1. UX Academy Foundations

I recently completed the UX Foundations course through Designlab and I feel extremely proud of myself. It took me 8 weeks to finish the course and 4-8 is the expected timeframe. I put a lot of hours in despite the fact that the course was designed to take 10 hours a week. I came in with barely any knowledge of Figma besides making basic wireframes, but I left knowing responsive design for websites and mobile apps. I think I expected to have a teacher, and while you do get a mentor, you are mainly in charge of your learning. Since this is an introductory course to the academy there is no job support included so I did not rate that. Pros: well organized and great mentor Con: no instruction

I really enjoyed Designlab's Foundations bootcamp! I'm not completely new to design, but I found that I learned a lot! I really enjoyed the projects and found them to be stretching in a good way. I also enjoyed my interactions with my mentor, who was fun and easy to relate to. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to get into design, improve their skills, and get practice doing actual projects! 

Overall, I had a great experience as a Designlab student. I come from a completely different background, but I was interested in design for most of my life, so my previous knowledge definitely helped me finish the course in 4 weeks. I chose to do it in 4 weeks because I wanted a more intensive (and intense) experience to help me prepare for UX Academy, and in the end this time limit ended up being perfect for me. There was always work to do without it seeming impossible or discouraging. I do recommend everyone who wants to be a full-time student at UX Academy to try and finish Foundations in 4 weeks, because it will only get more intense from there.My mentor was great at helping me along the way, there were never any delays with feedback and they were especially good at providing me with insights about what working in the industry is like.The material was well-structured, I liked the order in which the topics were presented, like leaving typography and color for the end so that students could focus on other, more challenging things while working mostly in greyscale. A lot of additional resources were provided like articles, online tools, literature etc. My only criticism is that there was a lot of reading to do which would sometimes slow down the process for me and other students I talked to. I think it would’ve been less tedious if the same information was presented in a video format, especially with stuff like the history of typography or Figma/Sketch tutorials. In the end, I feel like the course was 100% worth its value. Of course if you’re driven enough you could find the same information for free, but I knew I needed structure, deadlines and lots of practice to motivate me. That’s exactly what I got from Foundations, so I would definitely recommend it to people who want to transition to UX.   

I came into this not knowing a single thing about design and by the end of my course I felt like I had a genuine understanding to what design was, in essence, and I saw my progress get better and better each week! The one on one mentorship was crucial to my understanding and building a healthy mindset when it comes to constructive criticism and iteration. The lessons were engaging and fun, not slow and boring or hard to grasp. The assignments were instrumental and helped me progress more and more with each week and I’m amazed at just how much I was able to learn in a few short weeks.The only thing I would count as a negative is the time constraints, it is encouraged to just do what you can in the time frame given, but I feel in order to get the most from your one on one with your mentors, it’s good to have a finished product to present to them in order to give appropriate feedback.

I had a very enjoyable experience at designlab. My assigned mentor was very understanding and encouraging. I loved that I was able to go at my own pace while still receiving timely feedback from my mentor. I learned skills I believe I can use outside of this field.

I thoroughly enjoyed the UX Academy Foundations course. I had a rocky start. My first mentor never engaged with me so I had to apply for a mentor switch. The administration staff was quick to help and the process was pretty easy. By the end of the second week, I had received feedback from both weeks and had a great first meeting with my new mentor who has 20 years of experience in the industry.The course is not easy, to say the least. Most of the readings took me longer to complete than the suggested times, so overall I have been putting in closer to 15 or more hours of work a week in the part-time track, but I still feel like the program is worth it. Now that I am in my final week, I can certainly see how far I have come in the course. I do also want to say that the discord community is an essential part of the program. Get on there, share your work and find a handful of students to check in with weekly. It will really help you all stay on track and stay motivated through some of the tougher weeks. Also, get used to the unexpected. Going into this course, I didn't think I would enjoy the visual design portion but as it turns out, I really did! I specifically enjoyed creating icons in Figma. Last note and suggestion. Learn auto layout. Keep practicing even when it seems like nothing is working out and I promise it will become your friend once you get the hang of it. 

Design Lab Foundations was the ideal experience while also juggling a full-time job. I could easily schedule meetings with my mentor, and moved through the material at my own pace. All of the Units were set-up in a logical order, so that your redesigns were built on the most current unit's teachings.  

I had such an amazing and valuable experience with Design Lab's UX/UI foundations coursework. Specifically the layout of the platform was easy to navigate.  The detailed information that was provided assisted with any questions or assistance I may have needed to understanding what I was learning. The best part of DL was being assigned a personal mentor to help guide you through the design applications and techniques. My mentor Adonay Lizardo is a skilled professional designer who guided me through the design process through his iterations. Adonay also privided me with additional assistance in areas I had difficulty grasping. He performed this by providing me with articles and or video  demonstrations on how to apply certain techniques. Prior to selecting Design Lab I intensively researched other online universities related to ux/ui certifications. Design lab hands down was top of the group. Affordable, flexibility in the rate on which you complete your coursework (pt/ft) and most importantly providing a mentorship. I highly recommend attending one of their free webinars to answer any lingering questions when deciding where to receive  your education.It is important to have strong communication and availability when taking an online course. Their strength was in always being there for you by providing guidance for your work, and  for navigating the platform itself. The design lab team and mentor made themselves easily available for any scope of questions. I always had someone reach back to me in some cases within a few hours in other instances 24 hours. I was excited and motivated throughout the program. I recommend Figma as your software application as you can share with your mentor and get real time feedback  on your work. Figma was easier to learn  than I had anticipated and I was able to easily navigate Sketch afterwards.Hands down one of the most exciting educational experience I have had to date!

