Designlab

My experience with Designlab's UX foundations was extremely positive. The course content was extremely clear, interesting, and well organized. It was well structured and the platform was easy to use. The assignments were very helpful and engaging. It allowed for lots of flexibility while still holding students accountable and providing plenty of support. The mentor sessions were a great opportunity to get one-on-one instruction and feedback. Read less

Pros 
-Informative
-Engaging community
-Well structured 
Cons
- For me personally, time constrictions
-Too many small projects clustered together

Overall I'd say 8/10. This was a very well made and straight forward program!! I have almost zero complaints and 
I would definitely  recommend this program to others!

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UX Foundations was a great introduction into UI design tools (Figma, Sketch) and the overall UX/UI design industry. The course was well structured and the projects throughout the course were fun and helpful in learning Figma. 

My favorite aspect of the course was being paired with a mentor who works in the industry where I could get project feedback, learn best practices, and ask all questions related to UX/UI design and careers in the industry. 

I'm excited continue the journey and enroll in the UX Academy!  Read less

Designlab UX Foundations is a great course for anyone that wants to learn the basics of UI, I wouldn't say that there were a lot of UX principles in the course, aside from the final non-compulsory module, so perhaps calling it a UI course would have been a bit more clear. They did, however, provide a detailed course description so I knew exactly what I was in for. I had a wonderful mentor and those sessions with mentor is what sets this course apart from the competitors. I also found it super easy to follow the lessons and track my progress, I think some other rival online courses aren't as well designed and, ironically, not as UX friendly! Big fan of Designlab, if the UX academy wasn't as pricey, I probably would have stayed with them but due to the cost, I opted in for a different one. One thing to note with Designlab is that they expect quite a lot of time commitment so it can be a bit tricky if you work a full time time job, get ready to fill your weekends with coursework and lessons.  Read less

the foundations course was exactly what i was looking for to get started. i really appreciate how easily accessible designlab makes this course, so it's not a huge commitment off the bat but a trial incase you decide to continue afterwards. the course itself covered the basics and had lots of practice using industry tools. though i had to switch mentors towards the end due to some unforeseen circumstances, both of the mentors i worked with gave me excellent feedback which made my designs stronger. Read less

This course gave me everything I needed to succeed in the UX/UI Academy. I learned so much about this industry and the tools that are used. I am shifting careers and knew basically nothing about UX/UI before this program and thank goodness I decided to do this before I jumped into the full UX/UI Academy. Without the skills and design eye that this course taught me, I feel confident that I will be successful in the full program. My mentor was invaluable in honing my skills and helped guide me along this process. Thanks to her kind words and guidance I now feel confident that this is the career for me. I cannot give this preparatory course enough credit for setting me up for the next step in my career journey. 11/10 Read less

I took UX Foundations course by DesignLab to get acquainted with the world of UI UX design and see whether it could be a good march for me to make a career change. 
The course itself is pretty solid, it introduces basic design principles followed by short test and hands-on projects to consolidate and practice the material. You get weekly 1 hr meetings with an experience mentor assigned to you, who answers your questions and gives feedback on the projects from the point of view of a working professional in the industry, which is really crucial.
The platform is well designed, the curriculum is up-to-date and easy to follow.
The only drawback for me is that I could feel lonely and isolated at times but they have a discord community where you can communicate with fellow students. 
Overall, I can recommend the course as a solid intro into the UI UX world. Read less

I decided to shift my career from marketing to design and enrolled in Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course. I had zero experience with design before the course and having completed it now, I can confidently say I have a good grasp on design basics. 

My mentor is an amazing teacher. She is supportive, helpful and caring. Our sessions were always productive and she even took the time to walk me through past projects, explain workflows, share frameworks - besides the weekly projects.

The curriculum was ok and I felt like it touched all of the basics you need to know if you're just starting out as a designer.  Read less

Overall the program is great. I did find it to be more UI heavy/intensive versus UX but I think it was great to get that foundation. I’ve already recommended this course to others looking for a change. I’m really hopeful that the skills I’ve gathered will help me make a career change. Read less

Designlab's UX Foundations provided a well-balanced learning experience. The self-guided approach with mentor feedback accommodated my full-time work schedule; and the manageable workload and abundant resources enriched my understanding. However, occasional delays in mentor feedback, likely due to their busy schedules, were a minor drawback. Overall, a valuable course for those seeking flexibility in UX education. Read less

I really loved the UX Academy Foundations course! I feel like it gave me a good understanding of UX/UI design especially as I apply and make my way into UX Academy after the holidays. Would highly recommend. Loved the 1:1 sessions with my mentor over the 8 weeks of the program.  Read less

