Designlab

Design 101 is a great course for anyone new to design. In this course I've learned all the necessary design basics and know a lot more about the design job field. Each student has a mentor that meets weekly, and it's a good opportunity to ask any questions, and the mentor's reviews of projects are very helpful. This course encourages me to seriously consider a career in UX/UI design, and encourages me to take more courses to improve. 

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I took this course in preparation for Designlab’s UX Academy. I had no formal visual or graphic design background or training. This course was an amazing and eye-opening introduction to design and teaches you all the fundamentals. It was both challenging and rewarding. The pace of the course is fast and you learn a tremendous amount of information in a short amount of time through readings and hands-on projects. The mentoring is also great so you don’t feel alone when you get stuck or you get to bounce ideas off a design professional. They keep you accountable for your work. I feel very prepared to begin Designlab’s UX Academy next month. I highly recommend this course!

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I have been interested in getting into UI design so I opted to take the Design 101 course to get my feet wet. Let’s just say that was the best decision I made! DesignLabs course format is the ideal blend for online learning. The resources and articles combined with projects and mentorship really allows you to constantly learn and retain what you have learned. I’ve done video courses through Lynda and it doesn’t compare to the experience I had here. The mentorship helps you fast track your learning. My mentor understood I was new to design and helped me with anything I needed. Our weekly meetings were super insightful and she helped me with anything I need while also challenging me to think about certain things a designer would think about. One thing I appreciated was her approach, although I was new she still kept a high standard to my work which was good. Because I would hate to have a mentor tell me bad design was good just to make me feel like I’m learning. All feedback was critical to my learning. If you are looking to improve your skills or understand anything new I highly recommend DesignLab for any courses. Due to my experience with them I will be enrolling in the UX Academy as I had such a positive experience and I feel as if transitioning into UI design will be the right career choice for me.

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I loved this course because of the balance of freedom and structure. I had the freedom to do the coursework when I had time during the week but still made sure to finish the projects before my next session with my mentor. It made me take my interest in learning design more seriously. Talking to someone who actually works in the industry was also a great help. She gave me so many great resources I might have taken a lot longer to find otherwise.

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Design 101 was great especially if you're a beginner! Here are my pros and cons on this class: Pros: - They had great articles and games to keep the class interesting - Well organized and easy to navigate - The help I received when I had questions on the class was absolutely perfect! - Lots of projects to work on throughout the month Cons: - There were bugs here and there throughout the course. Images were broken, links didn't work, etc. I feel like they should have someone go through the course to make sure these links work! - My mentor was good but I felt like she didn't lead the discussion and give me good critique. It was like pulling teeth to get some good feedback. Also, I didn't feel like I got to know my mentor because we just jumped into talking about my work even from day one. - The articles they had through the course were all pulled from online. It would be nice to see some original written articles. Read less

February 2018 I participated in the UX Research course and It was an amazing experience. At my company we are working with Scrum for years, but I was always missing something. This course gave me the context in which human friendly products and product-features are "born". The course materials and the interaction with my mentor helped me structure the product design process and become more efficient at my job. Now I understand the importance of involving the users in the product development and what is even more important: now I know how and when to involve the users in this process. 
For me it is clear that having a good user experience is not something that can eventually be added in the product, if there are enough resources for that. A good user experience starts with a research and it is essential for the products, which want to have a future.

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This course is such an eye-opener for those who have never pursued a formal education in design. The materials and exercises are engaging and interesting, and the mentorship is high-quality and very valuable. The combination of those two factors leads to a really enriching experience and I complete the course with a much better idea of what design is, and a grounding in the practical skills needed to be a designer.

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Pros: 

- Friendly mentors

- Global and remote

- Slack community where students can network with each other

- Work at your own time, 20 hrs/week or 40 hrs/week

- Group crits with other students where you get to do show and tell once every week through Google Hangout

- Assignment submissions online where mentor can give feedback (although it's also public to other students)

- 3 portfolio pieces to complete under the guidance of a mentor

- Can change mentor if doesn't work out

- Design perks which include discounts for selected design tools like Sketch, Flinto, etc.

