1. UX Academy Foundations

I really enjoyed this UX Foundations course. As someone who had ZERO design experience before starting, I really feel like I gained a solid grounding in UI design. Design patterns, design theory, colour selection, typography, iconography etc. I feel as if each of these topics were given equal exposure and I now feel more confident about hopefully enrolling in the Academy soon. I felt as though the projects in this course were varied in nature and there was a nice balance between this and the theory side of the course. I really enjoyed the experience and would recommend this course to anyone considering entering the world of UX design.Just a warning though. This course is entirely UI. No UX at all. To my understanding, you will only begin with the UX side of things in UX Academy (which is the big course that comes after UX Academy Foundations). I believe that DL say this is because they want new students to the world of design to have the essential skills in UI (and on the different apps) squared away before they enter the wider learning world of UX.The only point I would make is that there are quite a few projects that require you to copy existing designs out there. Now, that's fine and it's good practice on whichever design tool you're using. However, I assumed that the reason for all these copy projects was to gain experience on these design tools in preparation for UX Academy As such, it did begin to get a bit boring. When I mentioned this to my mentor, she said another reason for these exercises is so that we as students can start to look out for design patterns and to think about why the designers of these forms, landing pages, app screens etc made them the way they did.Eureka! I really feel that if Designlab had explained the purpose for these exercises earlier on, I would have approached these projects in a different way and would have gained more from the experience. Now, this isn't a criticism. This course is only a very new one so I am sure they will make improvements down the line. Just something for the DL team to consider.All in all, a great course and recommended :)

I have taken a few online courses in UI/ UX design, but nothing compares to Designlab's UX Academy Foundations. I learned a lot in just a matter of weeks! My mentor lived in the same state I do and was always willing to provide me with feedback/ advice. The course was challenging, but 100% worth it. I became more comfortable in my work and learned how to efficiently use Figma. I just wrapped up this course so I haven't applied to the UX Academy just yet, but I plan on it!

The UX Academy foundations is an 8-week pre-requisite to apply for UX academy for students with no prior design knowledge. This course is packed with information, easy to use guidelines, and numerous projects to learn and apply UI design. I learned so much from the online course and through mentor sessions. I highly recommend for anyone who wants to change career or just learn about UI design 

I think it was a really great course for intro UI course.Nice readings and assignments.The only problem might be the name itself. I don't think this is a Foundation UX course, this is more Foundation UI I think...But I'm not sure, since I'm new to this world of UX. I might be wrong.It just felt like more UI classes than UX for me.And they were great.

Overall I'm very happy with my experience taking UX Academy Foundations through DesignLab. I initially registered for their Design 101 course but as they were transitioning to Foundations they allowed me to transfer my registration to the new course instead. I found the DesignLab staff to be friendly, accommodating and willing to answer any questions I had quickly. The course is over 8 weeks and intended to be a preparatory course to apply to their UX Academy but it has a lot of merits on its own. It's broken into 8 different sections, each focused on different aspects of UI and visual design from visual design basics, to UI elements and principles, to color and type and so on. There are various readings and projects for each session and the projects vary from copy work, written reflections and hands on design projects with briefs. The final project is a 10 hour design challenge to design a website and three mobile screens for a fictional travel site. The curriculum covers web design, responsive design and mobile app design. An important note that this course mainly covers UI and visual design and there is not a ton of information on UX design except for an optional section at the completion of the course. This is understandable as the UX design portion is covered in their UX Academy course.  The majority of the work is self-paced and there are not set times for taking the coursework which is nice and allows for a flexible schedule. In addition, it seems as if you have lifetime access to the coursework, even after you submit your final project. They pair you with a mentor who is working in the field and you have weekly hour sessions with your mentor to ask any questions and review design projects. Your mentor can also comment on your design work through their online portal outside of your scheduled sessions. You're also given access to a Slack channel so you can talk with other students also in the program. I enjoyed working with my mentor, who was able to give me specific, actionable feedback on my projects as well as the reasoning behind her suggestions and was readily available via Skype and email outside of our sessions.  Ultimately, I feel as if I learned a lot about UI, visual and web design and feel like I've established a great baseline of knowledge to add to my resume and to offer to future employers. However, it is is a significant investment of time. They estimate 10 - 15 hours per week, which I would say is mostly accurate, though some weeks I'd say I was doing closer to 20 - 25 hours a week on iterations and revisions of the design projects. As someone who does not have children or a particularly demanding job this was doable for me, but if you work a lot of hours or have children, it may be harder for you to complete everything required within the time frame. For the majority of the course I worked both nights and weekends to complete what I needed to on time. In addition, it is self-paced, so you get out of it what you put into it. If you're not willing to put in the time to do the readings, prepare and participate in your mentor sessions and do the design work and iterations/revisions, you may not find this course as satisfying as I did. 

I did not have UX/UI design experience. I was very impressed with the thorough training, the quality of the curriculum and the additional guidance I received in my mentor sessions. The course content is broken down into achievable goals/milestones, and I received helpful and specific feedback on my work (from my mentor). I also especially enjoyed talking with my mentor to learn about real-life applications of my work in the UX/UI field. 

As someone who does not have a background in design, this was a great introduction/foundational course. The curriculum reading material was very clear and fun to read, and the projects were a great way to put learnings to practice. 

