Designlab

I joined UX Academy as a Graphic designer hoping to learn UX/UI design. And UX Academy delivered more than I expected!

The curriculum - Well rounded. They covered all stages of the UX design process from User Research and Strategy to Visual Design. The course was structured well, so as to not be overwhelming. Pockets of theory were paired with practical exercises that helped me understand and remember what I'd learnt.

Mentorship - One of the best parts of UX Academy was being paired with a mentor – a veteran UX designer who knew the ins and outs of the UX design industry. He was an indispensable source of guidance, advice and support (especially for a UX newcomer like me)

Job Search - Rounding out the course was the 'Portfolio and Job Search' phase. Designlab has created an excellent framework of short exercises and activities for this. They helped me get through the daunting phase of making a portfolio, practicing for interviews and learning to present my work. It definitely helped me get where I am today. :)

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DesignLab UX Academy is a great start to changing your career! I had very little experience going into the program, and was doing a complete career change. The mentorship aspect, and weekly group crits really made the online program feel like a school you attend in person, with a community of design support. The capstone projects could be demanding at times, with such tight deadlines, so I would have liked more time to make these portfolio pieces better,  but I was able to clean these up after the program ended. The Academy goes through the full spectrum of UX/UI, but I would have liked a few more courses/focus on UI/visual design mainly because I  did not have any graphic design background, and the students that do seem to be a step ahead (I think they may have added more UI courses since I finished). Yet, I learned A LOT from DesignLab, probably just as much, if not more, as other more expensive in-person schools. I landed an internship after the program ended, then a freelance design gig, and shortly after that a full-time position in UX/UI. I'm thrilled to have a new career I love, and have DesignLab UX Academy to thank for that. 

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I had a very positive experience with Designlab's UX Academy. I was switching careers into UX design after a career break, and went from starting UX Academy to having a full time job in less than 6 months. It was helpful to have all coursework and lessons lined up for me (versus trying to figure it out on my own by sorting through tons of good and bad resources on the web). I felt it was a good balance of traditional lectures/readings with hands-on projects. My two favorite parts were the group crits and the mentorship. The group crits were great because I could create relationships with other people out in the world who were going through the same challenges. It made me feel like I wasn't alone in this big, daunting process. Finally, the best part: mentorship. At the end of the day, I feel that the mentors were most worth the money you spend on UXA. Both my UXA and Career Phase mentors were incredibly helpful...I can't say enough amazing things about them. I would 100% recommend UX Academy. It is a lot of work and requires commitment, and everyones experience and outcomes will be slighrly different since everyone enters woth different levels of experience. But if you follow the timeline, leverage the expertise of your mentors, and trust the process, you will definitely be able to reach new design and career goals you've set for yourself. Read less

Long story short: I embarked on my UX Academy journey nearly a year ago in full-time track, graduated on mid-February, started my first ever UX designer job in April, and now I'm already at my second designer job. 

If you're looking for a place to kickstart your career in UX design, I can say that this course delivers. UX Academy gives you the tools, the platform and the expertise to help you change your career to UX design. But you need to take the charge and really commit. Otherwise you won't get the full advantage. I really enjoyed the curriculum, got professional feedback from my mentor and my peers. The community is awesome and I learned the most from my fellows there. 

Like I said, I'm already at my second work place and not even year has passed from my time at UX Academy. The first job I got was a traineeship, and after that I got a better offer from another company, where I work now. I feel that UX Academy gave me a great starting point and kick-off for my UX designer career. Recommended 100%.

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I absolutely love DesignLab, I just finished my month studying design 101 and already signed up to start the typography class. The interface is great, you are given all the tools you need to do great work, having a mentor who is an actual professional is such a great asset too. I already learned so much in the span of a month and I can't wait to keep going on my design journey with the help of DesignLab.

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I have taken two courses this year - Design 101 and Branding - and both have been packed with excellent material and attentive mentors. This course in Branding is "short and broad"; a lot of material is covered in just four weeks, but it gives you enough of a foundation to keep going on your own after they are over, and a completed project to put in your portfolio. You will not become an expert overnight, but you will know the process to creating a brand very well by the time it's over.

Regarding the course material itself. I have found the Branding course to be a very big leap in expectation from Design 101 in terms of pre-requisite knowledge and time commitment. I recommend asking someone before taking the course if the brand you want to create matches your current skill and career level, emphasis on the combination of those two together. For example, I discovered that creating my own brand before I had an audience or portfolio to market myself to was not a good grounding for success. The lecture material, at time of writing, is a bit sparse, but my mentor filled in the gaps for me quite well. The focus is very heavily skewed towards understanding marketing, and the actual visual design does not come until after the mid-point of the course. I felt unprepared to tackle this course with my current skill level, and wished I had access to someone to ask questions more frequently than once a week, and for fuller lecture material to fill in those gaps. In the end, however, it still worked out favorably because my mentor was able to teach me during our sessions. Recognizing that no learning path is ever perfectly straight and comfortable, the end result of this course is still a solid grounding in the activities that go into creating a brand, and it definitely delivers well if that is your goal.