- 6 months guaranteed a job or a refund (only applicable under certain conditions)

 

Cons: 

- No real clients to work with on portfolio pieces

- Slides, videos, and articles based on linked sources for most lessons (some lengthy reading)

- Lack of job assistance because they will still require students to look for jobs on their own after graduation

 

I have no working background in design or tech, nor have connections who can offer my a role in the Bay Area. I was in the process of transitioning into the tech field after quitting my last office job. As a rookie who doesn't have exposure working with a team, I think it's difficult to land a role in the Bay Area unless I have extensive experience in graphic design, research, marketing, etc. In the end I've went through about 7 months until I was contacted through Angel List for an internship. What elevated my chances was pushing myself to improve my portfolio over the months.

If anything, I think the bootcamp would be much better if they can pair students up with real clients to work on projects. That way, students who struggle with networking or does not have relevant work experience can at least list these real client projects on their resume.

 

TL;DR

In the end, I think this bootcamp is great for those who want a certificate or have some exposure in design. Although it's not something students should totally rely on to get a job. If you're unmotivated or needed guidance because you have no idea on how to start, then bootcamp might be good for you.

In all honesty, it really depends on how much much effort you're willing to put into this. As long as you're motivated to succeed, you can find all the sources you need FREE online. Build your portfolio, ask some friends or coworkers to look it over for you, and go to meetups to network. 

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I took the UX Research and Strategy short course which was excellent. The price was good and my mentor was a great resource. Based on this, I enrolled in UX Academy and the experience couldn't have been more different. It was like two different schools.

I've worked in Graphic Design for years, so wasn't sure if the bootcamp was for me. I scheduled a phone call with a Student Advisor. When we spoke he was running late from his last call that went long and had to rush off quickly to make his next call on time. So the difference was being up through my allotted time. Given that I was about to spend thousands of dollars and commit hundreds of hours to this course, barely getting 20 minutes with an advisor should have been a red flag.

I explained that I wasn't sure what I wanted my next career move to be. I work with my own clients and want to offer more services to them, but I also like the idea of working with a design team, and that I was curious about how the career coaching worked for people with design experience. I was told that no matter what stage you're at in your career, the career coaches work with you to find you a suitable role. I could get this much from their landing page, what I was asking for was specifics but I never got them.

Given my initial positive experience I trusted them (another red flag) and enrolled anyway. Almost immediately I regretted it. Buried in the Student Agreement it states that you must apply for a minimum of 5 jobs a week and this includes internships. This seems like important information the advisor could have mentioned. Or information that they could state somewhere on their site. Surely getting a surprise while reading the fine print is the type of user experience we all try to avoid no? I signed up anyway, ignoring yet another red flag, knowing I could get my money back if it wasn't right. I sent off an email for further clarification.

A few days went by and no reply. The course started and I sent off another email. Still no reply. I sent a third. No reply. I sent and a fourth and a fifth email, this time via their website contact form. Still no reply. At this point it was 7 days later, I'd finished the first 40+ hour week, and still hadn't received a reply. Now I was starting to think I'd been scammed.

I DM'd the student liaison on Slack, who told me she would reach out on my behalf (kudos to her for being responsive, while being down with the flu no less, because she was the only one who was). A couple more days passed – 9 days after my initial email – before I finally received a reply from DesignLab asking to arrange another Student Advisor call. They also told me how student focused they are (c'mon, seriously?!). 

If it weren't so unnerving handing over thousands of dollars only to have them go dark on me, it would be funny that a company that teaches user experience and empathy could have so little of it. To my huge relief, they processed my refund promptly, but I'd warn potential students to be cautious.

A few final thoughts.

The curriculum is fine. They rely heavily on what is already out there for free though.

