Designlab

Previously I had web design and coding experience as well, these are definitely should be mentioned as triggers.

I'm not a shy person, but I had some concerns before like how I'll get a job (is this really enough as a preparation), how the whole group learning will work out, if I get nice and helpful mentors, and so on. Altogether does this really worth it or am I just wasting my time.

At the beginning it was really shocking amount of hours we put inside the projects and everybody struggled to finish the projects in time. But later we got the rhythm together, and helped each other so we started to enjoy.

Personally I liked every single bit of it, we got an equally balanced knowledge of theoretical and practical part of UX. I think the whole course is a big challenge to tackle in the end, if you are doing it good. I think I was competing with myself along the way to deliver better and better outcomes of each modules so I could proudly present to the others.

At first I was worried about mentorship and group critiques since I've never involved anything like these before, but actually it turned out that these elements in the course helped the lot if not the most. Special thanks for my mentors Chrissy and Vibhas who helped me in the different phases and making my work better.

My favorite part was the group hangout during the weekends (Saturday or Sunday), when everybody prepared his / her work for showcasing and explaining the different design decisions to the others. I think we learnt a lot from each other in many different ways. Sometimes we stayed even after the dedicated time just to finish a story or to share thoughts about a problem we were facing. I would recommend everyone to GO HARD! Approach the units with a never ending willingness to experience something new whether is it a new tool or a tutorial video. I think it's also important to be open-minded and stay active on the slack groups with the others so you always feel you are a part of something evolving. I got the job offer just before I started my second capstone to be a UI designer in Amsterdam for the global team of UX design.

 I took this course thinking I would immediately or almost immediately enroll in the UX Academy.  I took the DesignLab over Career Foundry for three reasons.  First because it was U.S. based;second, the costs associated with the program; and three both offered abiliity to get a job withiin 6 mos. after enrolling.   iI choose DesignLab because I liked what previous enrollees and/or students stated about the 1:1 mentorship and the diversity of the student  and their feedback.

 I signed up with Desgin101 since any past experience I had was way out of date as far as tools and i needed a refreshers.  This course delivered on so many different levels.  Rigourous is an understatement but this course was intense and baked a lot of what you read from week to week with projects to reinforce what  you read. The feedback from your mentor is key.  Your fellow students are too busy doing their own thing to gvive you feedback.  i  will say the reading reinforces what you learn and it will be up to you to reach out to your friends, family blog following, etc. to provide you key feedback by week 3 & 4.  My mentor was great and although we missed in week 3, our time interacting was valuable and timelly and he was willing to have me communicate with me via e-mail or make up with another time/date conference call.   I would highly recommend this overview for anyone whose not current with Design 100 concepts or tools (e.g. Sethc, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop, etc.).  Whatever you do, stay in contact with yourmentor and the students even though they mabe too busy to engage until week 4.  It's worth it if it's new to your or you need a refreher.

This is a four week class designed to give you an overview of what user experience design can entail. This course was more or less a pre-requisite for me to join Designlab's UX Academy, which I'm now participating. I had an outstanding experience and was thoroughly impressed and satisfied with the structure, content, and support offered. The online interface is easy and fun to use. That might not come as a surprise as a site teaching you UX but I think nailing the delivery of new concepts via remote learning online can still be hard. But Designlab really makes it easy. You are provided a mentor who you'll have up to four virtual sessions with (we had ours via google hangouts) and will guide your progress, give feedback on your work, and offer other thoughts and resources to help you learn. My mentor was terrific. She responded to questions super quickly, was flexible with schedule, was knowledgeable about all the content, and most important, I felt like she really cared about  my growth. The curriculum is robust and well planned; the lessons build on one another. One thing to note is that this course focuses more on the implementation side of UX design - layout, visual hierarchy, typography, color, and wireframing. All essential things yes, things like user researching, usability testing, and validation are not covered. I would highly recommend this course! I happened to score some discounted price but even at full price, I feel like I got more than my money's worth!

My university doesn't facilitate non-graphic design students taking graphic design classes, so I needed to find another way. The small price-point ($300) including course material, projects, and mentor support convinced me that DesignLab would be a great option to at least get my design game off the ground.

