Designlab

I wish there was at least some focus on civic/gov't UX/UI or the idea of using UX/UI for social justice/good. It all felt very marketing, branding, capitalism driven which was a big source of demotivation for me. As a complete newbie to design and not... Read More what I would describe as tech-savvy, I would suggest not making any of the curriculum optional. I think everyone is busy and always looking for the thing they can cut from their to-do list, but I realized early on I NEEDED to do all the Figma tutorials and other optional practice lessons or I would have never gotten to where I was able to get by the end of Foundations. Also, there is content in the optional lessons that is then used in assignments and/or is on the quizzes! Every assignment took me twice as long as the time DesignLab said it would. I could not have stuck to those time limits in a rigid way - I wouldn't have been learning what I needed to learn if I didn't complete all the projects, no matter how long it took me. The Discord community was great. I was nervous about my mentor not being a good fit, but he was so knowledgable and really helped me, even when I would feel super frustrated. I kept telling myself it's like starting an immersive language program - it's just not going/supposed to make sense at first. It's hard to know what part of that is me just being a total newbie and what part of that is unclear curriculum. I found the videos extremely hard to follow, trying to watch what the mouse was doing at the same time I was trying to watch what is being created on the Artboard and whats happening in the left hand column of Figma was tricky, even when I watched the videos at slower speeds.

One pro would be the opportunity to learn a new skill that I was interested in learning. I like the creative freedom that I had while completing my projects and the course work was easy to understand. One con would be Adjusting to learn Figma. I had a... Read More hard time learning a few aspects but overtime and with practice I overcame these challenges.

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... Read More 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.

I've got to say that learning the foundation course here in Designlab has been super smooth. Everything's straightforward and easy to understand, and having that one-on-one with a private mentor? Absolute game-changer. Plus, the cost is pretty affordable.... Read More Totally worth it!

After a lot of research, I settled on DesignLab's Foundations course because I wasn't ready to spend thousands $$$ of dollars for a full-on Bootcamp. The Foundations course was the perfect in-between, it was a $500 course that was divided into eight units... Read More and a ninth optional unit. I enjoyed each unit but most of all I LOVED the mentorship program, I think this is very unique to Designlab and it's genius. At first, I got matched with a mentor that I wasn't vibing with so I asked to change. Once I got rematched it made the course so much more enjoyable. I think the beauty of this course is that you're doing the work and then you get to present it to the mentor that gives you immediate feedback. That closed loop really helped me to learn.

The pros of this program are the mentorship, user friendly experience, and good pacing to the provided lessons. I don’t have many cons to provide, besides the fact that uploading projects can be a pain when the max file size capacity was lower than what... Read More my projects turned out to be, so I had to compress almost every one.

I recently decided that I wanted to make a career shift from the advertising field to UX/UI design. I had a bit of experience designing websites from a graphics perspective but I wanted to find a bootcamp to develop my skills and portfolio. The Foundations... Read More course at Designlab is a prerequisite for their full UX Academy. This course gives you the opportunity to learn the basics of design, how to approach finding the solutions to briefs, thinking like a designer and how to design in Figma. It was really helpful to go through all of the projects and work with an amazing mentor who gave really insightful feedback. I would recommend doing this course if you're interested in learning more about design and seeing if this type of work is a fit for you.

The content for the DesignLab Foundations course was structured perfectly and challenged me. I feel like I have a solid base now to go into the Academy. Also, my mentor was amazing. He was encouraging, and gave me great advice, especially towards the... Read More end of the course as we tied everything together!

Taking Designlab's UX Academy Foundation Course was nothing short of a transformative experience. The well-curated curriculum takes you through everything from user research to high-fidelity prototyping, blending theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice.... Read More The real standout feature for me was the mentorship program. My mentor, an industry expert, provided invaluable insights and personalized feedback that enriched my learning journey. On top of this, the course is flexible and user-friendly, perfect for both professionals and beginners. By the end, I had not only built a great set of skills but also ignited a genuine passion for UX design.

I was set up with a mentor, who did not give me clear feedback and asked me one question in my assignments. I thought it was normal. Every session she did not have much to say, and I had to be the one bringing the questions. Thinking I was doing good,... Read More she approved my 10 hour design challenge with minimal feedback. The admission team rejected my design and gave me some feedback. They also set me with a mentor for two sessions to redo the design. The new mentor gave me insightful feedback and prided himself on helping students. I did all the changes he advised and did the changes on the feedback. I resubmitted my design and it was rejected again. I reached out to the advisor, and he barely said anything and did not seem to care. I reviewed the feedback, and new opinions were given, which were not in the original feedback. In addition, there was a lot of "I feel" phrases, which were just feelings and not facts. The admission team also suggested I take another course and pay for it. On top of that the Foundation course was setting you up to fail. The lessons were short and no videos on the topics. The only videos were about Figma. They went over basic concepts and did not really help you understand these concepts, but they expect your design challenge to look like a professional. The course was a waste of time. I would feel UX design should of been taught first instead of UI. This place seems to not help students. They just want your money and claim you do not need to be designer to pass.