1. UX Academy Foundations

I started the foundations course in December of 2020 and finished early January 2021. I couldn't be happier with my choice. I interviewed several bootcamps and this one by far was best overall. The education, online courses, support, cost and mentor you receive was second to none. It is simply the best fit for me.  Once I got into the program, I was blown away by how the material was broken down (they also made it fun and engaging with great reading material and fun projects). I enjoyed the course and would recommend them to anyone asking! Taking this course solidified my plans to take the full UX academy they offer. 

I had a pleasure of taking the UX Foundations course just recently and would love to recommend it to everyone looking to start their design edu journey and also for those undecided whether the design field is good for them and would like to check out a shorter class  without a huge commitment. It's an 8-week long program, I was personally able to finish it within 4 weeks on the top of having a full-time job. I liked that the class was heavily project based as I was able to get consistent feedback from my mentor on my progress and work on the actual tasks and practice my new skills. 

I signed up for the course after conducting a market survey and not finding something that seemed professional enough in my country.The course presents a comprehensive and interesting curriculum. The exercises they have built are very professional and help to understand the material in a clear way.In addition, the most significant part of the course is the conversations with the mentor. My mentor was excellent and gave tips that were worth it all

I signed up for this course because I wasn't sure if I wanted to take a full boot camp yet. This was the only course I found that focuses exclusively on web design, and was a shorter course, and it had a lot of good reviews. The course was extremely well organized and broken down, and the site was easy to navigate (which you'd hope would be the case for a course all about web design!). The readings were all helpful and informative, and most were written by Designlab itself rather than linking to outside articles (and the ones that they did link to were also great). There were also many projects, starting from simpler ones and moving to more difficult ones, where it was tricky but not so hard that I felt discouraged. My mentor gave very helpful feedback. Because of my positive experience in UX Academy Foundations, I have applied to UX Academy and hopefully will be starting that this month.

This course definitely gives you a solid foundation to build on. I love the fact that it is a project-based course and the design briefs challenge you creatively. I also like that you receive feedback within a timely manner from mentors and I appreciate the online slack community that the course provides. Being a full-time mom and part-time employee- it was a definite plus that I could work at my own pace. 

I feel worlds away from where I was when I started and feel confident in creating UI. A challenging curriculum matched with industry experienced mentors made for the best value in my opinion. The DL team is also very friendly and approachable - happy to help you in any way they can! All & all I'm glad I took this course, I wouldn't have been able to get where I'm at right now in 4-8 weeks myself - the curriculum is thorough, assignments are challenging, and mentor sessions are key.  

I took Designlab's UX Foundations course before jumping into the UXA and it was such a great idea! I had zero experience in the design world, and it really helped get me up to speed on the design tools and terminology. It was interactive and a lot of learning by doing (which is how I learn best). If you feel intimidated by Designlab's UXA then UX Foundations is where to start :)

As someone exploring a potential UX/UI Design career switch, Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course was the perfect introduction to their main course, UX Academy (in which I am currently enrolled). Foundations taught exactly that: the core principles and building blocks necessary to pursue a career in this field, a foundation which I know I would not have been as successful without. The curriculum is engaging, and very thorough for an intro course. But it is the professional mentorship that really takes things to the next level, adding a personal touch and tips/advice/critique from someone with experience in the field.  I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to get a start on their education in UX/UI! 

Designlab really takes care of you. They provide you with the tools you need to learn, fast, efficiently and in the comfort of your own home. The mentor sessions are really helpful too, provided that your mentor puts the effort into your learning. If you feel like your mentor isn't putting much into reviewing your work, then you should probably switch mentors as fast as you can. The only con is that it wasn't entirely clear what was expected of me to ace the course, for instance, I had trouble getting into the Academy because I didn't attend all of my mentor sessions. I don't remember seeing/hearing anything about that being mandatory, actually, it rather seemed as if it was more recommended. In any case, they still do a great job with onboarding, and community engagement as well so if you're unsure of anything — ask away.

The foundations program gives a great intro to UX design and introduces tools and concepts throughout. I felt like I was in the program much longer than I was because I had learned and done so much by the end. I highly recommend this to anyone considering UX!

Helpful for dipping your toe into the field of UX. Mentor ship was amazing and coursework was both fun and challenging. 

I had initially signed up for Design 101 with Designlab as a prerequisite to UX Academy, but I was asked if I wanted the opportunity to be a part of the beta cohort of UX Academy Foundations. I am extremely glad I chose to take part in UX Foundations. I not only learned core design fundamentals, but also learned so much about UX and UI design through the course and through talking with my mentor. The course was twice as long as Design 101 would have been, and I am very thankful for that extra time to take on projects, mentor sessions, and getting familiarized with Figma.Now that I am in UX Academy, I am grateful for all that I learned in UX Foundations. I don't have to spend time learning Figma, and I am more prepared for the coursework than I would have been just taking Design 101. I definitely recommend this course whether you plan on continuing with Designlab's UX Academy or you want a solid introduction to UX design.

I really enjoyed this course. It allowed me to sharpen my knowledge of design principles, visual design, and UI design. I particularly liked getting feedback from my mentor and iterating my projects. UX Foundations was a great pre-cursor and gave me the confidence to take the UX Bootcamp course I'm in now.

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. 

This is a good way to get into UX design, especially if you have no design experience. The course takes you through all the main principles together with great assignments.  A huge plus of this course is that you get assigned a mentor with whom you’ll be having weekly 1:1 sessions to go through your work and also get answers for any questions you may have regarding working in UX. 

Completing UX Academy Foundation has prepared me immensely for the DesignLab UX Academy bootcamp. Not only it gave me solid foundation in design principles, but also time management and the discipline needed prior the UX bootcamp. Highly recommend this course if you're considering DesignLab UX Academy bootcamp!

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. 

I had a great experience in Designlab's UX Academy Foundations. I learned a look of basics about both UX/UI design, which has helped me quite a bit in my current UX Academy bootcamp. I love that the course is entirely self-paced, so it worked around my schedule. My weekly mentor calls helped me stay on track and provided personalized guidance on my projects. I also found the admissions and support staff to be extremely helpful.