To kick off the project, Albert shared the initial screens of the app’s existing design with me. These screens provided a clear picture of the app’s core functions and user flow, serving as a vital starting point for thinking of new ways to improve the user experience.

On the first day of my internship, Albert and I dove straight into brainstorming sessions to map touchpoints, define user personas, sketch platform wireflows and outline user flows. This fast-paced collaboration jump-started the design process and set a clear direction for precisely who and what we need to design. I contributed fresh ideas, particularly for the furniture firm group persona, leveraging my understanding of the industry's unique needs and challenges. I also quickly drew wireflows of the conference manager dashboard to visualize how each screen can look and function.

While the three persona types were created after the initial whiteboard session, in hindsight, incorporating them earlier would have provided a clear, actionable reference for Albert, myself, and the team during key design decisions to ensure user-centred outcomes.

In the second week, we shifted focus to the mobile app’s UX design, prioritizing an engaging yet simple onboarding experience tailored for business travelers. My primary task was to design how the content would be showcased on the onboarding pages to maximize clarity and engagement. I documented my ideas and feedback directly in the Adobe XD file, providing Albert with a starting point for collaborative brainstorming as we refined the wireframes together.

Albert refined the copy and task flow for the onboarding screens while I focused on creating mid-fidelity mockups to bring these concepts to life. My goal was to select visuals that strongly reinforced the messaging and create a digestible onboarding experience, enabling users to get started effortlessly. Once completed, these mockups were handed off to our UI partners, Paperpillar, to develop the initial prototypes.

Building on the wireflow sketches from the first week, I swiftly developed a mid-fidelity dashboard mockup for the platform. I carefully designed each page to ensure a clean and intuitive experience tailored to our target users: conference managers. This task proved successful, as Albert provided positive feedback on the design’s alignment with user needs.

I developed the mid-fidelity dashboard mockup to a comprehensive level, and it was ready to be handed off to Paperpillar for prototyping. These prototypes were essential for user testing with conference managers, ensuring the platform met their needs and expectations while validating the design's usability and functionality.

Working in a dynamic startup with a small team highlighted the importance of maintaining momentum and decisiveness. My intern supervisor’s constructive feedback pointed out my hesitancy in making design decisions, which became a pivotal learning moment. Since then, I’ve committed to deepening my UX/UI and web design expertise to identify problems and confidently implement appropriate design solutions. Embracing the ambiguity inherent in launching new ideas, I’ve learned to trust the iterative process, tackle challenges head-on, and drive progress with clarity and purpose.