Designlab

Completing this online UX Design Foundations bootcamp was a great experience. The course was easy to follow, well-organized, and provided a strong introduction to key UX principles like usability, user research, and design thinking. It helped me build a solid foundation and gave me confidence to continue learning and exploring UX design further. Read less

I absolutely loved my experience with the DesignLab UX Academy Foundations course! From start to finish, the course was incredibly well-designed, offering a perfect balance of theory and practical application. The curriculum was easy to follow and covered all the essential areas needed for a solid UX foundation.What truly set this program apart for me, though, was the mentorship. Having a mentor who was knowledgeable and always available for guidance really kept me on track and motivated. They provided valuable feedback, shared industry insights, and helped me refine my skills in real time. The mentorship was definitely a super helpful tool throughout the course.Overall, I highly recommend the DesignLab UX Academy Foundations course to anyone looking to build a strong UX foundation. The combination of a structured curriculum and supportive mentorship makes this an invaluable learning experience. Read less

From the start, I immediately knew I was going to enjoy the course! I appreciated how the lessons had us look at the history of design, given that we needed to have that understanding of related principles; I found myself coming back to review them while I was working on my unit projects. Everything was built via scaffolding, and I felt that my skills consequently were being reviewed and tested within every new unit. And, when I did have some questions and/or issues about how to proceed, the mentor that Designlab paired me with was there for me! Honestly, the feedback given to me by him was incredibly helpful and it's things like these that really enhanced my overall experience. The caveat is that sometimes, your mentors might not be as responsive as you would like, so it can be hit or miss, but there's no questioning the fact that having one is something that should be the default. Finally, I loved how both the practice tasks and unit projects got me engaged to the point that hours flew by without me noticing! I didn't think I'd be this happy and excited to work on something like what Designlab has to offer, but I'm oh so happy that I found them! Read less

Fun and Creative:
DesignLab's UX/UI Foundations course wasn't just informative, it was genuinely fun! The projects were engaging and allowed for a lot of creative exploration. I felt like I could experiment and creatively find my design voice and accomplish the Design Briefs.

Challenging and Educational:
The course provided a perfect balance between challenge and learning. The content pushed me to think critically about user experience and user interface, but it also provided all the tools and support I needed to succeed. I came away feeling confident in my newfound UX/UI skills.

Satisfying:
Completing the DesignLab UX/UI Foundations course was incredibly satisfying. It wasn't just about acquiring skills; it was about seeing my design ideas and how to bring them to life. It ignited a real passion for UX/UI in me.

The Mentorship was my favorite part of the program! My mentor cared about my personal life, future career, and growing me as a designer. All around, wonderful experience!
By the end of the course, I felt equipped to... enroll in the full UX program, however, another opportunity arose, but would be back in a heartbeat to finish!

>> If you're looking for a fun and effective way to launch your UX/UI design journey, DesignLab's Foundations course is an excellent choice! << Read less

Solid experience for the price and a user interface that is inutitive to tracking course progress and learning. I felt that the long form text apporach to learning was actually quite helpful. I do wish there was some more depth around visual design techniques and theories. Read less

Overall Experience 

• Overall, I'm so glad I invested the time and money into Designlab and my UX career. However, I went into it with a design background and a really good working knowledge of Figma, and I think this made my experience less stressful. 
• Everything took twice as long as Designlab's time estimates. Projects slated for 4 hours took 8, and I took a full year to do the part-time academy program. Feeling "behind" is common, but the staff will work with you as long as you communicate with them. 
• Even with its flaws, Designlab is still the best value for the money among the bootcamps. 

Instructors 

• It can be hit or miss. Everyone is assigned a mentor and you choose a crit session each week to go to. I ended up having great mentors and stumbling upon an amazing crit facilitator (Carmela FTW!). Still, I knew other people in the program who felt like they weren't getting the right support from their mentor, and the quality of the crit facilitators varied widely. 

Curriculum

• My cohort was the last under the old curriculum so I can't speak to the new curriculum.