If you're new to the industry, blasting your resume to a quote of job postings per week makes sense (we all did when starting out). If you're already in the industry, I can't see the benefit to this approach unless you don't care where you're going.

Make sure you get a good mentor. My first one was excellent. My second one though – I have to qualify this next point with the fact that I withdrew form the course before meeting with him 1-on-1 so am basing this on our written communication only – was very much about his style of teaching, his schedule, and what worked for him. I felt like I didn't factor in to it at all. Had things panned out differently and I'd continued with the program, I'd definitely have asked to change mentors.

So their short course was great. UX Academy was a disaster. And I still have no clue how their career coaching actually works.

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I had a great experience with Design101 and Design Lab. So much so that I will be continuing with their UX Academy. I am pretty much brand new to the world of design and tech so it was important that I take this introductory course to learn the basics and now I feel well set up to begin UX Academy. The mentorship piece of Design Lab courses is key. I had an awesome mentor who helped to set me up for success and gave me a lot of feedback and insight to help me grow. I would definitely recommend the program to friends who are interested in UX/UI Design.

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I joined UX Academy as a Graphic designer hoping to learn UX/UI design. And UX Academy delivered more than I expected!

The curriculum - Well rounded. They covered all stages of the UX design process from User Research and Strategy to Visual Design. The course was structured well, so as to not be overwhelming. Pockets of theory were paired with practical exercises that helped me understand and remember what I'd learnt.

Mentorship - One of the best parts of UX Academy was being paired with a mentor – a veteran UX designer who knew the ins and outs of the UX design industry. He was an indispensable source of guidance, advice and support (especially for a UX newcomer like me)

Job Search - Rounding out the course was the 'Portfolio and Job Search' phase. Designlab has created an excellent framework of short exercises and activities for this. They helped me get through the daunting phase of making a portfolio, practicing for interviews and learning to present my work. It definitely helped me get where I am today. :)

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DesignLab UX Academy is a great start to changing your career! I had very little experience going into the program, and was doing a complete career change. The mentorship aspect, and weekly group crits really made the online program feel like a school you attend in person, with a community of design support. The capstone projects could be demanding at times, with such tight deadlines, so I would have liked more time to make these portfolio pieces better,  but I was able to clean these up after the program ended. The Academy goes through the full spectrum of UX/UI, but I would have liked a few more courses/focus on UI/visual design mainly because I  did not have any graphic design background, and the students that do seem to be a step ahead (I think they may have added more UI courses since I finished). Yet, I learned A LOT from DesignLab, probably just as much, if not more, as other more expensive in-person schools. I landed an internship after the program ended, then a freelance design gig, and shortly after that a full-time position in UX/UI. I'm thrilled to have a new career I love, and have DesignLab UX Academy to thank for that. 

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I had a very positive experience with Designlab's UX Academy. I was switching careers into UX design after a career break, and went from starting UX Academy to having a full time job in less than 6 months. It was helpful to have all coursework and lessons lined up for me (versus trying to figure it out on my own by sorting through tons of good and bad resources on the web). I felt it was a good balance of traditional lectures/readings with hands-on projects. My two favorite parts were the group crits and the mentorship. The group crits were great because I could create relationships with other people out in the world who were going through the same challenges. It made me feel like I wasn't alone in this big, daunting process. Finally, the best part: mentorship. At the end of the day, I feel that the mentors were most worth the money you spend on UXA. Both my UXA and Career Phase mentors were incredibly helpful...I can't say enough amazing things about them. I would 100% recommend UX Academy. It is a lot of work and requires commitment, and everyones experience and outcomes will be slighrly different since everyone enters woth different levels of experience. But if you follow the timeline, leverage the expertise of your mentors, and trust the process, you will definitely be able to reach new design and career goals you've set for yourself. Read less

Long story short: I embarked on my UX Academy journey nearly a year ago in full-time track, graduated on mid-February, started my first ever UX designer job in April, and now I'm already at my second designer job. 

