Overview
In this internship so far, I have been involved in:
✅ Creating a smoother in-app experience to advocate for optimal user control and reduce user error
✅ End-to-end design process including competitor analysis, design facilitations, and wireframing to solve user and business problems
✅ Lots of fun in building professional and personal relationships!
🚧 And more :)
Key Learnings
My internship experience catalyzes both my personal and professional growth due to its challenging nature. While I wished I could spend more time to create and learn with the TurboTax team, my short but sweet internship semester taught me a lot more than I could ever expect. Here are the highlights from my experience at Intuit:
Go crazy! (within constraints)
🐝 At a complex organization like Intuit, I had to work within the constraints of the design system. Especially as an intern, I had to adapt to this and constantly reiterate, making sure that I adhere to the product's "design language". I learned how to explore deep and wide while not breaking the existing product experience.
🐝 And of course, a lot of my explorations ended up being tossed out right to archive because they stepped outside the business scope. But that's okay! That's how I learned the most about the business cycle of an established company. This also taught me how to be holistic in my design thinking because not only I design for the users, but I also design for the business.
Prototype without permission
🐝 This is a value that is practiced highly within Intuit. As a designer, I learn that the best way to communicate my ideas is by visually demonstrating it!
🐝 Prototyping early also jump starts conversation, showing a proactiveness within the team.
Design critiques are professional, not personal!
🐝 While design critiques is an important part of a design process, I have to admit that I used to struggle with accepting critiques. Being used to design as an individual, I tied myself to my designs quite often, resulting me taking criticism as a personal attack. At Intuit, I worked collaboratively with people from different functions to achieve one common set of goals. This was how I learned that design critiques are not personal, but it is simply for the sake of everyone involved in the project, including the users.