Job Assistance

• Designlab did the best they could to match me with a career coach, and she was great, but they were not able to pair me with a coach from my specific industry (civic tech). 
• I got a job within 3 months of graduating from Designlab in a tough tech economy. 
• I felt like the portfolio I made with Designlab is professional and appealing to employers. 

Tips

• The program says that you don't need design training to succeed, and that's true, but I highly recommend going into the program at least knowing how to use Figma. 
• Connect with your classmates as much as possible- participating in research requests is a great way to do this. 
• Treat bootcamp like 60% of your UX education and make sure you fill in the rest with workshops, webinars, practice sessions, etc. 

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DesignLab is a very tried and true online platform for learning digital product design. The UX Foundations course was a very solid introduction into the world of UX/UI design. They covered the basics of design thinking, exploring your creativity, layout, scale, color, typography and more. The projects were challenging and rewarding and build up more and more as the course goes. Before you know it you have the confidence to start making your own icons and building a brand. The one thing that I didn't really like about the course was using Discord for the community aspect. I would have preferred to have used Slack as it has a more professional focus.
I highly recommend anyone who is thinking about learning UI/UX design look at starting off with DesignLab's Foundations course.  Read less

I just finished training under the UX Foundation courses at Designlab and it was great.  I went into this course totally blank with no knowledge on anything related to this subject and now I have a very good idea of what this field entails.  The courses were easy to understand with a lot of readings (good and bad) and short videos showing the principles and uses of Figma.  The mentorship was great in my experience.  Ally (my mentor) was very attentive and very detail oriented in my works and pointed out very interesting ideas and concepts that really took the design to the next level.  Overall it was a very fun experience and I recommend to anyone interested in UX/UI design. Read less

I highly recommend the UX Academic Foundations course with Designlab. I learned so much in those eight weeks, and I feel like I have a strong foundation to start from in moving to the Academy. My skills are fresh and sharp, and I feel ready to learn more and land that dream job!  Read less

I had a rough start to the program because the mentor that I was set up with originally did not guide me properly.  However, after I had contacted admin. the quickly assisted me to change mentors.  That change in mentors saved me.  The content and information from the readings / Units are good, but the information you learn from mentors is where the essence of this program lies. I had a great time learning from, asking questions to, and having conversations with my mentor about all things UX UI. It was such a positive experience! Read less

Designlab is a great choice when considering UX design bootcamps. I appreciate the 1:1 weekly mentorship I had with my mentor. The weekly opportunity to work with an industry professional made me feel really excited to continue learning and motivated me to find resources outside of Designlab. My mentor provided many great insights like reading material, information on the ever-evolving industry, as well as tools and tricks on Figma. The optional Group Crit was also incredible! I loved getting the opportunity to work with other students and UXA alum. Getting feedback from not only just my mentor made learning more fun. The other element of Designlab that I really enjoyed was the Discord channel. This allowed me to connect with other students, learn from others, and it made committing to a fully remote education program a lot less lonely. Overall, I am excited to move forward with UX Academy in a few short weeks now that I have a great understanding and feel for the overall education structure and format.  Read less

The Design Lab Foundations course was super smooth.  The content was mostly project based so I was able to apply skills really quickly with no background in UX design.  My mentor was super supportive.  Overall the program was well-paced and well-priced. Read less

I career changed from business entrepreneurship to UX through Designlab's UX Academy. I did the part-time track on top of UX Academy Foundations so my whole course was about 36 weeks long. 

The curriculum and resources they provide are well-curated and definitely provide a solid foundation for early-stage designers to work off of. The amount of external resources and extra assignments they provide is generous. On a part-time track, the amount of work is manageable while I had a 30-hour/week job on the side as well.

However, the only complaint I have about UX Academy is that the experience highly depends on the mentor you get paired up with (although you can switch whenever you want). The mentor is the one who's in charge of "grading" your assignments and some mentors are more strict than others (reasonably or unreasonably so). They're the ones that will actually teach you and guide you along the right path so your entire perspective in the course is shaped around them for better or for worse. Ultimately, I switched mentors a couple of times until I landed on one that was in sync with me. 

