Overview

• Collaborated with engineers in designing and developing components for Facebook App teams
• Created designs and solutions for Facebook navigation & interaction systems
• Contributed to the Facebook Design System and Facebook App darkmode
• Worked in collaboration with UX researchers in user-testing prototypes
• Created and animated motion designs for navigation interactions
• Proposed and created new experiences for Facebook App to solve user and business problems

Background

The Product Foundations team is responsible for managing aspects of the Facebook App which are central to all Facebook product surfaces. These product surfaces are the ones you love and know, such as Groups, Marketplace, Gaming, etc. My focus was on core navigation, where I worked on designing for Facebook product designers/engineers, and experiences for Facebook users.

The Remote Experience

The internship was quite different than I imagined it, due to COVID-19, I went remote and had the comfort of working from my room in Toronto. This came with its own difficulties, as this was my first time working at a large company. Imposter syndrome and shyness were a challenge, but this was overcome quickly through team 1:1's and intern socials (bringing my kitty to 1:1's didn't hurt either).

Working on a Horizontal XFN Team

One of the unique aspects of this internship was the amount of exposure I had to other employees and teams. Product Foundations being horizontally focused, gave me the ability to communicate and collaborate with designers across other teams in Facebook App. I also had the amazing opportunity of working with UX researchers and engineers at a scale that I've never had before. This was really beneficial for me as I was able to learn about their roles and what their values are within design.

Challenges Throughout my Internship

The largest challenges I faced during my internship came in the form of creating informative proposition behind my designs and development of ideas in an abstract context. Methods I used to help to overcome these hurdles were organizing team brainstorm sessions, critiques, and sprints.

Reflecting on this internship, it has single handedly made the greatest impact for my personal growth as a designer. In defining the three most important takeaways from my internship, they would be:

Defining Value and Intentionality

Learning how to define and pitch the value behind my designs effectively and supporting this value through illustrating my intentionality behind designs and product decisions. This led to me creating a positive impact on problems that affected users and the company alike.

Developing Interaction Systems

Creating designs with a high degree of flexibility for usage in multiple design teams, designing with anticipation of negotiation, and balancing the values of product teams with the overarching goals of product standardization.

Prototyping & Motion Design

Learning how to exclude my internal bias to design for different audiences, creating production ready prototypes for engineers, and learning how to create communicative and engaging motion designs.