There are a lot of factors that go into choosing the right program when you’re making a career switch. You want to make sure the coursework is comprehensive, there’s going to be strong support structures, and that it makes sense for your budget. It’s also important to select a program that suits your goals, and has a solid reputation for helping students succeed.
Both Designlab’s UX Academy and Avocademy offer bootcamps with the goal of helping students transition into a UX/UI career. But how do their courses compare?
Let’s take a closer look at how these two UX/UI design programs in key areas of their offerings.
Coursework & Structure
Designlab’s UX Academy and Avocademy offer flexible learning models when it comes to UX/UI education. Both programs are largely asynchronous, meaning that students can access the materials according to their schedules each week.
Both programs tout a holistic design education, as well as the creation of a portfolio. However, how the content is broken down, as well as the end portfolio result, are quite different. Let’s look into some key differences between the two:
- Both Designlab and Avocademy mention a holistic approach to UX learning; however, the curriculum at Designlab offers much more in terms of comprehension and rigor. Designlab’s UX Academy has students work through 480 hours of core curriculum over a variety of flexible tracks. Avocademy states you can complete their Design Foundations program over 16 weeks at 10 hours per week, meaning they offer approximately 160 hours of core curriculum.
- Designlab’s UX Academy is broken into two phases, with the first focused on learning the UX/UI design process, and the second dedicated to portfolio development. Avocademy offers a different approach: students learn the entire UX/UI process and complete one portfolio project during their Foundations program. Students can then opt into a second phase, called Career Jumpstart, where they will learn more advanced skills for an additional fee.
- All Designlab students graduate with at least three portfolio projects upon completing UX Academy. Students in Avocademy’s Design Foundations complete one large-scale project, meaning that a portfolio may not be as comprehensive. Students who move on to Avocademy’s Career Jumpstart program may graduate with an additional project to showcase.
Mentorship & Feedback
Designlab and Avocadeny both offer support from industry professionals where students can receive feedback on their work and communicate with experts in the field. However, Designlab and Avocademy have very different approaches when it comes to mentorship.
- Students in Designlab’s UX Academy work 1:1 with a mentor who is assigned based on submitted preferences at the start of the bootcamp. This mentor provides feedback on project work, and also meets with students for weekly video call sessions. Alternatively, students in Avocademy are not assigned a specific mentor. Rather, they communicate with a pool of mentors and request video calls based on both student and mentor availability through Slack.
- In Designlab’s UX Academy, all feedback is provided through Designlab’s proprietary platform. Each student receives a personal dashboard, where they can easily review prior work and commentary from their mentor within the Designlab interface. While students receive written feedback on coursework from a mentor, this is all done in Slack: students submit work to the platform, and an available mentor will leave feedback there.
- Another key differentiator between the two is that Designlab offering Group Crits. Group Crits are live sessions where students receive feedback from their peers. Guided by an industry expert, this is a great opportunity to build soft skills in design and learn how to actively collaborate with others. Avocademy does not offer Group Crits for their students.