Designlab

Overall the curriculum was very well structured and informative. Each unit had a great balance between lessons and exercises, and at the end all the information we learned led to a 10 hour design challenge in which we applied this new knowledge. It was however more than the 10 or 20 hours a week (depending on whether you do a fast track or not).  Read less

I'll write this review based on my own questions researching UX design bootcamps as I was comparing several. Before enrolling in Foundations, I reached out to UXA grads to get their unfiltered thoughts—and their experiences were largely very positive (as was my own!), which led me to decide on Designlab. Here are the topics I asked them about:

• Caliber of mentors with strong UX backgrounds. My experience: For the most part, Designlab mentors are very experienced in the field, however it's up to you to get the kind of the mentorship you're looking for and expect. One of my UXA mentors fell way below my expectations in terms of experience and mentoring, and in hindsight I should have requested a change earlier than I did. The three other mentors I had in UXA, Foundations, and Career Services were above and beyond and everything I needed and wanted in a mentor. 
• A thorough-enough curriculum to be competitive in the job search. My experience: Since I was starting from pretty much zero UX design knowledge, the curriculum felt as comprehensive as it needs to be for a relatively short period of learning. That said, I did take several months longer to graduate because I wanted to be sure I was actually grasping and retaining the concepts, as well as build a portfolio that wasn't cookie-cutter and showcases real-world experience, a thoughtful process, and a true understanding of UX. 
• Opportunities for "real-world" or industry experiences like design sprints with the cohort or an actual client—and if not, whether you felt like that would have been valuable. My experience: There are definitely plenty of opportunities to do so just from people sharing leads in Designlab's Slack channels, but this is not part of the curriculum and is not required. Personally, I 100% feel like having any real-world experience is immensely valuable and gives you a leg up (especially in interviewing), but again, it's up to you to get after the experience you want in your learning journey.
• Knowing that any program's success is largely dependent on how much effort you put in, I'm curious if you felt like you left UX Academy with a solid, competitive portfolio? My experience: I truly feel like I came out of UXA with a very competitive portfolio (granted I personally had to relinquish the tuition reimbursement to do so, but this is just my experience), as it includes client work, team work, and a passion project in the space I am now working in as a product designer :). 

Here are my personal Pros and Cons for Designlab while I was comparing other bootcamps. Happy to say that after graduating from the course, these are still accurate!

(One surprise is that the community aspect greatly exceeded my expectations! I have made lifelong friendships from meeting peers in Designlab, and I cherish this as one of the most special takeaways from my experience).

Pros + Group critiques to practice articulating design decisions and giving and receiving feedback+ Portfolio prep and up to 4 portfolio projects (can suggest real-world projects for capstones)+ Job search prep with career coach+ Most affordable+ 1:1 mentorship
+ Can switch from full-time to part-time and vice-versa
+ Allow two 1-week pauses (plus 1 week break for t-giving and 2 week break for christmas)+ Close-knit community 
Cons- Varying mentor experience- No real-world project experience 
TLDR: You might have to take some initiative to get the most out of your experience (i.e. no one will force you to do a real-world project or work with a real client), but if you do, Designlab is a great and fun environment to learn, get mentorship, and build relationships in the design community. I would recommend it for beginners and career changers! Read less

Overall I think this course provided a great foundation to the academy portion of this. I have some background in design but this provided me with information that I either did not learn on the job or during school. I have already gotten a lot of use out of what I have learned, like formatting, fonts, and color combinations. I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to start in UI/UX design!  Read less

I loved my experience in UX Foundations. I felt like I learned so much but the load was very manageable every week and I felt very supported all throughout. The content all scaffolds and allows you to use your new skills often. I would recommend to anyone.  Read less

Design Lab is a self pace bootcamp, however it is very informative and you walk away with so much information. I started with the UX Academy foundation, and I was brand new to UX (product) but I walked away learning and knowing so much more. I enjoyed my sessions with my mentor, since we had assignment  each unit he was able to give me great feedback and help with other questions I had Read less

Great intro to UI and design principles and fundamentals.  The course was well paced and covered a wide variety of material and skill development. The mentor program associated was a fantastic benefit to the course, as well. It was great to have someone to give advice and process with throughout the course.  Read less

I truly enjoyed my DesignLab UX Foundations experience! I went in with very minimal background knowledge of UX concepts and am leaving with a great amount knowledge that will be very useful to me in UX academy as well as in my future career as a designer. They provide so many great resources for you and different ways to learn the information so you aren’t just sitting and reading material for hours which can become very boring especially if you’re a hands on learner. I loved having a mentor and meeting with her weekly. She gave me great feedback and really helped build my confidence as a new designer. I also loved how my admissions representative checked in on me when she saw that I was behind, that showed me that they really want you to succeed in the program.  I am really shocked at how much I learned and how many skills I acquired in just 8 weeks. I truly look forward to UX Academy.  Read less

UX Academy Foundations was super fun! I met a lot of friends and everyone in the community is nice and happy to help. I had a lot of fun doing projects and learning how to use Figma. Figma was so fun to use! My mentor was very knowledgeable. He gave me feedback on my projects and taught me a lot of design techniques. This course was $500, but it let me dip my toes into design a bit before I decide if I want to attend a full bootcamp.  Read less

The DesignLab Foundations course was much more thorough than I had anticipated.  I entered the course with no previous design experience and through projects, one on one mentorship and the online coursework, I completed with a solid working knowledge of Figma, the beginnings of a portfolio and enough knowledge to actually secure employment in the field should I want to.
The online program coupled with the mentorship is the perfect match and the cohorts on Slack are another resource/community that is available as well.
I spent more time each week than the program suggested.  I felt some weeks took about 15-20 hours versus the projected 10.  But I think that depends on each individuals learning curve.
Amazing value, highly recommend. Read less

Pros
- solid introduction to using design tools such as Figma / Sketch (I used Figma)
- forces you to learn foundations of UI design very quickly
- weekly 1:1 mentorship with experts in the field (this is key and where I learned most of my Figma skills)
- well structured course, each section has an allotted time commitment which makes it easy to plan out when you're going to complete coursework
Cons
- barely any focus on UX (however this makes sense given that it is a foundational course)
- I heard from other students that their mentors were not as helpful learning how to use design tools such as Figma...I didn't experience this but makes me think experience can be greatly impacted based on the mentor you get Read less

DesignLab was a great choice for me as a beginner learning about UX & UI. It was an easy to follow curriculum with guided videos and clear directions. I chose DesignLab because it came recommended and because I have actual portfolio pieces that I can place in my portfolio.   Read less

I found UX Academy Foundations when I was searching around for UX/UI bootcamps. I decided to go with it before signing up for a longer (and pricier!) option to get a feel for the work. My background is in tech and I worked full time while completing the course. Overall, it was a positive experience.

Pros:
- Mentorship - I got an awesome mentor and they really helped me succeed
- Lessons are easy to follow and the coursework is fun
- You will see yourself improve over time
- Affordable, not a huge time commitment
- Free Adobe XD subscription comes with the course! 

Cons:
- Coursework almost exclusively deals with UI, very little UX 
- Can be difficult to juggle with full time work Read less

At first I was hesistant on taking this course, but I signed up because I wanted to learn about the foundational skills to UX/UI and see what it is like working alongside a community of peers and a mentor. I am so glad I took this course because my experience was so rewarding and I left feeling more prepared for UX Academy and the field in general.  Read less

I really enjoyed Designlab's foundation course. As someone considering a career pivot, I really appreciated the option to learn more about UX design without fully investing into a full bootcamp. The course was really clear and the content easy to follow. I'm excited to do the Academy. Read less