Designlab

I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the eight-week course! Each project kept me engaged and challenged. My initial concern with online design courses was the potential to over-analyze projects and spend too much time on them (something I struggle with when it comes to creative work). However, this course expertly integrates deadlines and offers detailed time management guidelines for every project. They emphasize that first submissions don't need to be finished and that iteration is key, an approach that greatly enhanced my learning experience. Also, the mentorship sessions were amazing and offered in-depth feedback on my work. This feedback not only improved my course projects but also continues to be so helpful for my design work outside of this course. I highly recommend it! Read less

projects and course material was decent for an introductory course. if there was a "day in the life of a designer chat or Q and A" for each cohort that would be great. what really made the experience great was my mentor - so knowledgable, so great at teaching. just wow  Read less

UX Foundations course provided me with a really good foundation as to what UX/UI is. Before I started, I didn't really know too much about it. Doing the UXF course helped me decide whether this was for me or not. After doing UXF, I have decided to continue on to UX Academy so I can learn more about UX/UI and hopefully turn this into a career! Read less

The UX foundations course is a great launching point if you are someone without any design experience. It's also very flexible in regards and pacing and work load is manageable. The end of the course with the 10 hours challenge forces you to use everything you have learned to create a website.  Read less

I've had a great time in the Designlab UX Foundations course.  I am currently waiting on feedback on my final projects before applying to the UX Academy, and am expecting to have everything finalized and my application to the UX Academy completed by the end of the week.  The course  has taken me 5 weeks going at about 20 hours per week.  I was not rushed through any of the reading, was able to complete the projects thoroughly, and feel like I have learned a lot.  My mentor was great, she always had tips and feedback for me, was able to answer any questions I had, was flexible with scheduling our meetings, and was all together a great person to work with.  This is a course designed to give you the base knowledge to succeed in the UX Academy, so there hasn't been any job support yet.  I'm hoping that my experience in the UX Academy will be as enjoyable as Foundations has been. Read less

I think if you're curious about UI/UX but not ready to commit thousands of dollars, this course is the way to go. You get paired with a mentor (and don't be afraid to ask to change if you're not vibing with your first mentor) it's so worth it to go through the program and connect with your mentor to see if their career path is right for you.  Read less

Going into Designlab and deciding to go with them over other boot camps was the best decision I ever made! Not only has it provided me with great resources and access to learning new design tools, but it has also provided a mentorship that has significantly helped me with understanding UX/UI design. I highly recommend this program to anybody looking to enter this industry with no design experience. Read less

Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course was a challenging and fun introduction to UX design. It appeals to different learning styles with both videos and articles, and plenty of hand-on practice. The best part, hands down, was access to a mentor for one hour each week of the program. My mentor, Clara, was great to talk to. Friendly, knowledgable, honest and insightful. I would recommend UX Academy Foundations to anyone who is looking to get a feel for design before committing to an intensive and expensive bootcamp.  Read less

My overall experience with Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course was great! It was a manageable workload with my full-time job and my mentor was fantastic at getting back to me about questions, mentor sessions and reviewing my projects so that I could move on to the next unit as soon as possible. The course materials and projects were presented in a way that was easy to digest, I will say that some of the video tutorials were hard to follow along with because they were made with an older version of Figma but nothing that held me back too much.  Read less

This is a comprehensive course power packed with content to help get started on everything you need to know about UI/UX Design. It is structured with great resources and different hands-on activities and projects using popular design tools like Figma and Sketch. I feel very confident using these design tools after completing the course. Highly recommend to anybody who is considering to get started with UI design.  Read less

I had a very enjoyable experience with the Foundations course. The course was set up so you can go through it at your own pace; it didn't feel rushed and yet at the same time there was so much material that was covered in 8 weeks, you really do learn a lot from this course. In Foundations, we focused on learning Figma through different projects. These projects were fun and challenging, and they were always a great application of UI concepts (with these projects, we created mock desktop landing pages, forms, and mobile app screens). I also loved having a mentor meeting with me every week, guiding and helping me to improve my work and develop good design practices. Overall this course has given me a great overview of UI design. I feel prepared and look forward to starting UX Academy! Read less

