My UI/UX internship experience
As the saying goes, 'never stop learning,' so I decided to develop my UI/UX skills.
In the last three months, I have been learning UI/UX from Kodecamp internship. The internship was great, and in this blog post, I'll share my experiences with you at each stage. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? All right, let's dive in.
First Task - PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
I was so excited about my first task which was to identify at least 5 design principles implemented on any website of my choice, and I choose cowrywise website.
I went through it thoroughly and identified some basic design principles like balance, alignments, emphasis etc. I can remember the deadline being 11:59am and I was only halfway through it when time was 11:30am with my 10% laptop battery. I was too tense to focus on the task but thanks to my sister, she helped me that night. we did the task together and I was able to submit before the deadline.
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Second Task - Introduction to Design Thinking
My second task had the most interesting backstory. It was about design thinking and empathy mapping. This task was given to me on June 3rd, 2024 but the deadline was June 7th, 2024.
I can remember going on a TikTok live stream around that time. I was talking to my followers about the task, and I needed a problem to work on. Someone commented, 'Waiting system for organization.' Immediately, I saw that and said, 'Yep, that’s the one.' I wrote it down in my book.
On June 6th (a day before my deadline), I began to create a survey form based on that problem. I shared it on my Whatsapp status and I got some amazing responses. Now here is what made the story interesting: my friend and I had planned to go out for her birthday on June 7th, and I wasn’t done with my task so while we were out I was on my laptop working more like multi-tasking.
My friend was just like what is this girl doing but after some while, I kept the laptop and went to have some fun with her but guys when she slept, I continued my work until I finished my task on empathy mapping, but I had some issues (auto layout) with the user personna. I submitted like that because of time but when I got home the next day, I reached out to a friend of mine to help me out and it was from that day I understood how auto layout works.
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Third Task - Information Architecture
This task was quick and easy for me and I didn’t have much issue. I was asked to create a user flow and site map for a music streaming app and yes, I delivered.
I used the YouTube music app as a guide because that’s what I regularly use to listen to music so I understood the flow and I was able to draw out a site map and a user flow.
I almost forgot about this one. I was also asked to analyze an e-commerce website's information architecture and identify areas for improvement. I chose Amazon e-commerce website and I had some stuff to point out and I’m sure you guys will agree with me.
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Fourth Task - Wireframe
Wireframmmeeee!! I finally understand the word “wireframe”. Yea, I just had a basic knowledge of it but I didn’t know there were three types of wireframe (which are low-fidelity, mid-fidelity and high-fidelity).
The task was based on user research I did on the waiting app. I was asked to design mid-fidelity wireframes using Figma that prioritize user flow and functionality, not aesthetics.
Now I knew it was time for business. Figma! Did my task just say Figma?
I was excited. I finally got to use Figma. If you’ve noticed all my previous tasks were on Figjam and the other time I tried to do the user personna on Figma, I had issues with auto layout lol.
This task was challenging, but my sister Faith Egwuenu was always there to guide me. Anytime, I wanted to do the design task, I would go live on tiktok so I wouldn't get bored lol and that really helped.
Link - Kodecamp design task
FIFTH Task - Style guide (Atomic Design)
Omo, when I saw this task ehen I just went to bed that night. I couldn’t even process it in my head. I was asked to develop a comprehensive style guide system for the product I'll be working on ( Website or Mobile design).
I did this for three days and I did lots of research to help me because hmmm. You see the input form and toggle. Those are what gave me issues o. I watched lots of YouTube videos including the classes we had and I couldn’t seem to get that toggle boolean state, so I left it for a while then I went to eat and do some other stuff. After a while, I decided to come back to it and face it battle for battle.
And yes, you guessed it right, I won. I enjoyed working on my style guide because I was working on little components that would make up a full website or mobile. Just the thought of it made me wanna boggie.
SIXTH Task - Designing for Responsive Screens
I just knew the day would come but as the saying says "God’s time is the best". The day finally came for me to design a responsive website, hmm. I thought to myself, I code full responsive websites now it’s time to design it with Figma but I no panic o.
I went to dribble, figma community, behance looking for inspirations round the internet for what my landing page will be about. I wanted to design something I could relate to and not just any topic so
I went for a travel website. I recently travelled to Abuja so the experience was fresh. I used my style guide as instructed and I saw the importance of a styleguide. It saved me from repetitions and because most of my stuff like cards, and buttons were in components, it was easy for me to modify it for different use cases.
Link - Kodecamp design task
SEVENTH Task - High Fidelity Design and Prototyping
My tutor said it was time to prototype. It’s my last task and I have to create a high-fidelity design and prototype it in 7 days.
I’m not gonna lie I was scared, not because I couldn’t do it but because I didn’t see myself finishing the design and not talking about prototyping it in 7 days.
The day I got the task, I reached out to almost all my designer friends including my sister. Most of them were busy but thank God, Anawo Micheal my friend, and my sister Faith Egwuenu were there for me.
I explained everything to them that I needed their help putting me through and helping me with some parts because there was no way I could finish it all by myself. They agreed to help me and we worked on the project that I've been creating user research, wireframes and some other stuff on so the only thing they were to do was to turn the low-fidelity to high-fidelity and even modify it if they like to make it look good.
I and Micheal will be on long hours calls just to make sure I wasn’t left behind and he wasn’t just helping me to do my task but always showing me how to do things on the Figma board.We eventually finished it, and I submitted… I wasn’t even expecting something below 90 because me sef know say I try.
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Conclusion
This is an appreciation post to Kodecamp for this opportunity and a thank you to everyone who guided me when I needed it. For me, this isn't my last bus stop.
Since the sky is the limit, I'll keep learning and growing :)
Thanks for reading bestie! 🥰
