Designlab

As a complete newbie to the world of UX/UI Design (and nervous about starting something new/making a career pivot) UX Academy Foundations was the perfect introduction to the field.  The content of the course was structured in a way that made sense while being appropriately challenging and my mentor was so helpful every step of the way. Read less

Matthew, my mentor, was probably the best thing about the course. I wouldn’t have been able to do things the right way if I didn’t have his guidance.
It was a lot of information but the exercises was helpful at reinforcing what I read. They were also very fun to do!
I had a very great experience taking this course and had me really consider maybe doing a change in careers. I might have found a new passion of mine!  Read less

My favorite part of the course was having a mentor to guide me and help keep me accountable. Something many online programs don't offer. Not only that but the community access and support made it easy to find answers to any questions I had in a good time frame. Read less

I completed DesignLab's UX Foundations program in 4 weeks.  They say you can complete the Foundations course anywhere from 4-8 weeks and because I am currently unemployed, I opted to push hard and complete the program within 4 weeks. However, I feel like choosing to use all 8 weeks would have felt like a much more enjoyable pace. (If you also have a job while enrolled, I would recommend 8 weeks so you don't get burn out.)   The course is thorough and will challenge you, especially if you have no formal training in design (like me).  
The course is divided into 8 modules and each one contains a mixture of reading, videos and hands on design projects.  Like any bootcamp, you get out of it what you put in.  I watched dozens of YouTube videos and Figma tutorials along the way to supplement the coursework.  During the course you are paired with a mentor and I feel that can greatly affect a student's experience.  I was paired with a talented mentor who was quick to answer my questions and spent a few sessions showing me additional tips and functions of Figma while providing helpful advice on my projects.  DesignLab also has a wonderful community of students on Discord which I found extremely helpful and motivational!
There are dozens of small projects throughout the coursework  that are all designed to build upon the skills learned in previous lessons, then culminating in a 10 hour design project. The submitted 10 hour project is required to meet certain standards to grant you admission in to the full UX academy. (which I hope to be approved for and begin soon!)
Overall, I am very happy with the course curriculum, the mentor support and the Discord community channels that DesignLab offered.  I am amazed looking back at my projects, how much I've learned and how far I came in 4 weeks.  It was definitely worth the cost and I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the basics of UX design. Read less

Your bootcamp experience is really what you make of it. You can either do the bare-minimum to do the assignments and mentor sessions, OR you can do further reading on the additional articles/resources that DesignLab provides and ask additional questions with your mentor. Doing the ladder, the experience has been so useful in ensuring that I am making the right decisions with my career change and receiving guidance to help with my "What's Next?" step in life.

Foundations is a great starting point for getting introduced to UX/UI design, with a big emphasis if you understand the foundations of visual design. I've had a hard time learning Figma by myself, so doing this course has helped tremendously with the learning curve. Read less

I had zero design experience going in but UX Academy Foundations provided me all that I need to grasp design basics. It was valuable experience and I could not recommend it enough for anyone looking to make a career change into UI/UX Design! All the course are implemented with lessons, tutorials (Figma or Sketch that they give you free for a year), and projects to help give you a feel of what it's like to tackle real life projects as a designer. They also pair you up 1-1 with a mentor that is currently in the industry and they're there to help guide you throughout your journey. I was able to complete the course in 4 weeks, however, the course is designed for 8 weeks (pacing is up to you)! Overall, it was a fun experience and it sets you up for enrollment into Designlab's UX Academy. Read less

The course is easy to follow and understand. The lessons are straightforward. This course also provides optional lessons for those who need them. The assignments are challenging in the right way. Also, the mentors give honest and helpful feedback. Overall the experience is great and there is a lot to learn. :) Read less

The course material is important to review and learn to understand the basics, but in my opinion, your mentor will make or break your experience. Having a knowledgeable, empathetic mentor will be the key to your learning and advancing your skills. They will be the ones to teach you all the nuances and look at things in a different way. Their years of experience will flow to you in little tips and tricks from what they've learned. If you come prepared for your mentor sessions and are open to feedback, you will do great! 
You only have to attend one "design crit" during Foundations, but from what I've heard these sessions will eventually be the backbone of UX Academy. 
I highly recommend taking notes on each Unit in a separate doc, as well as notes from your mentor call so you can review and refer to them to consolidate the information. I used Notion to organize all my notes for each Unit. 
I think this course is also a great way to test the water, and see if you actually like UX/UI before jumping into the longer, more expensive UX Academy. This course will get you very familiar with a design tool of your choice (for me, I chose Figma).  Keep in mind though, that UX Academy will be more focused on UX research (from what I've heard). 
Pros: 

• self-paced
• fully online
• easy-to-follow video tutorials for learning Figma
• a dedicated mentor you meet with 1:1 8 times during the course
• supportive community on discord that you can interact with other students (get help, get feedback, ask questions)
• an aesthetic, easy-to-use platform for keeping track of your course progress
• lots of extra resources and links sprinkled throughout the course material for extra learning
• they provide a nice 1-2 page "cheat sheet" at the end of each unit
• they constantly ask for feedback and ways to improve at the end of each unit 

Cons: 

• Honestly not many serious cons for me
• If you're looking for a course that is only videos, this is not for you. There will be reading and hands-on projects involved, with some videos thrown in for tutorials on Figma
• If you're in a time crunch to finish this course and move on to UX Academy (like I was), you'll need to finish this course in under 4 weeks to be able to apply to the next month's Academy cohort - if you don't, you'll have to wait a whole month to apply to the next one. So, you may feel rushed to finish before the UX Academy cohort deadline. 

