Designlab

Prior to signing up for Foundations, I did extensive research on the plenty of UX/UI courses out there. I found that Designlab checked all the boxes for me. As a beginner, I feel that the curriculum was just difficult enough to get you thinking in the right mindset without making things too frustrating to learn. On top of that, the Designlab community was super helpful throughout. From the admin, slack community, and my mentor I was never short of resources if anything got tough. Everyone is super supportive and encouraging which makes you want to learn more and do your best. Highly recommend this course if your thinking about getting into UX/UI. 

This program got me back into design after ten years out of the habit. It's a well-organized program, a ton of hands-on experience, and they really try to hire mentors that are helpful and knowledgeable. I loved my mentor! This foundations course was well worth the money. 

I really enjoyed my experience throughout Designlab's UXA Foundations course. Even though this was a short course, I was able to learn a lot about visual and UI design.  The projects provided were fun to do and very hands on. My mentor was really helpful and I definitely learned a lot from him. I would recommend this course if you have no background in design and want to learn more about visual and UI design.

I chose the UX Academy Foundations course because even though I had an interest in UX/UI design, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to make a full financial and time commitment. I also came to the program with no prior experience so I didn't want to make a full decision without knowing if this was something I could do. This 8 week course was perfect in helping me with my decision. I liked that it was self paced so it worked with my schedule. I also loved my mentor who I met with weekly, not only did they answer all of my questions but they also provided me with further resources. 

I came into the course with familiarity in UX & UI knowledge but it wasn't credible. Going into this, I learned the heuristics and information properly with more experience. Make sure you're willing to put in the time and communicate with your mentor concisely what you want to focus. Overall a good course to take for those wanting to explore this field without sinking 8 grand for other courses.

Helpful course with a lot of flexibility to complete with working a FT job. Mentor was really helpful and knowledgable. Focused on UI/visual design but a great intro for the full Academy.

Great course. Solid content. Super user friendly. I learned a ton and can't wait to continue on my path in the academy. The mentor program is key. Mine was amazing and always had super professional feedback. Thanks DL!

DesignLab's Foundation course was well structured and organized. It was thoroughly thought out and designed for all students including those without any design background. Each module built on what you learned leading to your final project. I loved the slack community and being able to connect with students who are taking the same course. This was such a great resource at the tips of my fingers for support and feedback.  

Overall my experience was positive and thorough.  I learned a ton and enjoyed myself along the way.  My mentor helped me with each session, coaching me through program issues with Figma, project effectiveness and career coaching.  I was given all the insight I needed, and had fun completing the projects along the way.

I can’t speak highly enough about Designlab. From the curriculum, easy to use platform and most importantly mentorship, I highly recommend  Foundations to others. I originally took a different into to design course through a separate company, and was then accepted to the career track once I finished. I am so happy I decided to pivot and try Designlab. Best decision I could have made. I got so much more from this course. 

I had a wonderful experience through design lab as an introductory to UX/UI. The mentors, and staff were all so helpful and cheerful. I feel confident in my decision to move on the the bootcamp next 

Group crits and mentorship are the winning traits of UX Academy. The curriculum is well structured and they’re continuously updating information based on student feedback. You could find this information through online resources or books, but it’s nice to have assignments where you can apply that knowledge and have a professional (your mentor) guide you through any confusion or misunderstandings. 

The group crits are such a home run on DesignLab’s part. You get a chance to learn how to present your work, justify your design decisions and thinking, and give/accept critique. They’re very informal and quite welcoming- the moderator is there to promote conversation but I found that it happens organically most of the time. 

Loved my time at UXA and highly recommend it! 

I just graduated from UX Academy Foundations and I learned a lot. There's a lot of information that will help you in your growth to becoming a designer. DesignLab gives you the structure and guidance needed to help you start of you UX design lab career. The mentor calls were also very helpful. Overall, I think it's a good program if you want to learn about UX Design.

I have taken a few online courses in UI/ UX design, but nothing compares to Designlab's UX Academy Foundations. I learned a lot in just a matter of weeks! My mentor lived in the same state I do and was always willing to provide me with feedback/ advice. The course was challenging, but 100% worth it. I became more comfortable in my work and learned how to efficiently use Figma. I just wrapped up this course so I haven't applied to the UX Academy just yet, but I plan on it!

