Graphic Design Intern
UX/UI focused
Sept 2022 - Now
This internship has been a very formative experience for me. I enjoyed many aspects of it and found many unanticipated challenges to tackle. While I was with the creative team for Johnson Controls security products, I did a large amount of Graphic Design work but was able to be a part of many of their budding UX/UI projects. I worked with 3 Graphic Designers, a UX Designer, a Photographer, and a Motion Designer. The dynamic of the team was strong and friendly, they were amazing people to learn from.
Between our team we designed for the marketing and sales team fulfilling their requests. During this, I feel like I got to see the gap in many peoples' understanding between the functionality of hardware vs. software. Since this company has been around for so long, they understand the need to make their hardware which include hundreds of thousands of products. However, this company maturity did not extend to the usability of their software. There was only one individual who was consolidating their 6 major websites after an acquisition of multiple companies. Their security panel had never been user tested, and an app for their Wifi product has only recently begun development. I was able to assist them in beginning to look at this aspect of their business.
While there were many aspects of this large company that were missing in my perspective from a UX/UI background, I grew to understand the roadblocks in their process of integrating new business practices. Large companies move slowly due a greater need for policies and procedures to be followed, and there are often many stakeholders for creative projects. New companies being acquired adds so many layers of complexity to transition periods.
If I were to speak with myself at the beginning of this experience, I would say, "It's going to be a learning process. The work you produce for them will look very different than producing work for school or a freelance space. Take in the good and bad of the experience and use it to decide what you want moving forward."
