Insert Name Here: UX/UI
Spring 2021 • UX/UI Design Intern
Background
Insert Name Here UX/UI Design Internship Spring 2021
Duration: 4 months
Role: UX/UI Design Intern
The Team: Sharon Pak (Co-Founder), Melanie Huang (PM), Michael Zbikowski (Full Stack Developer), Nadia Mercado (Web Coordinator), Eric Lee (Jr. Graphic Designer)
Intro!
I had the best time working with the INH Hair web team to bring exciting changes to the desktop and mobile experience of the site! Unfortunately, due to the NDA, I’m not allowed to share the specifics of my designs, but I’d love to reflect on my process, learnings, and reflections during my experience working with a team I’ve always dreamed to be on.
INH is only a few years old, so I had to learn to adapt quickly to the bustling work life that comes with working at a rapidly growing start up! The wild process looked something like this:
The Process
Key Deliverables
Read extensive research specs on best practices for web and mobile ecommerce design
Collaborate and communicate closely with PM, graphic design, and development to establish feature goals
Use and analyze quantitative data from Shopify, HotJar, and SplitBase to further educate design decisions and identify areas of improvement
Utilized Figma to create designs to be implemented by development
Created wireframes and prototypes, iterating after feedback and brainstorm meetings
Leveraged other INH designers’ assets to maintain consistency
Created and updated components in INH Hair’s style guide and UI design system
Presented designs frequently to garner feedback from stakeholders and met biweekly in Web Brainstorm Sessions to identify opportunities and further concept exploration
Consolidated my designs and documentation to ensure smooth hand-off to future members of the web team
What will today bring?
It was intimidating working in an environment where every other day there is a new project, yet I am super grateful to have been given the opportunity to work on such a flexible and ever-changing product.
Working on the INH website quickly made me learn that changes are impactful and costly if not done right. Especially working in a small-scaled company, I became so much more adaptive and meticulous in communicating my designs.
How I’ve grown…
Push past hurdles
I came into this internship thinking that there were limitless possibilities with what I could design for the website. Unfortunately, the reality of working for a small company (and for any company for that matter) is that there are practical constraints to what can be successfully implemented into a product. It was evident how much I was able to improve my work and efficiently collaborate with my team once I proactively identified roadblocks in implementing certain designs.
Incorporating others’ ideas to maximize possibilities
I initially thought that to design something well, I just needed to sit down with myself and come up with something brilliant. However, I learned over time that it’s not practical to rely on just yourself. After turning to others for new perspectives, ideas, and inspiration, I became a much more efficient worker and the quality of my work improved.
Never limit yourself
With the various projects I was assigned over the months, I initially had the mentality of “okay, I just need to check this one off my list”. However, what I quickly learned was that design is never a do and done process. I learned not to be too quickly satisfied with what I have now, but to continue to be curious, gain insight for improvement, and strive to test new ideas. Let’s get this bread!