The course material wasn't too challenging and the projects were interesting enough that it didn't take over my schedule, but kept me interested. 

My mentor was super helpful in helping me to see what I didn't understand and where I needed more practice. I really appreciated her help.

The only downside of this course was it's super fast pace (4 weeks), but hey, it is a bootcamp. The plus side of this is that even after the end of the course my mentor is available to critique future versions of my projects so that I can continue to refine my skills.

I have learned from many different platforms and this is one of the best and here is why

1. When you signup, a mentor will be assigned to you
2. You will be asked to schedule 4 mentor sessions 
3. You will be introduced to the course with a nicely planned chapters (from introduction to mental models, content strategy, site maps, user flows, wireframes, design patterns...)
4. Then you will be learning the lessons within each chapter
5. Then you will be asked to do assignments and submit them
6. Your mentor will review the assignment and submit the feedback
7. You will either incorporate the feedback and submit the second version or you will discuss it during your weekly mentor session
8. By the time all chapters and assignments are complete you will have a feeling that you actually know that you have a command on the subject with practise

This has been a great learning experience. The content is great and easy to learn and remember and my mentor is very nice and very knowledgeable in her field.

Remember - this is not like any other online learning site, you have to pracise and you have to really commit to your learning. Your mentors are very detailed and can point out where you need to improve so this is great. 

All the very best and happy learning!

I was in the second cohort of the new UX Academy from Designlab.

I had a wonderful experience and learned a lot! The curriculum was good, the mentors were great, and the community of other students was so helpful! 

I got a job as a Product Designer just 3 months after I finished the course.

Highly recommended! 

Coming into the second online class I have taken I had some expectations. Design Lab over achieved to say the least. The class structure starts off with the basics then moves deeper into the nuances and nuts and bolts of interaction design. A mentor who is an industry professional is provided to you at the beginging of the course to guide you along the way. It was great to have live feedback during skype sessions and also have the albility to view other classmates work through project submissions. You get to see how other designers think and thier design process. Coming out of the class I've developed a new skill set and a new way to think about design that unbeknowst to me 4 weeks ago was foreign. I am more than pleased with the outcome. 

I previously had zero design experience. My goal was to become familiar with the tools and concepts used by designers so that I would have a primitive foundation for creating attractive designs for my projects. What I found was that this course was much more than I bargained for. This course, as it turns out, covers almost nothing about using the tools themselves (although, they do provide tutorial resources for you to review independently). Designlab wanted to provide an experience and knowledge-base that couldn't be attained by merely scouring Youtube for a few hours. Their goal in this course is to walk you through true design theory and convey the principles that compose good design. Don't be discouraged if you don't have any technical experience because they structure the projects in a gradual way that's attainable for a design beginner. What ties the Designlab experience together, though, is the mentor system. Being paired with a design professional that has proven track record gives you the confidence to head in the right direction with your design ideas. In the true nature of Designlab philosophy, my mentor, Joe Callahan (VP of Design at Classy), wanted to ensure that I was grasping the higher-level concepts that would help me become a successful designer in the future. He was encouraging of my technical inability, emphasizing that those skills would develop with time, but understanding the principles that make good design would set me apart. Designlab was well worth all time and resources invested. Will be pursuing more of their courses in the near future. 

I am halfway throught the Design101 DesignLab course and I love it.  The framework is practical, the support is fantastic, and I love the way which I can check out what other students are doing along the way.  I am doing this course as a ramp up to a uni degree I am beginning in November.  I feel like this has given me a great head start.

I had issues with billing on my end, and the guys at DesignLab were fantastic and understanding.  I would highly recommend Designlab to anyone looking to get a crash course or a touch up on their existing skills.

I took DesignLab just to get more learning experience in designing and this course did just that! They give you so many resources and different articles to read from real life designers and you get a peak into their world. I loved that this course was totally self-paced and it was great that your mentor works with your schedule. My mentor experience was awesome, she was so knowledgeable in designing and she truly helped me on all of my projects. I plan on taking more courses from DesignLab in the future! Highly recommend!!

