Designlab

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.

The pros are that you can go at your own pace in terms of their are no live classes, just need to sacrifice some additional time to meet with your mentor. I also like how there are deadlines still so that people don't fall too far off the track and can... Read More still finish in a reasonable time. It was good for me, a person coming from a design background. A con that I didn't personally experience but can imagine is that a person doing the foundations course but not coming from a design background, I can imagine they will still be behind in that area. Designlab foundations can only teach one SO much about design in a few weeks. Also some people just do not have the eye for it, so I am not sure how people go about that problem. But besides that, it was good practice but also starting to train my brain to design differently. Not for just aesthetic but what is best for the user.

I had a fantastic experience throughout the Foundations course at DesignLab. As someone who is coming from a background of zero visual design experience, I was amazed to see my progress throughout the 4 weeks. I owe it all to my mentor, as well as the... Read More easily digestible content and guidance of DesignLab.

The course is well put together generally. There were some minor gripes, none of which would make me pick other courses though! I thought the lessons were a little too wordy at times, and would have loved for it to be broken into smaller bits. It was... Read More also hard to go back to a lesson to search for particular information. The lesson on auto layout was quite horrible. There was no way I could have learnt it without looking for external sources. But other than that, everything was well put together. I enjoyed my sessions with my mentor thoroughly. It allowed for more tailored teaching than a group class. I felt adequately challenged throughout the whole course. Would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to gain more knowledge on the technical side of UX/UI Design!

Pros- Very good layout and walking you through all the resources you need and specific readings that you should do to learn. Good for beginners and very dependent on your mentor Cons- Not very good if you want real examples in real time. Sort of just... Read More throws you out to do everything on your own.

Designlab's UX Academy Foundations course is a wonderful first step for those who have little to no experience in the field and are looking to either learn new skills or initiate a career change. I really love that the entire course is self-paced, but... Read More has built in markers (like mentor check-ins, the 8 week max timeline) to ensure students are progressing sufficiently. I also appreciate that Designlab has a thriving community on Discord, which students can access to ask questions, engage in group crits, and learn about what's happening in the UX / UI world at-large. I have no cons that immediately come to mind to be completely honest! I really enjoyed this course and plan to move ahead with the Academy eventually.

Some of the pros of this course are that you get a mentor to help you out 1 on 1. For me, this is super beneficial since I'm a visual learner. Con is that its really easy to fall behind so I say plan ahead of your schedule on when you can get things done.... Read More

Designlab's UX Academy Foundations is a great intro course that covers what the field is about, how to use commonly-used applications (Figma, Sketch), and what to expect from a career in the field. Despite being an "intro" course, I found that a lot of... Read More the course work goes pretty in-depth, and a lot of suggested materials really supplement the curriculum. Weekly 1:1 mentor support is invaluable; I received live help on issues I was encountering, and also discussed real-world topics that I might not have learned from reading a blog or forum. The curriculum is fairly paced with a specific weekly topics and assignments peppered throughout. Access to see other students' work is a great feature so one can get inspiration from others who are on the same path. There is also a great Discord community where students can interact with each other and get live questions answered during virtual office hours. Overall, I highly recommend the course for those interested in UX but without any prior design experience. It covers a lot of ground, can give you an inside look into the field, and is a great value for what you get out of it.

The UX foundations course at design lab was thorough and has helped me to feel more confident about design principles. The feedback from my mentor was very helpful in progressing my skills. As this is a more introduction course I have not yet taken advantage... Read More of any job support resources.