Designlab
Average Rating4.78
789 Reviews
9 Courses
Designlab is an online training provider that teaches in-demand UX/UI design skills through their UX Academy and short courses. Designlab’s top-tier online programs connect students with expert design mentors, empowering them to launch and advance their career in digital design. Whether students are transitioning into UX design with Designlab’s flagship UX Academy or refining their skills through advanced courses designed for seasoned designers and design teams, Designlab offers meticulously crafted programs to help learners achieve their goals.
With mentorship and community at the core of every course, students benefit from weekly 1:1 video calls in UX Academy and UX Academy Foundations, as well as small peer group sessions in advanced and short courses. Through personalized feedback and guidance, Designlab’s network of experienced mentors helps students navigate the design industry, offering career advice and insights into market trends from a professional’s perspective.
To apply for the UX Academy, applicants need to fill out an online application, and schedule a call with a Designlab representative. Applicants should have a love of good design, a grounding in design fundamentals, and commitment and resilience.
789 Designlab Reviews
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AnonymousStudent • OnlineMay 24, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceUX Academy Foundations
Pros:
-great curriculum!
-every project prepared me really well for the final project
Cons:
-wish I had more time with my mentor//I had a last minute mentor switch- AnonymousGraduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMay 16, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
Good experience, some detractors
I took this course to see whether I wanted to continue on with Designlab's UX Academy/pursue UX further - and I do! There were things I wasn't a huge fan of about the lesson material and format of the class, but overall I found it to be a good experience. Before deciding on Designlab, I did a lot of reading and comparing different bootcamps/short courses in UI/UX. Ultimately, I chose DL because of their set timeframes (to keep me motivated), strong emphasis on mentorship, and cost.
I ...I took this course to see whether I wanted to continue on with Designlab's UX Academy/pursue UX further - and I do! There were things I wasn't a huge fan of about the lesson material and format of the class, but overall I found it to be a good experience. Before deciding on Designlab, I did a lot of reading and comparing different bootcamps/short courses in UI/UX. Ultimately, I chose DL because of their set timeframes (to keep me motivated), strong emphasis on mentorship, and cost.
I will also note that I have a degree in design, so I was very familiar with the principles and workflow going in. There were several students struggling to learn the deign software, which seemed to slow them down at the beginning of the course. Nothing I learned was super new to me, but I nonetheless learned a lot about the deign software and felt myself improving as a designer with each project!
Another thing to note about my particular experience is that my first mentor was not responsive in week 1 - at all. I contacted the DL support team, and they matched me with a new mentor very quickly. My second mentor was a great fit for me, but because I hadn't received any feedback/assignment approvals in week 1, I was catching up in week 2. Most of the value also comes from mentor-student communication, so I feel that I didn't get everything I could have from the course because of that experience.
What I Enjoyed About Foundations:
•I was apprehensive about "work at your own pace" class structures, but it actually worked really well for me! I scheduled 2 calls a week (4 week pace) with my mentor to keep myself accountable and on track. The material is broken up into short modules and projects, so it's easy to take breaks without disrupting your flow - and, in fact, Designlab encourages this!
•Most of your time spent will be working in actual design files - on copywork and in projects - which means you get a ton of hands-on practice from very early on. I agree with other reviews that a lot of the content is similar to other (free) content available out there, but I felt like having specific project outlines and working through small tasks really locked in the lesson material for me. It's not something I would have felt motivated to do on my own.
•You lead calls with your mentor, so you can talk to them about anything you're interested in knowing (UI/UX/product design related, of course!). My second mentor catered her feedback to what I told her I wanted to improve upon and also answered all my questions about her job & experiences as a product designer.
•The Discord server is active and social. It's a great place to connect with other students/mentors and chat, share resources, ask for help, etc. There's pretty much a channel for anything you'd want to talk about.
•The support and admissions staff are great! Very responsive, friendly, and easy to get a hold of.
•You have access to the course content for life.
•I feel well prepared for UX Academy after taking this course.
What Could Use Improvement:
•Some material is outdated. For example, there is one tutorial video that tripped up a LOT of students because it featured an outdated workflow in Figma - from like 2 years ago. You can definitely supplement information like this with Youtube videos/articles, but it detracts from the value and experience of the class, in my opinion.
•Written lessons are pretty basic info (at least for me), and I felt like I was missing out on some more in-depth learning. I'm supplementing this with my own reading after finishing the course.