Overall this is an excellent value for someone who already knows what branding is and wants to get their first brand portfolio piece, or who does not know what branding is and wants to get a grasp of what goes into creating one.

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With Design 101 you're paying for the amalgamation of free online resources and time with your mentor, both of which are worth the price. Mentor sessions is where this program really shines because they provide feedback on your work and answer any and all questions you have about how to progress in a design career. However, this course only focuses on web design which is a determinent to individuals (like me) who are just starting out because I wanted a more well-rounded experience. Your mentor does provide outside sources if you ask for them, which are great, and you can take the initiative to find other material, but the course should really be renamed to a Web Design 101 since you don't learn anything about print or mobile design for that matter.

This course is great if you have zero knowledge of design and want to gauge your interest. Other reviews have mentioned the rigorous course structure and it does require a fair amount of time during the week, especially if you're completing iterations of a design. But don't expect to walk away with a portfolio piece. This really is the very first step.

 

 

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I am a software engineer and I was wanting to learn to learn the principles of UI design. This course was perfect. They give you good content to read and assign you very helpful projects. The real value is in the advice and feedback you get from your mentor. You are gaurnteed 4 one hour skype session plus they leave you feedback on each version of each project. I couldn's for more at the price of $400.

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I took up the course as part business owner and part designer.

My main objectives for joining the course were all met - how to layout sites to make them visually appealing, how to use font and colour to make the UI and UX interesting and engaging

The projects were relevant and flexible allowing me to work on both 'fixed' formats as well as flexible - choose your own subject ones. Its was very useful as this mix ensured learning and relevance.

The mentor was outstanding - he ensured that I not only got the relevant and timely feedback and support, but also explained things that were not very clear due to my non-photoshop background.

Finally, The designlab team's responses were always prompt and holistic - a rarity in today's online world!

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Previously I had web design and coding experience as well, these are definitely should be mentioned as triggers.

I'm not a shy person, but I had some concerns before like how I'll get a job (is this really enough as a preparation), how the whole group learning will work out, if I get nice and helpful mentors, and so on. Altogether does this really worth it or am I just wasting my time.

At the beginning it was really shocking amount of hours we put inside the projects and everybody struggled to finish the projects in time. But later we got the rhythm together, and helped each other so we started to enjoy.

Personally I liked every single bit of it, we got an equally balanced knowledge of theoretical and practical part of UX. I think the whole course is a big challenge to tackle in the end, if you are doing it good. I think I was competing with myself along the way to deliver better and better outcomes of each modules so I could proudly present to the others.

At first I was worried about mentorship and group critiques since I've never involved anything like these before, but actually it turned out that these elements in the course helped the lot if not the most. Special thanks for my mentors Chrissy and Vibhas who helped me in the different phases and making my work better.

My favorite part was the group hangout during the weekends (Saturday or Sunday), when everybody prepared his / her work for showcasing and explaining the different design decisions to the others. I think we learnt a lot from each other in many different ways. Sometimes we stayed even after the dedicated time just to finish a story or to share thoughts about a problem we were facing. I would recommend everyone to GO HARD! Approach the units with a never ending willingness to experience something new whether is it a new tool or a tutorial video. I think it's also important to be open-minded and stay active on the slack groups with the others so you always feel you are a part of something evolving. I got the job offer just before I started my second capstone to be a UI designer in Amsterdam for the global team of UX design.

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 I took this course thinking I would immediately or almost immediately enroll in the UX Academy.  I took the DesignLab over Career Foundry for three reasons.  First because it was U.S. based;second, the costs associated with the program; and three both offered abiliity to get a job withiin 6 mos. after enrolling.   iI choose DesignLab because I liked what previous enrollees and/or students stated about the 1:1 mentorship and the diversity of the student  and their feedback.

 I signed up with Desgin101 since any past experience I had was way out of date as far as tools and i needed a refreshers.  This course delivered on so many different levels.  Rigourous is an understatement but this course was intense and baked a lot of what you read from week to week with projects to reinforce what  you read. The feedback from your mentor is key.  Your fellow students are too busy doing their own thing to gvive you feedback.  i  will say the reading reinforces what you learn and it will be up to you to reach out to your friends, family blog following, etc. to provide you key feedback by week 3 & 4.  My mentor was great and although we missed in week 3, our time interacting was valuable and timelly and he was willing to have me communicate with me via e-mail or make up with another time/date conference call.   I would highly recommend this overview for anyone whose not current with Design 100 concepts or tools (e.g. Sethc, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop, etc.).  Whatever you do, stay in contact with yourmentor and the students even though they mabe too busy to engage until week 4.  It's worth it if it's new to your or you need a refreher.

