Working as a design intern for two summers continuously, my experience with f1 has been one-of-a-kind both times. I have had great mentors who guided me throughout my journey. I am glad that I have got an opportunity to learn from the internships.
Working from home
“Work from home” is a concept that was once thought of to be non-viable and unstructured. “Work” and “Home” represent professional and personal life, respectively; this concept is often misunderstood as disturbing the work-life balance. However, with the pandemic forcing many to start working from home, some unlearning had to be done. People had to learn to separate their work and personal life and learn to balance the two. As we progressed, the steepness of the learning curve began to flatten, with people slowly adjusting to the new digital, WFH lifestyle.
I have gotten the opportunity to work with f1Studioz in a remote-working chance for three about three months last summer during my second year of college and for two months this summer as a User Experience Design Intern. During my internship, I worked on three different projects, primarily focusing on understanding and detailing the user experience, and worked on the UI aspects as the projects moved forward.
Since day one, the company welcomed me with warm greetings. The warmth that my colleagues have shown has remained constant throughout my journey. In my first week, I took time to familiarise myself with the company’s weekly schedule, company activities over a week, and the concept of online “sync-ups.”
Projects that I have been a part of…
During my tenure, I have worked on projects ranging from healthcare to heuristic evaluation principles. The projects that I have worked on are diverse in terms of scale, category, and requirements. Each project required unique skills specific to the project, which helped me refine and build the skill set that I am confident in using.
During my first internship, I have worked on an app in the senior healthcare and management field. It is a client project to replace a physical “bind book” maintained by caregivers in senior care with a mobile app. Additionally, the app serves as a connection between the family members of seniors and caregivers. My journey in this project started with understanding the client brief and requirements.
I started by doing a competitor analysis, which gave us an insight into what we can focus on, differentiating this app from the other apps in the market. I worked on defining information architecture, user and task flow, user personas, and the user journey. After a month-long ideating and iterating cycle, we finally started working on the wireframes and later worked on the visual designs.
This year, I started working on a research-based project on heuristic principles. The project looks at redefining heuristic principles of UX. Over the years, the use of websites and apps has seen rapid growth. The change in how we design and interact with websites and apps calls for an update to the heuristic principles that we have defined. The “Tenets of UX” covers a broader area to evaluate and considers the impact that a website/app has on its users. The effect is assessed for the near future as well as for the long run. Using these tenets, I did a case study on evaluating the heuristics of LinkedIn.
In my last project as an intern, I worked as a UI/UX designer. I worked on a client project based on designing a tool for creating and sharing ideas across their company. In this project, I have applied my skills of problem-solving and logical thinking. I was primarily responsible for creating detailed user flows and task flows. I also looked at micro-interactions and their effect at the global level.
Life- F1studioz
Monda
Every Monday, volunteers from the company do a presentation on a topic of their interest. The presentations are done on diverse topics such as photography, management, marketing strategies, and many more. It is a place that allows teams to present their client work that received a lot of appreciation and recognition, sharing their thought processes and decisions with the rest of the company.
Learning from others’ practical experience of what has worked and what hasn’t, has been a great learning opportunity. This is also a place to get to know more about your colleagues and their likes and interests. It is helpful, especially as a newcomer, as it provides you with some common topics to initiate conversations.
Friday funda
Friday Funda is a weekly series that hosts conversations with experts in diverse fields. It is one of my most looked forward to initiatives by f1Studioz. It is a space where one gets to interact with industry leaders and design experts. Through these sessions, we can learn about the process and effort it took to achieve the recognition that they have today.
Through the Q&A session at the end of every session, one can interact with the guest directly. These funda sessions have been a great source of learning due to their multidisciplinary nature that is not restricted to design practitioners. The talks give insight into how the process works behind the scenes for various sectors, and after connecting the dots, one can see how everything falls into place to become what it is today.
Friday Fresh-ups
Again, one of my most awaited events of the week. Fresh-up is a session that has its sole agenda of letting everyone have loads of fun. In this session, we play virtual games as a company, which helps everyone relax, take their minds off work for a while, and build and strengthen teamwork. The games we play include but are not limited to Pictionary, JAM (Just-a-minute), storytelling, and quizzes.
Wellness sessions
Apart from the fun and informative sessions, another important event that I have had the opportunity to be a part of is a company-wide wellness session. In these sessions, wellness experts talk about managing stress, creating the perfect work-life balance, and discussing many more relevant topics to the present times.
Employees also have free access to book a session with an expert. The wellness session is an excellent initiative as it has given me the impression from the very beginning that the company cares for me and my well-being.
Working with f1Studioz
To conclude, working with f1 has been an excellent experience for me. I have had great mentors who have been very patient with me in guiding me throughout the process and helping me stay on the right track at all times. My teammates and colleagues have been very supportive as well, helping me out when I needed help without any hesitation.
I could speak my mind without worrying about what others would think of me, and I always considered all as my friends and acquaintances on whom I can rely. I had a lot of space to make mistakes, learn from them and grow. These learnings have contributed to my growth as a professional and as a person. I believe my learnings from this internship will prove to be beneficial to me in the future as a design practitioner.
