Summer 2020 Design Internship
I worked on the QuickBooks Workforce Mobile product specializing in experience design and content strategy. Outside of my intern team, I worked on several design research and content design projects within the QuickBooks Payroll ecosystem.
Our Intern Team
Consisting of 5 software engineers, 2 designers, and 1 product manager, our team of interns ran week-long sprints to develop and test the QuickBooks Workforce Mobile iOS app in 12 weeks. Although we worked remotely from different time zones, we always found time to bond via virtual escape rooms, Zoom happy hours, and lots of Discord banter.
How can we design for mobile users within an existing product ecosystem?
We began by familiarizing ourselves with the existing QuickBooks Workforce Online product. This included both the POV of the employees and the employers. In order to better understand the needs of both user groups, we conducted "Follow Me Homes" and "Design for Delight" trainings.
"Follow Me Home"
Intuit's Follow Me Home practice enabled my team to discover user needs and develop deep customer empathy. Although they were virtual, these user interactions were the driving forces behind all of our designs.
"Design 4 Delight"
Deep customer empathy, rapid user-testing, and a broad to narrow design approach guided my projects from start to finish. These factors helped me spark joy in the lives of Intuit customers through our team's products.
After familiarizing ourselves with the existing Workforce product, gathering customer insights, and establishing our project goals, we began our product ideation phase.
Building a Companion App
Since we weren't building a standalone product, it was crucial that we maintained key components of the Workforce Online software that is commonly presented on computers. This meant detailed wireframing and lots of user testing. Thankfully, we had the opportunity to present our iterations in peer reviews sessions hosted by the QuickBooks design team. Constant feedback definitely improved our prototypes as we worked closely with our team's engineers to implement design changes.
Thanks to countless whiteboard markers and sticky notes, our team was able to create a QuickBooks Workforce Mobile companion app suitable for both employees and employers.
Key Takeaways
Although my internship at Intuit challenged me in unexpected ways (i.e. Conducting user interviews via Zoom, transitioning from Sketch to Figma midway through a project, and designing within a massive software ecosystem), I wouldn't change it for the world. Intuit allowed me to spearhead real projects, interact with real users, and design products that spark real joy. I'm extremely grateful for the abundance of mentorship, hands-on experience, and challenges that Intuit brought my way. Now, I'm more confident than ever in my abilities as a designer, and I'm eager to instill that same confidence users around the globe.
Additional Projects
This was my first time having the opportunity to focus on content design and content strategy. This proved to be especially challenging because I had to align with Intuit's Voice & Tone style guidelines while aiming to push the boundaries with puns, idioms, and lots of customer empathy. I now have a greater appreciation for content and a better understanding of the role it plays within UX design.
