Can I work on my own projects in UX Academy?
UX Academy has a complete curriculum of lessons and hands-on projects. We provide 4 open-ended briefs for each capstone project, which helps each student to develop a completely unique portfolio of their work that stands out to recruiters and hiring managers. The briefs we provide are intentionally ambiguous, because learning to navigate prompts like this is a useful skill in the field. Remember, one of the most important things you can do as a designer is clearly define the problem you’re trying to solve before actually solving it!
Although we provide multiple briefs are for each project, most mentors will be happy to work with you on your own project. For example, you might want to work on a website or app design for a side project you’re undertaking.
If you do plan to work on your own project, please make sure to discuss with your mentor first. That way, they’ll be able to steer your work towards your planned deliverables from the beginning.
Another factor to consider is that Designlab courses work by you uploading submissions to a public platform, where your work can be viewed by others. This is a core part of our learning model, which allows students and mentors to learn from one another’s work. Therefore, if the project you have in mind is confidential or commercially sensitive, it won’t be suitable to use as coursework.
Important: Please note that for Phase 1, we require students to work on the provided briefs. However, you can discuss working on personal projects for your capstones in Phase 2.