When I joined the program I didn't know any of the technical aspects of Design. After completing UXAF I started seeing the shift in my deisgn knowledge. I am so glad that I took this program. The time constraint on projects had its pros and cons. But overall I like the foundation course Read less

This short, 9 unit course does a really good job setting up the basics of UI design. I found a few errors in the lessons, but nothing too drastic that you still can't get what you need from them. My UI design skills and understanding of Sketch and Figma grew immensely over the course, however most of that has to do with my mentor. They were a good fit for me and challenged me in the right ways. I have noticed some of the other mentors being unhelpful or unavailable to their mentees (one mentor took a multiweek vacation in the last two weeks of the course so the student was unable to get feedback from their mentor on their final design project before needing to submit it). This course is great if you have an understanding of design and UI, your mentor works well for you, and you aren't expecting much hand holding. If you were hoping for networking opportunities or social interaction, this course isn't for you. The Discord server is the main way students get to interact but it's not very active besides a few people posting all of their projects asking for feedback. This was not a big deal for me as I am not really a discussion board person, I much prefer to watch and not interact. On the point about interaction, I was promised Group Critique sessions (that are optional but good practice for presenting design to a group of peers), however every single day they are scheduled, they are canceled. I was unable to benefit from this.   Read less

I enjoyed the readings and the critiques I had with my mentor were helpful. The Designlab video tutorials for how to use Figma aren't really helpful. They're too fast and don't do a good job explaining the tools/process; they just show what they're doing instead Read less

My experience with Designlab was amazing! they are very well organized and their curriculum is easy to navigate, i also enjoyed how project based the Bootcamp is because it makes you gain a lot of practice. I enjoyed every single part of this course and i can't wait to see what UX academy will bring.  Read less

This program provided a lot of resources and projects that helped you get into the design thinking mindset. It also provided a lot of UI foundation learning as well. The course does provide you with mentors for 1-on-1 mentorship, to help guide you through the course. My mentor was nice, but I do wish I received a bit more feedback on my projects. Throughout this course I really enjoyed the projects as it brought out a lot of creativity from myself.  Read less

It was a productive 8 weeks course although I have a design background but in different field.This course was quite knowledgeable,productive and practical.I had a wonderful experience with my mentor she was very helpful and professional throughtout the course.Now looking farward to join UX Academy. Read less

I'm in the process of switching from a teaching career to design, and I appreciated how Designlab Foundations made it easy to dip my toe into UX/UI and see if this new career path would be a realistic and enjoyable change.  Most other bootcamps require more time and financial commitment before you are able to get a sense of the type of work you will be doing, but the Foundations course was a very manageable first step!  I really enjoyed the asynchronous aspect of the course. Initially I was concerned that not having an assigned class time would make it harder to complete the course, but it was great to be able to move as quickly or slowly through a unit as I wanted. Additionally, the mentor system was great too, since it meant I had dedicated 1-on-1 time to ask all the questions I wanted, no matter how repetitive they might be to other students.  As a side note, I have a young child at home, I am currently pregnant, and I work during the day, so the way this course was set up was perfect for a busy lifestyle where I struggle to have traditional blocks of time free during most "class" times.  I recommend this course to get a sense of the field and build your design skills, especially if you are uncertain about jumping into the deep end immediately. Read less

The Designlab Foundations course is a 101-type program that sets you up very nicely for the more intense UX Academy course. You are taught mostly UI elements (i.e. design principles) in a way that is easy to understand through a mix of learning modules and projects. Being matched with a mentor who, in my experience, was extremely knowledgeable in the subject with lots of industry experience, was extremely helpful. Overall, the course was definitely worth it and has made me feel confident to move forward with the UX Academy program. Read less

I came out with a base knowledge of UI design and was able to apply that knowledge in projects and examples.  I was occasionally frustrated with not diving into a particular concept or application deep enough to mastery before moving on, but in the end I did figure it out.  Overall this is a good course and was absolutely worth the investment. Read less