Pros. - the course lessons would be my number 1 choice. it was easy to understand each content and supported each lessons with reference images  and extra information or links to dive in deeper. - providing estimate time on each course lesson / assignment would take helps managing your time.- able to work on your pace.  does not need to wait for approval from the mentor on each unit. - submitting assignment and receiving feedback helped to improve the work and learn mistakescons.- the last unit has to be unlocked by the mentor in order to move on and depending on the pace  / situation, there could be a wait time for the mentor to approve. 

I went into this course with very little design experience but had a very helpful mentor that gave me excellent feedback and am now in UX Academy. I do wish there was more videos and some info was dated which required me to look for tutorials and resources outside of the course.  I think as long as you have a good mentor, you're in good hands. 

I enjoyed completing the Foundations course from Designlab to see if I will further pursue UX design. Needless to say, I had an overall great experience from the help of my mentor, the layout of the units, and the tutorials they provided for the students. Will definitely recommend if anyone is interested! 

Loved it so much and felt like I learned a lot. I can’t wait to really dove into the Academy and seeing what else I can learn. 

I went for UX Foundations because I wasn't sure which Boot Camp in UX/UI design to choose from and I don't regret it at all! It was a great first step to see if I'm good at designing and most of all if I like it and enjoy it myself. I did a lot and I just enrolled in the UX Academy itself too! Foundations showed me that DL is very professional, well organized, and provides you with a lot of useful exercises, creative briefs, and ongoing support. I had to switch my mentor because of availability issues and they paired me the second time with an amazing one, whom I want to keep meeting during my UX Academy too! Be aware that the suggested time is very much real because I thought as a quite quick learner I can save some time at some points but not really. The exercises are time-demanding but they teach you how to work with Figma and Sketch very efficiently! 

The course was a lightweight approach to getting you familiar with the tools of the trade and how you'll get through them. Admittedly, the mentorship program, while it was the most lauded thing, was probably my biggest stress point before starting, but I knew I was the type of person to struggle with reaching out to outside help for assistance. Their mentorship program really helped me and guided me through the course and I am so glad they removed that friction for me. Overall I'm glad I took the plunge and I will be pursuing it further.

I think that UXA Foundations is a great intro to UI design. I took the course to prep for UX Academy, which I will be starting soon. I completed the UXA Foundations within 6 weeks. It was my first intro to Figma and I enjoyed learning new things every time I did copywork or created my own landing pages and app screens. 

Designlab UX Academy Foundations is a mandatory prerequisite course for those coming from a non-design/visual background and looking to pursue a career in UI/UX. Foundations mostly teaches UI or visual design. The coursework is split into 8 Units with the final unit being a 10-hour design challenge. My cohort had to design a webpage and three mobile screens for a travel website. This is used to determine if you can apply to DesignLab's UX Academy.I appreciated how thorough the course was setup. Each unit was devoted to a topic with supplemental articles or videos to present information and then design exercises to be done on the software of your choice. We were also tasked to write reflection statements after these hands on exercises. I liked the rhythmn of this as you got a decent overview of a concept and actually putting this knowledge into practice helped solidify some learning points. The reflection exercises were a good way to journal some questions or feelings that your mentor could respond to. While this may be obvious, the work you put into this self-paced course is dependent on you. In my situation I had weeks where I could devote adequate time to studying and doing the exercises and I felt very productive in learning. The opposite was also true where I fell behind (they recommend one unit completed per week) and some concepts didn't really "stick" with me. Overall I think the material is a good overview of UI principles. I went into Foundations having a decent sense of what is good/bad design, and now I am more confident in being specific on the details.Your mentor is randomly assigned to you and you can change if you desire. The biggest challenge for me was getting used to a new software. While some questions can be easily looked up online, having a mentor also made it easy to answer specific questions that I didn't know how to phrase or search online. My mentor gave me the option to resubmit my work through the online portal or talk about the areas that could be improved in our sessions. There was a time difference between us as we were located in different countries and in one instance my mentor did not inform me that he could not make it to our session. You can use your one hour session to talk about anything, so I tried to have an organized agenda of what I wanted to talk about. 

I enjoyed the program which gives a good introduction to using Figma and mostly UI Design. The mentors I was paired up with were excellent and really really experienced and also love passing on their knowledge. The mentor sessions itself are worth the course. It is though designed as a primer for UX Academy, which is clearly communicated beforehand, UX design as a whole is barely touched on. I am not planning to take Academy course at the moment and skill can recommend UX Foundations.

Designlab’s UX Academy Foundations is useful, easy to access, and productive in the long run. I’m glad I took the time to focus on the basics and to get to know Figma.I have some experience with graphic design, but not with web or app design. Foundations gave me the understanding and confidence to design basic websites and mobile apps.The structure of the lessons is consistent and easy to understand. The pacing is extremely flexible. One of the best features is your personal mentor. It depends on each mentor’s availability, but I was able to meet with mine once a week. If you want to finish Foundations quickly, you ought to consider how frequently you are able to meet with your mentor. Another great feature is the Discord community. Any questions or struggles you might have can be answered quickly by fellow students, mentors or Designlab representatives, whether it might be about the curriculum, the program, Figma, anything.Overall, I’m satisfied with Foundations. I’d recommend it to a friend.

Design lab foundations was a good start to get your toes wet to see if you actually like this field or not. I got a lot of hands on experience ok working via figma and creating landing pages and mobile apps. It was a really fun and educating course. Would recommend for anyone looking to switch careers. 

I did not have a design background but Designlab created UX Academy Foundations to ease you into transition in becoming a UX/UI Designer. I really like that in my 8 weeks I had 7 sessions with a mentor that Designlab provided. They have plenty of lessons and projects that helped me learn to design using Figma.