 

 

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This is a four week class designed to give you an overview of what user experience design can entail. This course was more or less a pre-requisite for me to join Designlab's UX Academy, which I'm now participating. I had an outstanding experience and was thoroughly impressed and satisfied with the structure, content, and support offered. The online interface is easy and fun to use. That might not come as a surprise as a site teaching you UX but I think nailing the delivery of new concepts via remote learning online can still be hard. But Designlab really makes it easy. You are provided a mentor who you'll have up to four virtual sessions with (we had ours via google hangouts) and will guide your progress, give feedback on your work, and offer other thoughts and resources to help you learn. My mentor was terrific. She responded to questions super quickly, was flexible with schedule, was knowledgeable about all the content, and most important, I felt like she really cared about  my growth. The curriculum is robust and well planned; the lessons build on one another. One thing to note is that this course focuses more on the implementation side of UX design - layout, visual hierarchy, typography, color, and wireframing. All essential things yes, things like user researching, usability testing, and validation are not covered. I would highly recommend this course! I happened to score some discounted price but even at full price, I feel like I got more than my money's worth!

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My university doesn't facilitate non-graphic design students taking graphic design classes, so I needed to find another way. The small price-point ($300) including course material, projects, and mentor support convinced me that DesignLab would be a great option to at least get my design game off the ground.

The course material wasn't too challenging and the projects were interesting enough that it didn't take over my schedule, but kept me interested. 

My mentor was super helpful in helping me to see what I didn't understand and where I needed more practice. I really appreciated her help.

The only downside of this course was it's super fast pace (4 weeks), but hey, it is a bootcamp. The plus side of this is that even after the end of the course my mentor is available to critique future versions of my projects so that I can continue to refine my skills.

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I have learned from many different platforms and this is one of the best and here is why

1. When you signup, a mentor will be assigned to you
2. You will be asked to schedule 4 mentor sessions 
3. You will be introduced to the course with a nicely planned chapters (from introduction to mental models, content strategy, site maps, user flows, wireframes, design patterns...)
4. Then you will be learning the lessons within each chapter
5. Then you will be asked to do assignments and submit them
6. Your mentor will review the assignment and submit the feedback
7. You will either incorporate the feedback and submit the second version or you will discuss it during your weekly mentor session
8. By the time all chapters and assignments are complete you will have a feeling that you actually know that you have a command on the subject with practise

This has been a great learning experience. The content is great and easy to learn and remember and my mentor is very nice and very knowledgeable in her field.

Remember - this is not like any other online learning site, you have to pracise and you have to really commit to your learning. Your mentors are very detailed and can point out where you need to improve so this is great. 

All the very best and happy learning!

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I was in the second cohort of the new UX Academy from Designlab.

I had a wonderful experience and learned a lot! The curriculum was good, the mentors were great, and the community of other students was so helpful! 

I got a job as a Product Designer just 3 months after I finished the course.

Highly recommended! 

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Coming into the second online class I have taken I had some expectations. Design Lab over achieved to say the least. The class structure starts off with the basics then moves deeper into the nuances and nuts and bolts of interaction design. A mentor who is an industry professional is provided to you at the beginging of the course to guide you along the way. It was great to have live feedback during skype sessions and also have the albility to view other classmates work through project submissions. You get to see how other designers think and thier design process. Coming out of the class I've developed a new skill set and a new way to think about design that unbeknowst to me 4 weeks ago was foreign. I am more than pleased with the outcome. 

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I previously had zero design experience. My goal was to become familiar with the tools and concepts used by designers so that I would have a primitive foundation for creating attractive designs for my projects. What I found was that this course was much more than I bargained for. This course, as it turns out, covers almost nothing about using the tools themselves (although, they do provide tutorial resources for you to review independently). Designlab wanted to provide an experience and knowledge-base that couldn't be attained by merely scouring Youtube for a few hours. Their goal in this course is to walk you through true design theory and convey the principles that compose good design. Don't be discouraged if you don't have any technical experience because they structure the projects in a gradual way that's attainable for a design beginner. What ties the Designlab experience together, though, is the mentor system. Being paired with a design professional that has proven track record gives you the confidence to head in the right direction with your design ideas. In the true nature of Designlab philosophy, my mentor, Joe Callahan (VP of Design at Classy), wanted to ensure that I was grasping the higher-level concepts that would help me become a successful designer in the future. He was encouraging of my technical inability, emphasizing that those skills would develop with time, but understanding the principles that make good design would set me apart. Designlab was well worth all time and resources invested. Will be pursuing more of their courses in the near future. 

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I am halfway throught the Design101 DesignLab course and I love it.  The framework is practical, the support is fantastic, and I love the way which I can check out what other students are doing along the way.  I am doing this course as a ramp up to a uni degree I am beginning in November.  I feel like this has given me a great head start.

 

I had issues with billing on my end, and the guys at DesignLab were fantastic and understanding.  I would highly recommend Designlab to anyone looking to get a crash course or a touch up on their existing skills.

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I took DesignLab just to get more learning experience in designing and this course did just that! They give you so many resources and different articles to read from real life designers and you get a peak into their world. I loved that this course was totally self-paced and it was great that your mentor works with your schedule. My mentor experience was awesome, she was so knowledgeable in designing and she truly helped me on all of my projects. I plan on taking more courses from DesignLab in the future! Highly recommend!!

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