The UX Academy foundations is an 8-week pre-requisite to apply for UX academy for students with no prior design knowledge. This course is packed with information, easy to use guidelines, and numerous projects to learn and apply UI design. I learned so much from the online course and through mentor sessions. I highly recommend for anyone who wants to change career or just learn about UI design 

The best thing about DesignLab is that the course is well-organised - the units enabled me to take more and steps to building a good foundation for knowledge and stretched my skills further and further with every exercise. Each unit is calibrated perfectly so that it’s not too difficult that you’d give up, but challenging enough to keep stretching your skills. The mentorship is excellent - my mentor provided help by suggesting readings and resources, shared tips and real life design problems  from his own experience, guided me through some design related work processes I was working on for my job, and provided emotional support so that I could felt like someone was really rooting for me! The course interface is also great - very straightforward, brings the course materials, mentor sessions, AND a huge gallery of past and current students work for endless inspiration! I’d love to do more courses after a short break - next course I’ve ever done and I’ve done a lot!

Overall I'm very happy with my experience taking UX Academy Foundations through DesignLab. I initially registered for their Design 101 course but as they were transitioning to Foundations they allowed me to transfer my registration to the new course instead. I found the DesignLab staff to be friendly, accommodating and willing to answer any questions I had quickly. The course is over 8 weeks and intended to be a preparatory course to apply to their UX Academy but it has a lot of merits on its own. It's broken into 8 different sections, each focused on different aspects of UI and visual design from visual design basics, to UI elements and principles, to color and type and so on. There are various readings and projects for each session and the projects vary from copy work, written reflections and hands on design projects with briefs. The final project is a 10 hour design challenge to design a website and three mobile screens for a fictional travel site. The curriculum covers web design, responsive design and mobile app design. An important note that this course mainly covers UI and visual design and there is not a ton of information on UX design except for an optional section at the completion of the course. This is understandable as the UX design portion is covered in their UX Academy course.  The majority of the work is self-paced and there are not set times for taking the coursework which is nice and allows for a flexible schedule. In addition, it seems as if you have lifetime access to the coursework, even after you submit your final project. They pair you with a mentor who is working in the field and you have weekly hour sessions with your mentor to ask any questions and review design projects. Your mentor can also comment on your design work through their online portal outside of your scheduled sessions. You're also given access to a Slack channel so you can talk with other students also in the program. I enjoyed working with my mentor, who was able to give me specific, actionable feedback on my projects as well as the reasoning behind her suggestions and was readily available via Skype and email outside of our sessions.  Ultimately, I feel as if I learned a lot about UI, visual and web design and feel like I've established a great baseline of knowledge to add to my resume and to offer to future employers. However, it is is a significant investment of time. They estimate 10 - 15 hours per week, which I would say is mostly accurate, though some weeks I'd say I was doing closer to 20 - 25 hours a week on iterations and revisions of the design projects. As someone who does not have children or a particularly demanding job this was doable for me, but if you work a lot of hours or have children, it may be harder for you to complete everything required within the time frame. For the majority of the course I worked both nights and weekends to complete what I needed to on time. In addition, it is self-paced, so you get out of it what you put into it. If you're not willing to put in the time to do the readings, prepare and participate in your mentor sessions and do the design work and iterations/revisions, you may not find this course as satisfying as I did. 

I really enjoyed the UX Academy Foundations course! I did it part-time alongside my job, and it was manageable - not overwhelming and not dull either. The projects were fun and interesting, and for me, the possibility to have 8 mentor sessions added great value to the course. I think the course provides an excellent insight into the UX/UI world, and it serves as a good starting point for people who want to continue to the UX Academy.

The foundations course at Designlab exceeded my expectation. They wrote their own curriculum and it is well written. You get 8 week course online and in each week/unit, you get plenty of opportunities to practice what you learned from the reading material and you get to learn how to use design software such as Figma. The Figma tutorial is built into the course. You will be very familiar with Figma at the end of the course. The other thing I wanted to mention is that you get 8 weekly calls scheduled with your mentor. They all have direct working experience in the design field and they provide you with timely feedback on your projects and answer all questions that you may have. My mentor has been very responsive and helpful. I really appreciated her help! I would recommend this course to anyone who does not have a design background but is interested in pursuing a career in UX design.

Designlab makes it easy to jump in with both feet. UX Foundations is a great introduction for those who have only just discovered the world of user experience/interface. The course is 8 weeks (roughly 10 hours a week) and takes you from total newbie to knowing a thing or two! The course prepares you for their larger Academy for those looking for a career boost or change. I'd recommend this course to all looking for a challenge but wanting great support.