Overview
I spent my 2019 summer as an Interaction Design Intern on IDEO in Shanghai. It was truly a fantastic and fruitful experience. I felt so lucky to work with these lovely and talented people, and I learned so much from them. During my 10-week-long internship, I mainly worked on two big projects and two proposals. The industries I worked with includes food, automotive, apparel & retail, arts & culture. Besides, our interns also prepared a maker lunch activity for the office.
Due to the Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement, I will not be able to disclose my work until it is released. If you are interested to know the details, please feel free to shoot me a line.
Role
Interaction Design Intern (Young Talent Program)
Duration
10 weeks (July 1st - Sept 6th 2019)
Location
Shanghai, China
Project Composition
2 Main Projects + 2 BD Proposals + 1 Intern Project
30% Research + 40% Design + 30%Prototyping
My Focus
Two main projects
I worked on two main projects and the two clients includes:
1. A global leading car brand
We helped a leading car brand envision their future business in China and figure out what is luxury mean in China. I was in charge of the design of the spatial experience for final workshop with clients.
2. A leading down jacket brand
We helped a leading down jacket brand reimagine their online and offline retail experience and strategy. I fully participated in this project and worked on different tasks including co-defining the retail principles, sketching out creative ideas, digitally visualizing retail concept, and modeling the final retail space.
Two BD proposals
I helped with two business development proposals related to food and art&culture (finally won the pitch). I conducted market research and defined visual language for the proposals.
One intern project
Our four interns also hosted a marker lunch for the office, in which everyone sits down together and makes stuff during the lunch. We provided people with melted wax for creating their own masterpiece to fool people living in the future. And we recycled the used wax and made candles for the office.
My Takeaways
Be relaxed and embrace ambiguity
When I worked on the second project, I was very confused at certain time because the path wasn’t very clear and the progress is intangible. That made me nervous. After chatting with teammates, I realized it is very common that the path is not always clear and what we should do is keeping calm and believing in the process and teammates. It is true that when I feel nervous, my teammates can also feel it and become nervous, vice versa. Also, I believe communication is the key and it helps team becomes the one. Finally, capturing the most important insights and transforming ideas to directional concepts helped us move on.
Take ownership and finding your own way to help the team
It’s not important about the position or title, but finding your own fitting way to help the team. When I worked at the first project, I used my modeling skills to communicate spatial plan with team and provided different options. Even though I was interned as an interaction designer, but the modeling really helped the team a lot. My colleague Gary once told me, “Even if you are not an industrial designer, you could lead the industrial design work if you are the one who knows the most among the team.”
Make other successful
After I interned at IDEO, I believe one of the reasons that makes IDEO one of the best design companies in the world is the people there are truly willing to help each other. Even if the directors are super busy, they will still make time to host events to share their thoughts to inspire us, as well as share with others the insights in their specialty. And people also come in to help other projects with brainstorming during their break. I think that’s one of the best company cultures and it really promotes creativeness and belongingness.