(FYI I finished in March 2023, but I was only able to select up to 2022 for this review)

Read less

Designlab was a great experience for me. The mentor that I was paired with was extremely helpful and did everything she could to make sure that I understood the assignments and completed the projects to the best of my ability. The curriculum was pretty impressive. I felt like it covered a wide range of information but it didn't feel overwhelming at all. Although I've only just completed the Foundations course, I plan to continue straight into the Academy. If you're looking to make a career switch or simply add new skills to your resume, I 100% recommend Designlab. You won't regret it! Read less

If you continue on to UX Academy, this course is basically free! The curriculum is very thorough, well planned, and seamlessly structured. The student portal makes it super easy to keep track of all assignments and timelines. My mentor was great and really knew when to challenge me and provided tons of professional insight to my endless questions. We had calls twice a week, and this held me accountable while also keeping my workload realistic. Communicating with the admissions staff was a very pleasant experience. The Discord community is also invaluable and a great way to connect with your cohort! The only thing I would be mindful of is that the time estimates for each unit are on the low end. You will get out of this course what you put into it, so be prepared to give yourself a lot more time than is projected for each assignment if you really want to get a firm grasp on the lessons and design tools. Read less

I had a wonderful experience with Designlab's Foundations course. I was able to get the basics of Figma down and feel quite comfortable with the design side of the program now. I learned the basics of design thinking and the UI process. I have taken a course before at my local city college and Designlab's was much easier to follow. I felt I gained exactly what I was looking for. I am looking forward to hopefully continuing on with their Academy.  Read less

I had a bachelor's degree in psychology but was unsure of what direction I wanted to go with my career. As I researched more and more about UX design, I thought it could be what I was looking for all along; it combined my love of design and problem solving, and would also enable me to apply my psychology background. While researching the different UX bootcamps, UX Academy stood out to me the most. The option to do it full or part-time, the mentorship program, group critiques, rigorous course content and projects, and that it was so much more affordable than other bootcamps and grad programs, are a few reasons why I chose UX Academy. I truly enjoyed the bootcamp, but know that you only get out of it what you put into it. My mentor (Emily) and career coach (Anthony) were both great and provided amazing support through their wealth of knowledge and experience! The support team was also incredibly helpful and responsive. If you aren't happy with something, reach out and they will provide the assistance you need. It's crazy to think that a year ago I didn't have a clue what career path I should take, and just a couple months after graduating UX Academy I landed my first full-time UX position!  Read less

I took DesignLab's Foundations course and their UX Academy. I compared several different boot camps and DesignLab seemed to be the best value. I was attracted by their job guarantee, but it should be noted that there are a lot of caveats to that. You have to finish on time and you're disqualified from the refund if you're offered any kind of work, paid or not. I think that's fair but it's just to say that it's a program you should only do if you're serious and committed to it. It's a lot of work and much of the outcome has to do with the mentors you get paired with and how much work you're willing to put into it. If you're not sure, the foundations course is a great place to start. It's true that you could learn a lot of this stuff online for free but the structure of the course, the mentorship, and the community are what make it really valuable. It took me 6 months of searching to find a design job which was longer than I anticipated but I'm thrilled to be on the other side of it. UXA provides a strong foundation, but to land a job and to be successful as a designer, you have to commit to continually growing your skillset and pushing yourself to improve. The abundance of design bootcamps might give the impression that they're handing these jobs out like candy, but the truth is that it's really challenging and competitive to land an early career UX design role.  Read less

I recently completed the Foundation course at DesignLab, and I have to say it was an incredible experience. As someone with zero design background, I was looking for a way to gain some foundational knowledge and get a sense of what a career in this field might entail, and DesignLab definitely delivered. The curriculum was well-structured and covered a range of topics, and each module built upon the previous one. The platform was well-designed and easy to use, and the pace of the program was appropriate with flexible schedule. My mentor was really supportive and and helped me improve my skills. She was always available to answer my questions and provided feedback on my project. Overall, I would highly recommend DesignLab to anyone who is interested in UX design. It's a great way to gain foundational knowledge and get a sense of  this field. Read less

I had a fantastic time learning about UX/UI Design from this foundations course. It is low-stakes, low-cost, AND it gives you a fantastic sneak-peak into what being a professional designer could look like. There is so much more to learn overall, but if you are trying to gauge how much you want to invest in a design bootcamp, this is a great place to start. I loved working with my mentor, who was very knowledgeable and encouraging, as well as practicing my skills through projects. Fantastic short course. I recommend to anyone interested in entering the industry. Read less

DesignLab UXA Foundations is perfect for those like me that do not have graphic design, web design, logo experience, etc. That is the beauty of this course. You can confidently say you have completed a project in redesigning a website, mobile apps, creating your own versions and from scratch, evaluating and critiquing design, design for multiple devices, logo design, color, typography. Your final project is using all of those smaller projects and creating your own website landing page and mobile screens. 

Along the way, you are paired with a mentor. This is a big reason I chose this bootcamp is that you get paired with an expert with industry-experience who can you walk you through Visual Design basics, Design principles, Design elements, and show you tips and tricks that even the course might not discuss. 

My only critique is that some of the tutorial videos and information is outdated. For example, you will learn something on Figma. The tutorial video is showing a version that is older and not really helpful in that scenario.  Read less

For someone who was just getting started in learning about UX design and wanted a structure to go along with it, this course was a great option for me. What made me pick this course over other options was the live mentorship sessions and feedback we're able to receive for our work, and the meetings I've had with my mentor was really able to cement my understanding of the UX fundamentals. Highly recommend this course for new UX design students who want something beginner-friendly!  Read less