A letter from me to myself
Disclaimer: This letter is from Supriya, who has almost completed her internship with the MMT Design Team, to Supriya, who is about to start this internship.
Hey Supriya, all set and excited for the internship you have been looking forward to? Until now, you must have already gone through every article under the “learnings from my internship” heading…haha…chill, I know you! Well, well, I am writing this letter not to pour water on your expectations; it’s just that I wanted you to know these things and just go with the flow.
1. You are going into a totally new domain; cheer up!
I know your love for travel and planning holidays, but this time get ready to take the back seat and design experiences for people like you. Also, you will get to learn about travel inside out, from holiday package creation to its finance, marketing, supply and a lot more. So cheer up; this is definitely gonna make you fall in love with travel again!
2. Be positive about things and go with the curiosity to learn
Everyday is not the same, and its okay to feel low some days. There will be days when you find yourself not knowing various things of the field and its totally okay because you are not expected to know everything. Do not be intimidated by your lack of knowledge of the domain, instead be positive and curious to learn new things.
3. Don’t try to jump into the bigger projects in the first go
The type of projects you will be working on depends a lot on the time you will be joining. I know you would be looking for some set of big projects which you can showcase in your portfolio or on which you can write some articles (like this one 😜), but sometimes the smaller ones bring more and unexpected learning than the bigger ones (continued in next point), be patient!
4. Don’t underestimate the problem statement of smaller tasks…hahaha
You never know when these ant-sized tickets will enlarge to elephant-sized ones. There can be a scenario wherein a task about 2 CTAs on a particular page will end up questioning the existence of that page itself. There can be various reasons for this, e.g., product managers themselves are unclear about the problem, misinterpretation of some insight or misunderstanding of some inputs from stakeholders, etc. All of This is pretty normal!
5. Don’t forget the first step: “Problem Understanding”
While discussing with different stakeholders, it’s pretty normal to get diverted from the actual problem or influenced by some new inputs. It’s important to zoom out from time to time and make sure that you are not going in a loop over the same points and that you are sticking to the original problem statement
6. Unlearning is a part of Learning
While getting started on something new, it’s common that you might end up learning in an incorrect way(assuming it to be the correct way). To learn the correct way, you will have to learn to unlearn them first. Technology around you is changing more drastically than you think, so keep yourself updated with the trending stuff and keep learning!
7. Ask the “right” questions!
You must have read that asking questions is pretty useful, but here the important part is asking the “right” question. The type of question, to whom you are asking, and when you are asking matters a lot. