to design with no experience. The course is very informative and I think it's a great start for anyone who wants to get into the UX/UI industry. 

Foundations was a great introduction to ux/ui and visual design. Through the projects, articles, and videos you learn valuable skills and understanding of the visual process. The course is not intense, you can easily do it as you work or go to school as you only need to spend 4 hours a day on it if you space out the units across the duration of the course.