If you're looking for a place to kickstart your career in UX design, I can say that this course delivers. UX Academy gives you the tools, the platform and the expertise to help you change your career to UX design. But you need to take the charge and really commit. Otherwise you won't get the full advantage. I really enjoyed the curriculum, got professional feedback from my mentor and my peers. The community is awesome and I learned the most from my fellows there. 

Like I said, I'm already at my second work place and not even year has passed from my time at UX Academy. The first job I got was a traineeship, and after that I got a better offer from another company, where I work now. I feel that UX Academy gave me a great starting point and kick-off for my UX designer career. Recommended 100%.

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I absolutely love DesignLab, I just finished my month studying design 101 and already signed up to start the typography class. The interface is great, you are given all the tools you need to do great work, having a mentor who is an actual professional is such a great asset too. I already learned so much in the span of a month and I can't wait to keep going on my design journey with the help of DesignLab.

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I have taken two courses this year - Design 101 and Branding - and both have been packed with excellent material and attentive mentors. This course in Branding is "short and broad"; a lot of material is covered in just four weeks, but it gives you enough of a foundation to keep going on your own after they are over, and a completed project to put in your portfolio. You will not become an expert overnight, but you will know the process to creating a brand very well by the time it's over.

Regarding the course material itself. I have found the Branding course to be a very big leap in expectation from Design 101 in terms of pre-requisite knowledge and time commitment. I recommend asking someone before taking the course if the brand you want to create matches your current skill and career level, emphasis on the combination of those two together. For example, I discovered that creating my own brand before I had an audience or portfolio to market myself to was not a good grounding for success. The lecture material, at time of writing, is a bit sparse, but my mentor filled in the gaps for me quite well. The focus is very heavily skewed towards understanding marketing, and the actual visual design does not come until after the mid-point of the course. I felt unprepared to tackle this course with my current skill level, and wished I had access to someone to ask questions more frequently than once a week, and for fuller lecture material to fill in those gaps. In the end, however, it still worked out favorably because my mentor was able to teach me during our sessions. Recognizing that no learning path is ever perfectly straight and comfortable, the end result of this course is still a solid grounding in the activities that go into creating a brand, and it definitely delivers well if that is your goal.

Overall this is an excellent value for someone who already knows what branding is and wants to get their first brand portfolio piece, or who does not know what branding is and wants to get a grasp of what goes into creating one.

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With Design 101 you're paying for the amalgamation of free online resources and time with your mentor, both of which are worth the price. Mentor sessions is where this program really shines because they provide feedback on your work and answer any and all questions you have about how to progress in a design career. However, this course only focuses on web design which is a determinent to individuals (like me) who are just starting out because I wanted a more well-rounded experience. Your mentor does provide outside sources if you ask for them, which are great, and you can take the initiative to find other material, but the course should really be renamed to a Web Design 101 since you don't learn anything about print or mobile design for that matter.

This course is great if you have zero knowledge of design and want to gauge your interest. Other reviews have mentioned the rigorous course structure and it does require a fair amount of time during the week, especially if you're completing iterations of a design. But don't expect to walk away with a portfolio piece. This really is the very first step.

 

 

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I am a software engineer and I was wanting to learn to learn the principles of UI design. This course was perfect. They give you good content to read and assign you very helpful projects. The real value is in the advice and feedback you get from your mentor. You are gaurnteed 4 one hour skype session plus they leave you feedback on each version of each project. I couldn's for more at the price of $400.

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I took up the course as part business owner and part designer.

My main objectives for joining the course were all met - how to layout sites to make them visually appealing, how to use font and colour to make the UI and UX interesting and engaging

The projects were relevant and flexible allowing me to work on both 'fixed' formats as well as flexible - choose your own subject ones. Its was very useful as this mix ensured learning and relevance.

The mentor was outstanding - he ensured that I not only got the relevant and timely feedback and support, but also explained things that were not very clear due to my non-photoshop background.

Finally, The designlab team's responses were always prompt and holistic - a rarity in today's online world!

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