1. UX Academy Foundations

Designlab Foundations was an awesome way to enter the world of UX/UI. Not only did I learn an absolute ton, but the projects were also super enjoyable and fun as well! I found myself excited about whatever was coming my way each week. I got assigned a mentor that was there for me every step of the way and gave me valuable tips on every aspect of product design. I definitely recommend it!

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!

The content is definitely helping me in understanding the basics of visual design and how users would view an interface! I so glad to have learned about visual hierarchy, color and typography etc! Although with enrolling the course won't get me a job, it surly sets myself ready to learn about UX design and other design thinking strategy in UX Academy! 

I've been doing graphic design, web design, and design-adjacent things in my various job roles over the last 10 years, when I decided to make a career switch into UX design which lead me to DesignLab. The Academy Foundations course is meant to prepare you for their DesignLab Academy proper, which to be honest, I was a tad skeptical of how much value I would get from this "foundational" course. But I was shocked by how much I was learning and reestablishing in myself in just the first few weeks alone! The assignments were flexible enough that a beginner could handle, but tons of room for any experienced designers to challenge themselves.
Pros:- Good price for the value, and you get reimbursed for the course if you move on to take the DesignLab UX Academy course- Comes with a mentor to talk shop or get advice from, and they help ensure that you're applying what you learn correctly- A large and active community of students, support staff, and mentors on Slack- Includes group crit sessions to get you used to presenting your ideas and defending your design decisions in the "real world"- Includes lots of resources for learning how to use industry tools, and lots of partnerships with those tooling vendors to get those tools at a good price or for free- Lots of extra material that you can get to in your own time for furthering education after the course is over. (Throughout the course are tons of book, podcast, and blog recommendations, and DesignLab is always hosting webinars)
Cons- I honestly can't think of any

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. 

The UX Foundations Course is an excellent, intensive class to learn design basics for someone looking to switch careers without any design background at all. The learning materials gave me what I needed gradually and intuitively and I'm excited to move to the UX Academy. 

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. 

While I was in UX Foundations, I thought I would be only learning about brief UI designs. However, as I moved through the curriculums, I was so surprised that all the curriculums were so helpful for building foundations for both UI and UX. What I really liked about UX Foundation is that I could experience hands-on projects whenever I learn something. As I worked on projects, I could get the feel of how UI/UX designers would work, and learn deeply about how to apply the contents that I've learned to a real design.Also, you are not alone during the UX Foundations. There's a helpful mentor who gives you detailed advice and encouragements throughout the course. Moreover, you get to meet so many peers who you can talk to and build up connections with them!I highly encourage people to this course!!