•Your ability to progress/quality of feedback on your work is all dependent on how good or how responsive your mentor is. Two students might have vastly different experiences and learning outcomes because of this. - AnonymousApplicant • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMay 06, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob Assistance
UX Academy Foundations
UX Academy Foundations was very beneficial and overall a fun course to take, to help me understand better what the UX design field is like. It really helped having a mentor that was able to answer any questions I had about his work, what was going on, and also just overall honest with the feedback. - AnonymousEx-Financial Analyst • Graduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMay 03, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
Amazing Introductory course to Foundations of UX Design
I took the UX Foundations course in March 2022 and had a life changing experience! There are 2 aspects of taking this course - first is your mentor and second is the material provided by DL and how its structured. The structure of the course is done really where you learn a small skill and get to practice it immediately in a mini project in each unit so the application helps you remember that skill better . Throughout the course, you will learn many small skills via mini projects in each...I took the UX Foundations course in March 2022 and had a life changing experience! There are 2 aspects of taking this course - first is your mentor and second is the material provided by DL and how its structured. The structure of the course is done really where you learn a small skill and get to practice it immediately in a mini project in each unit so the application helps you remember that skill better . Throughout the course, you will learn many small skills via mini projects in each unit until the final unit which is a combination of all the skills you have learnt in each unit. Overall, i love the way they have structured the material provided. Couple of things that can be improved is (1)additional video tutorials but this is a personal style of how each person learns better and (2) estimated time for each unit or task is underestimated than the actual time is takes to complete. Coming to the most important aspect of the course and thats your mentor! I was very fortunate to find an amazing mentor who was extremely quick in his feedback so i felt very motivated to get things done. He was the best role model of how a UX Designer should be in real life - empathetic in his teaching style, provided his feedback in a very encouraging way which really pushed me hard to think and improve and get better. If not for my mentor, i wouldn't have learnt as much as i did! The one thing i will mention about Designlab 's Foundation course is that it's a great first step to explore if you want to get into UX Design. I personally am making a career change from finance to UX design and i was scared of committing to a 6 month course without having any knowledge or idea if i will like it and this course helped me to decide that! Most other schools do not have this option so i really liked this part about Designlab!! If you are scared/unsure, just do the course! I wish i took this step sooner. - AnonymousGraduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMay 03, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
Review
Attending this program had pros:
. Follow at my own pace while maintaining a timeline
. Review videos and revisit my concepts and tutorials
. Smooth transition in to concepts
. Time management was well stated and guidelines provided
Cons:
. A one on one time and attention was little short, zoom video
. Some concepts I didn't get, I had to rely on YouTube which I expected a mentor to help out step by step since I am paying to learn and not from YouTube.
. Ther...Attending this program had pros:
. Follow at my own pace while maintaining a timeline
. Review videos and revisit my concepts and tutorials
. Smooth transition in to concepts
. Time management was well stated and guidelines provided
Cons:
. A one on one time and attention was little short, zoom video
. Some concepts I didn't get, I had to rely on YouTube which I expected a mentor to help out step by step since I am paying to learn and not from YouTube.
. There should have been more guidelines in the brief as to what country are we designing for, being culturally aware and inclusive. - AnonymousGraduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineApr 09, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
Highly Recommended for Beginners!
If you're new to design, UX foundations will definitely help! Only con about the program is that all modules are text and picture based. There are few tutorials but other than that it's mostly reading. The mentor session were super helpful and for me this was the most helpful aspect of the program. The foundations has 8 units ( 1 unit per week) but you can finish in 4-6 weeks if you can dedicate at least 5 hours everyday to the course. - AnonymousStudent • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineApr 09, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
UX Foundations
Great experience with Designlab's UX Foundations course. I learned a lot and immediately applied to their UX Academy after completing Foundations. The mentors are there to help you succeed as well as the support team. Everybody was very responsive and helpful when answering questions. - AnonymousStudent • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineApr 08, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
Architectural Designer
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). - AnonymousSTUDENT • Student • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineApr 04, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob Assistance
student
its a great course - I enjoyed it and I thing for someone that has never done design its a good initial course to follow. - AnonymousProduct Designer • Graduate • 2. UX Academy (Part-time) • OnlineMar 11, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob Assistance
A worthwhile investment and incredible community
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 ve...
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! - AnonymousTraining Coordinator/Graphic designer • Graduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMar 09, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob AssistanceN/A
UX Academy Foundations
The course ia an 8-week course designed to help build a set of basic visual design skills, including user interface (UI) design. - AnonymousMarketing • Graduate • 1. UX Academy Foundations • OnlineMar 08, 2022Overall ExperienceInstructorsCurriculumJob Assistance
Great foundations for design
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!
Designlab Alumni Outcomes
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Designlab Alumni Reviews Summary
Based on 700+ Designlab alumni reviews on Course Report, students consistently praise the hands-on projects, 1-on-1 mentorship from industry professionals, and the comprehensive UX/UI design curriculum. A student shared, "Designlab is a very solid introduction into the world of UX/UI design... Before you know it, you have the confidence to start making your own icons and building a brand." Some critiques, however, mention the reliance on Discord for community interaction, which some found less professional than alternatives like Slack.
Overall Experience
4.8
Instructors
4.7
Curriculum
4.7
Job Assistance
4.3
More Information
Guarantees Job
Job Assistance
Includes Housing
Offers Corporate Training
Accepts GI Bill
Awards
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By Jess Feldman
By Rachel Meltzer
By Jess Feldman
FAQs
How much does Designlab cost?
Designlab costs around $7,749. On the lower end, some Designlab courses like 1. UX Academy Foundations cost $499.
What courses does Designlab teach?
Designlab offers courses like 1. UX Academy Foundations, 2. UX Academy (Part-time), 3. UX Academy (Full-time), 4. Data-Driven Design and 5 more.
Where does Designlab have campuses?
Designlab teaches students Online in a remote classroom.
Is Designlab worth it?
Designlab hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 789 Designlab alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Designlab on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Designlab legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 789 Designlab alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Designlab and rate their overall experience a 4.78 out of 5.
Does Designlab offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Designlab offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Designlab reviews?
You can read 789 reviews of Designlab on Course Report! Designlab alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Designlab and rate their overall experience a 4.78 out of 5.
Is Designlab accredited?
While bootcamps must be approved to operate, accreditation is relatively rare. Designlab doesn't yet share information about their accreditation status.