The Logistics
Summer 2018: UX Research Intern
My Role
Conduct regular usability testing for various aspects of the product.
Take part in customer visits where interviews and testing took place.
Design and implement an internal UX Research repository for internal employees to utilize.
Act as a research evangelist for socializing findings and involving stakeholders in the research process.
Conduct appropriate research activities to answer designer and PM questions.
I've Implemented Research that:
Provided actionable insights and recommendations that product teams have used to iterate upon designs.
Provided a research portal that launched for internal employees to utilize for past findings, testing, and general UX education.
Provided weekly testing sessions for designers to get quick and easy feedback on a regular basis without thorough recruitment criteria.
Encouraged associates to explore and get involved in usability testing and customer visits to better understand the process and help them build empathy throughout the process.
Highlights
I worked at Symphony with my two other beloved Symphony researchers and friends, Emily and Julia. I worked with both of them on the UX Research team. Julia gave me the opportunity to create an internal UX research repository from research, design, implementation, and testing. This allowed my confidence in my research abilities to grow and made me realize that I am a great researcher. This experience has made me realize the importance of being a true UX evangelist and spokesperson. I even had the opportunity to speak to the entire company where I presented the UX process to everyone and the capabilities that UX has outside of usability testing.
Deliverables and specific findings are under NDA so if you want to learn more about what I learned feel free to reach out!
Takeaways
The internship was a great learning experience. This is where I learned that the role of a researcher is just as much communicating and evangelizing research versus just conducting the research and analyzing data. Working and learning under my manager, Julia, was an absolute pleasure and I am lucky enough to now have her as a life-long friend.