Designlab

I was gonna do the Design 101 course but was given the opportunity to try their new program (UX Foundations course) before the launch and I'm really glad I took the opportunity. Overall, I think it was a nice introductory to the bootcamp before getting more intense.

COURSE: It was very much more focused on learning about the design aspect like design fundamentals, layout, color, font, etc. The course had a nice balance between the readings and assignments/projects. The readings were not longer than 20 minute reads and I found it to be very interesting. It felt like I was reading an interesting blog about design. There were several copywork assignments where we had to copy an existing design. I found it to be pretty redundant after doing it couple times, but others might've found value in doing those assignments. They also had summary of each unit on a pdf format, which was really nice so that I could reference back to them when I needed it for working on projects. I was able to manage the course working full-time. Designlab provide you with time constraints on each assignment so that you're not spending forever doing one assignment. Just keep in mind that you're gonna be spending more time outside of just the coursework. You'll be needing to make edits to your assignments/projects to improve upon them, meet with mentor, research if you're not certain of a topic, etc. But it's all totally doable!

MENTOR: One of my favorite parts about DesignLab is having a mentor to guide you through the process. My mentor provided a lot of valuable feedback and insights. I was working on some personal UX side projects outside of the course and she was willing to provide feedback and guidance on that as well. One thing I did wish was that she would provide more constructive criticisms as I feel like I needed more of that, but she was still really resourceful. I think having the right mentor could make it or break it because they're the main interactive aspect of the course where you're getting real feedbacks from people in the industry. However, Designlab pointed out many times that they can change the mentor if you're not happy about it, I don't think anyone needs to worry about not finding the right mentor.

SLACK CHANNEL: Designlab has a Slack channel for all the students who were or are in UX Foundations course. I didn't really use it as much as I had hoped to, but I think that might depend on people's personality and how motivated they are to try interacting with others online. I wouldn't say that it's superrr active where people are talking all the time. I would usually turn to Slack channels if I had any specific questions related to the coursework.

DESIGNLAB'S SUPPORT: DesignLab has been very supportive throughout the entire process. I've gotten several emails from the support team just checking in on me to see how I was doing on the course. They are very friendly and approachable.

CONS: (I can't think of much but if I HAVE to come up with something)
- I wish slack channel was more active and there are some opportunities set from Designlab so that students can network. It would also be cool to be able to network with the alums who finished Designlab bootcamp and found a job.
- Your experience can vary depending on who you get for your mentor.
- I wish there was a general search feature for the course materials so that I don't have to dig through each lessons to find a specific topic that I'm wanting to reference upon.

 I originally signed up to take Design 101 so I can apply to UX Academy, but I was given the option to take their beta course UX Academy Foundations. I was nervous to take a new course, but it was the best decision I could have made. I learned so much and felt very confident about my skills when I started UX Academy. 

Pros: 
Interesting content, lots of optional tasks, and reading ( I recommended doing them to get the best out of the course)
Experienced mentors, 1:1 mentor sessions every week. 
You are ready with a finished project at the end of the course

Cons:
A bit too much information to absorb within 4 weeks. Personally, would have liked another week at least. 


Overall, a great course. I would highly recommend it to someone who wants to transition into UX or UI. 

I joined foundations to be better prepared to take the UXA bootcamp.

PROS: The program is great! material is easy to follow and self-paced which was what I was looking for. Designlab's customer service is amazing! very friendly and very responsive. Having a mentor guide you is very helpful in the career developing process and decision-making.
 
CONS: most of the learning materials they offer are articles and readings. Not much of videos or interaction learning. Depending on your mentor, sessions can go very well if you have the right questions.

The overall program is great covering all the basics of design.

In this 8 week course through Designlab, I was able to receive a firm foundation in the principles of UX and UI design. Each week we covered specific topics that ranged from visual design, usability principles, Gestalt principles, color, typography, etc. Between lessons we would also have specific mini projects of design briefs to practice the principles we had learned. We had the opportunity to design for mobile, web, and even responsive web design. My favorite part of the course was the immediate sense of community we received through the Designlab slack channel where fellow students could support each other, share resources, and connect and network. There was also thoughtful and supportive 1-1 mentoring provided for each student, and my mentor was always very detail-oriented in his feedback and really challenged me to broaden my perspectives of what good user-centered design choices looked like. He was always encouraging and supportive of the work I was doing, yet never shied away from giving constructive criticism and great, responsive feedback when needed. Overall I enjoyed the course as it provided me a great fundamental understanding of UX Design that propelled my interest into continuing to learn about the field and give me the formal education I had always wanted as I transitioned from my background of self-taught graphic and visual design. 

UX Academy is a very well structured course that helps you gain the foundational skills you need to work in the UX/UI field.  
I learned not only design skills, but also how to conduct research, and how to give and receive feedback ( which is critical to working on a design team). In addition, I learned how to iterate quickly, and learned how to justify my decision decisions ( important when collaborating with  and managing stakeholders) and how to present my design process. 

Having a dedicated mentor guiding you  is one of the best parts of this course. I learned so much from my mentor and am very glad that he challenged me and made me a better designer. 

In addition to this, they also have a very supportive community of students, former students, teachers, and mentors who you can reach out to for help. The community discussions and feedback  keep you motivated  and are excellent for networking. So by the time you graduate from the course, you already have your own network of people to help you find a design job.

I really enjoyed the UX Academy. I have learned a lot in a very practical way. I like the studying system that allowed me quickly to practise my learnings. A great help and support were also mentoring sessions and group crits. It gave me a chance to work and create with wonderful people from all around the world.

There are many pros to this course, one of which is the mentorship along the way. Having someone in the field to speak to weekly helped me understand what I was getting myself into. The curriculum gets harder as you go, which is excellent. I think the only personal con was not hearing about the course earlier. I was always skeptical about these online courses, but after seeing first hand how much it benefited a friend, I had to try it. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in UX/UI design.  

