Designlab

I could not recommend DesignLab more. For me, self-directed learning is essential but also challenging because I am a kinesthetic learner. A colleague recommended this course and a few others on the DesignLab platform as the starting points for me to use to make a career transition. I feel so lucky, I was given this recommendation. My mentor has been the most incredible resource. To learn from a working professional and have one on one tailored support is invaluable. I did not finish the course in the exact timeline prescribed because of my pre-existing workload and my mentor made arrangements to keep up with me through the finish line. I can not guarantee others would have this experience, but to have a mentor who intrinsically values teaching and watching another learn has been such a joy. I was afraid of online learning and I know I am coming back for another course, or two!

 

After moving into a more design focused role I was looking introductory course to get my head into the world of design.

Design 101 by Designlab was a perfect choice - it gave me a comprehensive introduction into the professional space and allowed me to develop some strong foundations that I can build on going forward!

The course was well structured and well paced - helped by the great variety of content (lessons/quizzes/projects/etc) and interesting topics.

The mentoring system was extremely valuable too! Being able to get quality feedback and iterate on projects and designs was such a valuable and educational experience. It's also a perfect opportunity to make a great connection in the industry!

It is just a month in your life but it is a month that you will always remember, 
if you have had zero experience in UX design like me. 
It is a bootcamp with a mentor that has your back and keep putting your back on track. 
You do so much research. You have so many design projects and have to do the stuff that you had never imagined you could ever do before. 
From zero, you go up a steep hill and 1 month later when you post your projects online and share with your friends and ex-colleagues...They just wow. 
This is how I describe the course. 
I have enrolled in my 3rd course at DesignLab (Design 101, Interaction Design and Branding) and I intended to do 2 more courses plus UX Academy. So far, I have two mentors who are a Head of Product and an exceptionally intelligent and brilliant Design Educator. I cannot wait to know who will be my mentor in the next course. They all seem really cool and with sharp eye for design and give me good critique and pointers to the projects in my portfolio. Aside from that they also guide me towards making a career change to UX so I know what exactly I need to know in order to get internship opportunities and get hired.

On my resume posted online, I added links to my UX work around a week ago. 
Today, someone with the title of HR or recruiter contact me for a role that need some knowledge of UX. 
They like my shopping cart taxonomy and they look happy when seeing my wireframes and user flow. 
I may not get a job as a UX Designer instantly --- it takes time to build your portfolio --- but I have a proof that I understand UX and I can do and have done it. They want to hire me for that. 
This is a huge leap in my career. 
 

People at DesignLab are extremely supportive. I missed the enrollment by a bit and they put me in the class. They listen to feedback and keep on improving. They do really care about having fast feedback and closing the loop.I enrolled in two places and I chose Designlab over the other.

I have taken 3 of the 5 short courses offered by Design Lab, and I have really enjoyed all of them. I have learned a great deal during the past 3 weeks! I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is that the choices offered by Design Lab are there to fit your lifestyle. I have taken the short classes, because I don't have the time nor the funds to take the more intensive UX Academy. That being said, I also went to school for fine art and took a bunch of design classes while in college. For someone who hasn't had this experience, UX Academy might be better for you. Because I work full time, the smaller courses work much better for my schedule. It takes the principles I've learned previously, gives good practice projects, and allows my mentor to give feedback.

I see some people feel like they don't get enough out of the short courses. But I don't think these classes are meant to produce stunning portfolio pieces. I think they give you a good foundation to expand upon so you can include your project in your portfolio. You just have to be willing to put in extra work. If you really want something, you'll do it. And if you want a portfolio piece, ask your mentor how they would turn the project into a portfolio piece. I was always completing work ahead of time, so my mentor gave me extra work for practice! You just need to ask; the resources are there.

Overall, I think these bite-sized classes are great. Yes, I'm busy all of the time, but to me it's worth it. I can't wait to start looking for jobs out there. Thanks, Design Lab!

I took this course in preparation for Designlab’s UX Academy. I had no formal visual or graphic design background or training. This course was an amazing and eye-opening introduction to design and teaches you all the fundamentals. It was both challenging and rewarding. The pace of the course is fast and you learn a tremendous amount of information in a short amount of time through readings and hands-on projects. The mentoring is also great so you don’t feel alone when you get stuck or you get to bounce ideas off a design professional. They keep you accountable for your work. I feel very prepared to begin Designlab’s UX Academy next month. I highly recommend this course!

I have been interested in getting into UI design so I opted to take the Design 101 course to get my feet wet. Let’s just say that was the best decision I made! DesignLabs course format is the ideal blend for online learning. The resources and articles combined with projects and mentorship really allows you to constantly learn and retain what you have learned. I’ve done video courses through Lynda and it doesn’t compare to the experience I had here. The mentorship helps you fast track your learning. My mentor understood I was new to design and helped me with anything I needed. Our weekly meetings were super insightful and she helped me with anything I need while also challenging me to think about certain things a designer would think about. One thing I appreciated was her approach, although I was new she still kept a high standard to my work which was good. Because I would hate to have a mentor tell me bad design was good just to make me feel like I’m learning. All feedback was critical to my learning. If you are looking to improve your skills or understand anything new I highly recommend DesignLab for any courses. Due to my experience with them I will be enrolling in the UX Academy as I had such a positive experience and I feel as if transitioning into UI design will be the right career choice for me.

Design 101 was great especially if you're a beginner! Here are my pros and cons on this class: Pros: - They had great articles and games to keep the class interesting - Well organized and easy to navigate - The help I received when I had questions on the class was absolutely perfect! - Lots of projects to work on throughout the month Cons: - There were bugs here and there throughout the course. Images were broken, links didn't work, etc. I feel like they should have someone go through the course to make sure these links work! - My mentor was good but I felt like she didn't lead the discussion and give me good critique. It was like pulling teeth to get some good feedback. Also, I didn't feel like I got to know my mentor because we just jumped into talking about my work even from day one. - The articles they had through the course were all pulled from online. It would be nice to see some original written articles.

February 2018 I participated in the UX Research course and It was an amazing experience. At my company we are working with Scrum for years, but I was always missing something. This course gave me the context in which human friendly products and product-features are "born". The course materials and the interaction with my mentor helped me structure the product design process and become more efficient at my job. Now I understand the importance of involving the users in the product development and what is even more important: now I know how and when to involve the users in this process. 
For me it is clear that having a good user experience is not something that can eventually be added in the product, if there are enough resources for that. A good user experience starts with a research and it is essential for the products, which want to have a future.