This program has taught me a lot about design. I really enjoy the mentoring sessions, I chose to complete the course in 4 weeks, and it wasn't overwhelming, I also work full-time (unrelated to design). The program is self-paced and there is not a recommended schedule, so before I started I wrote down when I wanted to accomplish everything. Most of the lectures are writings online, with a few video tutorials. There is a lot of time spent on projects which I really enjoyed, as I prefer doing projects and learning by experience as opposed to tests or lectures. It was really simple to contact my mentor and set up the meetings, she was very helpful and gave me some tricks. I like that all the mentors are working in the UX industry so they have practical experience. Overall, this program was amazing and I am excited to do the full boot camp. 

I really enjoyed the UX Academy Foundations course! I did it part-time alongside my job, and it was manageable - not overwhelming and not dull either. The projects were fun and interesting, and for me, the possibility to have 8 mentor sessions added great value to the course. I think the course provides an excellent insight into the UX/UI world, and it serves as a good starting point for people who want to continue to the UX Academy.

Such an amazing program! I came in with no design experience and ended with so many tools on my belt! The impact of the curriculum is evident by the quality  of my projects over time. My mentor was so helpful and available to advise me along the way. The curriculum is straight and to the point and the projects were impactful

The foundations course at Designlab exceeded my expectation. They wrote their own curriculum and it is well written. You get 8 week course online and in each week/unit, you get plenty of opportunities to practice what you learned from the reading material and you get to learn how to use design software such as Figma. The Figma tutorial is built into the course. You will be very familiar with Figma at the end of the course. The other thing I wanted to mention is that you get 8 weekly calls scheduled with your mentor. They all have direct working experience in the design field and they provide you with timely feedback on your projects and answer all questions that you may have. My mentor has been very responsive and helpful. I really appreciated her help! I would recommend this course to anyone who does not have a design background but is interested in pursuing a career in UX design.

I took this full time with the intention of going into UX Academy immediately afterwards.  I found their estimates for course work to be underestimates by about 25 to 50%.  There are parts units they don't count but are really worth doing if you are not familiar with the tool you use (Figma).

I chose DesignLab after months of research. I'm a former teacher making a career change, so a comprehensive, flexible curriculum was essential for me. DesignLab uses project based learning to immerse you in the world of UX and UI. The updated Foundations course teaches you the software (Figma, Sketch, XD) through assignments, and your mentor guides you in a personalized way once a week. I couldn't have chosen a better course- and if you finish Foundations, you get a discount applicable towards the next step in the DL course list- UX Academy. For people who want to get their money's worth for their education, choose DesignLab- I'd wager it was more worth it than my university degree!

Designlab makes it easy to jump in with both feet. UX Foundations is a great introduction for those who have only just discovered the world of user experience/interface. The course is 8 weeks (roughly 10 hours a week) and takes you from total newbie to knowing a thing or two! The course prepares you for their larger Academy for those looking for a career boost or change. I'd recommend this course to all looking for a challenge but wanting great support. 

DesignLab Foundations helped me jumpstart a career shift from Sales into Design. Doing this bootcamp part-time was a great choice - I never felt rushed or overwhelmed with the time commitment, it was very reasonable. The program included lots of cool projects and taught everything I needed to know for each project. The mentorship program is also worth noting - my mentor was amazing, always very supportive and wanting to help out. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking to learn about UX Design.

The curriculum and the guidance of a mentor was supper helpful. There were lot of useful resources like the schools slack community for support and questions. I really like how the school gives video tutorials and guided walkthroughs. they encourage student to reach outside there comfort zones and reach out for help and criticism from other student or outside resources

I had a great experience at DesignLab enrolled in UX Academy Foundations. The learning was very helpful as well as getting feedback from my mentor, my mentor providing me with resources to better design in Figma and Sketch. 

The purpose of the foundations course is to get you ready for the full UX bootcamp. While I know I have a lot to learn in the field, I now feel like I know enough of the language of the field and most importantly, I know how to use the software in that field, so I'm  confident I'm capable of taking a course on it, either here or anywhere.

I have to say, before enrolling in this course I had some concerns such as: I didn't have any previous design knowledge, I was coming from a completely different job industry (tourism) and my final concern was my non-native English (even though, I live and work in English-speaking country for the past 4 years). Besides all these concerns, I managed to finish the course within 4 weeks (the course is designed to last 8 weeks), learn so many useful and interesting design-related things, connect with some amazing people, and apply and get accepted into the UX Academy. I am so happy I decided to enroll in the UXA Foundations and finish it as planned. This course is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to make a career change, who doesn't have any design experience, want to try it out, and see if they like UX/UI design before committing themselves to 3, 6, or 10 months long Bootcamp. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in UX/UI design, you wouldn't regret it.  

I started UX Academy Foundations as skeptical of my own abilities. I'm glad to say that I was wrong. I flew through the course much quicker than I thought I would, and I enjoyed every minute of it.The lessons and projects paired with a mentor is ingenious. I didn't feel like I had to adhere to a very rigid set of rules. My mentor encouraged me to expand upon each project and really give it my all. After all, these lessons were for me and my own growth. I never felt so empowered and supported when it came to school work.Your mentor is not your teacher, they are your team mate. They are there to help YOU. Take advantage of that and use it to push yourself into uncomfortable territory. Your mentor will be sure to keep you on track if they feel you wandered too far off the path.10/10 I can not recommend Designlab enough.