I had a great experience with Designlab UX Academy Foundations.  I started the course knowing very little about how to design an app or a website, and I didn't feel confident at first.  Figma was completely new to me, and this was the hardest for me to learn.  There were a lot of good tutorials thugh, and these combined with help from my mentor allowed me to get to a point where I feel comfortable using it.  The curriculum was very good and the projects and feedback I got helped me learn a lot.  My mentor was awesome and very supportive.  He was positive in giving feedback while still challenging me to push my designs further.  I was doing the part-time track, and the one thing I have to say is that the suggested times for completing the projects was a bit unrealistic at times.  It took me a lot longer to complete the final project, for example, than the suggested 10 hours.  Also, taking into account the time needed to spend iterating on the feedback received took longer than I expected.  Overall, it's a great program!  I definitely learned a lot and I feel a lot more comfortable designing now than when I started! Read less

The experience was fantastic. The curriculum was very well rounded and provided me with the fundamentals of design. I really like the optional and additional readings provided this allowed me to further my knowledge in the field. The projects were challenging and well prepared. The mentorship experience was really great having to interact with someone that’s actively working on the fields as a designer was very helpful.  Read less

Designlab's UX Academy Foundations was a great Introduction to UX Design. I learn a lot about the history and basics of visual and UI design. You are also required to meet with your mentor 1 on 1 to discuss your assignments. You are added to a cohort and a discord and given access to the community which is very valuable.  Read less

I had a great experience with Designlab throughout the course of 2021. I enrolled in Foundations and the Academy in a part time capacity (20 hours per week) and finished up my capstone projects and graduated within a year. I personally felt the experience was well worth the price and I certainly learned a lot in my time there. The course itself was relatively "self-paced" with deadlines each week and a weekly meeting with a design mentor. My initial mentor was pretty slow in providing feedback so I switched mentors and got one who was fantastic! After graduating, it took me about 4 months of interviewing and applying to land my first full time offer. I took the role and made my transition into design! Read less

Designlab was just what I needed when looking for a career change. Their challenging curriculum paired with team cohort crits and INCREDIBLE mentorship from my mentor was just what I needed to get my UX career off the ground. I consider myself one of the luckier ones, but got a job in the field before graduating from the course.

The only downside from DL was how students who landed a job were treated in career services. I wanted to use the resources to improve my application/interviewing/ portfolio skills but was only given 2 sessions, even though I had a contract gig that was ending 6 months later. 

Even with the small grievance, Designlab was exactly what I wanted in a bootcamp and successfully aided me in my career change to UX Design. Read less

The UX Foundations course helped set the foundations in ux design. With a design background, the new programs threw me off a little bit but the resources helped refresh my memory and guided me through the program with ease. The chapters work off of each other and helped me progress a little bit at a time at my own pace.  Read less

When deciding to pivot my career from nursing to UX design, I researched different bootcamps and compared their curriculum with prices. I found Designlab to be the most impactful for an affordable price.

Community: My favorite thing about this bootcamp was the community aspect. I met some life-long friends and colleagues through their Discord channel. I heard about my first internship from someone I met via the "Los Angeles channel" on Discord, whom I personally met up with at a coffee shop. There are endless opportunities provided by the DL community (i.e. job opportunities, tips and tricks for interviewing, resources, webinars, etc). I ended up joining a hackathon upon hearing about it on the DL Discord chat and it was by far one of the greatest experiences of my UX career.

Curriculum: Aside from the community aspect, I learned a lot from the curriculum itself. I was enrolled in UX Foundations and UX Academy, which gave me a profound understanding of UX principles and the design process. I found the videos and resources to be super helpful. I know that many have complained that there isn't enough focus on learning about Figma and how to actually do the designing, but I feel that it's only fair since the purpose of the bootcamp is more about understanding what goes on behind the designs rather than learning how to design step-by-step. As a student, there is a lot of self- learning to do and it is up to them how much work they want to put in on their own.

Mentorship: I was fortunate to have really good mentors along the way. It's quite possible to have a mentor whose mentoring style that does not align with the students' personal needs. Luckily, there's the option to request for a new mentor. Students are responsible for knowing their own learning needs and how they want to be mentored. I personally found that having a mentor who allows me to work independently while being available to provide feedback and resources as needed was more helpful than having someone micromanage my work. I also found that it was useful to have questions and ideas ready to be presented to my mentors prior to meeting so that each meeting was productive. 

Overall, I had a really positive experience with Designlab and would highly recommend it, especially for those who have zero design experience!


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