I was contemplating making a career switch for a long time and Designlab's UX Academy Foundations was the perfect way to get my feet wet at a very affordable price. There are so many bootcamps out there today but a lot of them don't offer any intro course before the full thing. 

I have no design background so it was really nice to have a structured curriculum that I could work on at my own pace while maintaining a job. Although a lot of the information could be found for free if you searched online, but it was nice to have guidance on what was important to learn. I thought some of the assignments were a little too repetitive or more tedious than constructive but overall I was able to complete a 10 hour design challenge by the end of the course.

My mentor was very accommodating and helpful in answering questions that I had. It was nice having someone I could rely.

This is a great course for someone who wants to see if a career in UX Design is for them. Obviously, this course alone will not be enough to make a career change but it's a great way to get started.

It was a fantastic journey! I always inclined towards creativity my whole life but somehow I wasn't sure that I am actually capable of working with design elements. Thanks to the Designlab program, during a couple of months with weekly 1 on 1 sessions with my incredible mentor I've received a strong basic skills to continue in the UX Designlab Academy as a full time student. I continue to learn the subject and feel that my skills are growing every day. The Designlab is not only about hard skills, it's where you develop emotional intelligence along with the UX Design. Strongly recommend this course to anyone who's willing to give it a try but somehow isn't sure, just like I was at the beginning.

I graduated Foundations a few months ago, and it becomes more and more clear over time just how valuable the course was for me. It's meant to be a prerequisite for Designlab's full UX Bootcamp (UX Academy, which I enrolled in immediately after completing Foundations), but I also think it's a great stand alone course for anyone looking to develop or level up their visual design skills. I think the most valuable part of Designlab's courses is their mentor support - every week you have an hour long call with a highly experienced designer who reviews your work for feedback, gives you advice, and answers any questions you have from the coursework to the industry in general, which I found invaluable. I also think Foundations definitely dives deeper into UI than a lot of other courses out there - I've been told many times since completing the course that my designs are impressive for my level of experience (which, before Foundations, was zero), and I definitely credit that to this course. If you're on the fence about this course or DL's UX Bootcamp, don't hesitate and go on and register - you won't regret it. 

This course prepped me tremendously for my UX Academy run. I had 0 experience going into the program and quickly learned the necessary tools to jump right into the full UX Academy course. If I could change anything, it would be the recommended hours. The recommended time for part-time assumes perfection. I had to spend more time than allotted or rush through assignments to remain on task while working a full time job. 

I took the 8-week UX Academy Foundations course at Designlab back in June of this year and I truly suggest anyone thinking of going into UX Design, who does not have any design experience, to take this course. I had no design experience and this course truly gave me the foundation and tools of all the basics that encompass User experience design. Now I am taking the UX Design Academy course at Designlab and I felt prepared to start the course due to all that I learned during the Foundations course along with my mentor, who was amazing and who taught me so much.  

Really great introduction to UI. I liked how the program introduced new concepts each week, and then had us practice those concepts within projects. I'm the type to zone out a lot during readings so having to place concepts into practice really solidified my experience. I chose to use Figma through this course and can confidently say I'm a competent Figma user now. My mentor gave detailed feedback that allowed me to improve my projects.

I'm really glad I took this Foundations course with Designlab. I loved being introduced to color theory, visual hierarchy, layout and copywork in a way that was engaging and applicable. The best part was my interaction with my mentor, who kindly walked me through the process and helped answer any questions I had. 

UX academy foundations has definitely sparked my design skills for UX design. I was someone who recently made a career path change and was new to the design world. However, with UXA I learned the fundamentals and was able to translate what I learned from the lessons onto projects that was assigned to us. Also, having a mentor to help guide you was definitely helpful! They give you tips for the course and beyond that. 

UXA Foundations was a very fun and creative course. I learned so much about UI that I did not know and pushed myself to create things I never thought I could. You had a mentor who was able to ask you questions and show you tips and tricks on how to create things and also just talk to about the world of UX. You have multiple versions of each project because each one builds upon improvements you can make, simulating a design process. There were times I did not think I could create something because I am not visually creative. However, you learn that a lot things in design are very basic and how it is arranged is what makes it great. I still have a lot to learn but UXA Foundations gave me the fundamentals to begin my journey in a career in UX!

Coming from no design background I was nervous to jump into UX Foundations straight away. However the support team was very helpful in answering all my paranoid questions before, during, and after the course. The course material was easy to digest for beginners like me and I learned the concepts quickly in each module. If I had any questions about what I read, I was able to talk to my mentor about them in our one-on-one sessions. I learn the best by doing and the projects for each unit really helped me understand the programs and methods that are necessary in creating good designs. That being said, having a more involved mentor that left more in-depth feedback on my work would have helped me grow as a designer even further. I would suggest that if you take this course, make sure your mentor has a similar teaching style to your learning style. 

I attended this course as an intro to the longer, UX Academy program also run by design lab. I was surprised at how much I gained from it and was especially happy with my mentor sessions. This gave me an easy to understand overview of design principles and helped me practice working with Figma. I’m now in UX Academy and notice things I picked up from foundations which has saved me time and felt familiar. I think it’s a good way to get an idea of what their curriculum is like. If you like foundations, you’ll like UX Academy too. 

This course what a very pleasant surprise for me. I liked everything: the actual information received, the way it's organized in units, the fact that you can see your progress at all times, the mentor sessions.
There's only one thing I would change: some sort of awareness for those who are absolute beginners to learn to use at least one specific tool for wireframing, prior to starting the course. Because I had to take a lot of time to learn Figma somewhere in the middle of the course and it delayed the delivery of my projects.