I remember when I just stumbled upon Design Lab, not thinking it would be that good, or similar to other online classes. But for some reason I had a feeling I should look into this. After doing some research I decided to try out the Design 101 class of which I am so glad I did! I would highly recommend it!! The platform is easy to understand, the readings are great, and the mentors are wonderful! I have learned a lot and I am thinking about taking more classes from them in the future. 

I would like to begin by saying that the cost of this course is phenomenal vis a vis to what I've learned and covered in just four weeks. Designlab takes you by the hand from the early definition of UX strategy and research, how to do proper UX research, methodologies, concepts, all up to the landing page of your potential project. I couldn't thank the team that put this together enough. The course was really well thought out, very organized, and systematic with never a dull moment! My mentor was excellent. Karin Schmidlin taught me in such a short span of time how to ask the proper questions and seek the proper research method. She also helped me in creating my UX portfolio, which I am very grateful for that. If I were to suggest something, it would be that Designlab students get the opportunity to collaborate on projects and maybe work together on assignments, surveys, or general questions and opinions. I really have no negative comments for this course, I should say that maybe I was a bit skeptical at first given the great price vs other courses out there. But Designlab, you outdid yourself! Now I am ready to soar in the UX industry in NYC. Thank you, DL :-)   

The design mentorship and hands on curriculum at Designlab are fantastic.  I've never found such a perfectly customized way to work with powerhouse designers from a variety of industries than at Designlab.  The design connections, terminology, and knowledge gained from the curriculum itself are huge steps forward in my own design career.

I took this course because I was curious about a closer look at UX design. After having completed the course I can honestly say that it was a great introduction to the research methods that are employed in the beginning processes of UX. The course workflow is set up in a way that is easy to follow and easy to track–its very clear where you're at regarding course progress.

The lectures are intuitive and set up in a way that lets you take on little bits of information at a time, often times with additional resources and sites included at the end of each so you can study more on each subject in your own time. I really enjoyed the projects that were provided as well. It was nice to be able to put the lectures to use through hands-on assignments that gave you a good idea of what kind of work is involved.

One of the most helpful parts of the course were the 1-on-1 mentor sessions that were held each week. I learned so much through being able to talk directly to my mentor about what I learned, and in turn he was able to give me real world examples of how the things I was learning were applied on the job, showed me examples of his work, and also gave me additional resources to study more on subjects. Because of my mentor I was also able to learn more and push farther into the assignments due to his detailed feedback and critiques on the key areas of each assignment.

I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to gain a good understanding of what is involved in the initial stages of UX design.

Pros:

• The best part of this course was the mentor. He was very supportive and encouraging.
• Reading books and going to conferences is great, but actually doing the work, and creating UX artifacts is a far better way to learn. 
• The course is very inexpensive, especially when you consider the four hours of one-on-one time you get with your mentor. 

Cons:

• Don't fall behind in your coursework. Do a little each day (or follow the suggested time line they provide), and you'll do fine!

This program is great for people who are looking to switch careers and may not be able to afford going back to get another degree in design, or even students just starting out who want to see if they'd be interested in a career in design.    I haven't found any other program like DesignLab that offers courses in visual design - and they do an excellent job!   The course contained great articles and videos to help us learn typography, layout, color theory, etc.   My favorite parts of the course are that you work on several projects, receive feedback from your mentor and peers, and you receive a certificate that displays all of your projects to keep with you as a portfolio.  The DesignLab team is very friendly and helpful!  Excellent course - I highly recommend it!  I hope to take more courses through DesignLab soon!

This was my first mentor-driven online learning class. Man, I lucked out. The coursework is direct, clear and gives an awesome framework for approaching UX research. The key is they don't overwhelm with every strategy known to man. They tell you the core of what you need to know. Great basic framework and real projects to solidify the content. The mentor was great. This was critical to my learning as I got stuck on a couple of concepts that the mentor cleared up. For $299 this is well well worth it, especially if you feel overwhelmed with info and asking yourself what the most important stuff is to know in this field.