Lastly, if you think you'll get a job just by doing the bare minimum with Designlab - you won't. Designlab is here to merely provide a foundation but it is up to you to put in all the extra work after learning. Designlab provides plenty of resources for you to work off of and many ways to connect with others to expand that network. 

Overall, I would recommend Designlab to others as the price you pay is worth what you can potentially get from it. Read less

I had a series of mentor problems and changes that I had NO control over or part in over the course of my enrollment at DesignLab. DesignLab let me down and I'm deeply hurt.

I was forced to change mentors 3 times! 2 of them in the middle of a capstone project.

The first one was badly affected due to the change of styles between mentors. And then I had the same problem again with the second project!

I was not happy at all with my progress or the quality of my work, unfortunately.

I lost a lot of sessions thinking that a 30 mins session would count as a half session plus due to my pause I really needed help to improve and move forward faster to meet my already delayed deadline to graduate which I failed to meet my deadline because I had to change jobs and countries at the same time too!
I wasn't lazy or slacking or dragging things. I was still determined to finish the program, but they canceled my program and took away my remaining mentor's sessions.
they took away my mentor's sessions, and my career service and haven't even offered to partially refund me! I'm still stuck in the last project for almost a year with no guidance and still struggling to pay off a loan I had to take to be able to join that program. Read less

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 Read less

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!


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I decided to transition from marketing into design in late 2021. I did a lot of research, like spreadsheet comparisons and all. I finally decided on DL's UX Foundations and Academy program because it has everything I was looking for: asynchronous curriculum with live mentor sessions and group sessions to keep progress in check; a fair price; multiple projects covering all aspects of design.

First of all, Foundations course really helped me who has zero design background to get familiar with basic concepts and tools. It also got me familiar with the course format and established a connection/relationship with other students. The Slack community (later moved to Discord) surprised me in all the good ways. I formed genuine and lasting relationships with fellow students, I felt supported, and I was able to both receive help and give help. The actual Academy is much more intense than Foundations, but I felt that I was learning and making progress the whole time. My mentor was absolutely amazing. I was also able to take breaks when needed so I don't sacrifice my learning quality due to life stress. Another thing worth pointing out is the group critique sessions. They are extremely helpful when it comes to keeping your progress in check, sharing the good and the bad of your projects without feeling any judgment, and receiving feedback from a group of people. I honestly miss the group sessions.

The program is rigorous and does not allow you to slack, but the result is a portfolio with projects that you are proud of. I was able to land a job as a product designer after 2 months. I transitioned my career path successfully and I am truly grateful for Designlab (and my mentor). Read less

I really enjoyed the UX Academy Foundations course! The content was laid out in a logical and easy to understand way. Each unit (1-7) consisted of some readings and tutorial videos, followed by practice exercises, then a unit project. I felt like the readings and practice really prepared me for the project. The content presented in each unit built nicely upon each other and prepared me for the 10 hour design challenge in Unit 8. By the end of the course I felt like I had a good grasp on using Figma (You can also choose to use Sketch), and the basics of UI Design. 

In addition to a well-thought out course, I really enjoyed the mentorship! I met with my mentor twice a week because I finished the course in 4 weeks. He offered Figma support, provided constructive feedback on my projects, and pushed my design thinking. Overall, his help and suggestions really improved my initial designs and got them to a point where I was really proud of what I had created.

I'm looking forward to applying for the UX Academy! Read less

Definitely loved the mentorship and the group critiques. They both allowed me to come out of my shell and be more confident in my design thinking. For anyone who's looking to switch career paths, DesignLab is a great place to get into UX Design. Idid the part-time route and worked part-time at my accounting job. Once I completed the program, I was able to land an internship in a couple months, then landed a full-time job a few months after that. If you know this is the field you want to be in, I highly recommend DesignLab. Read less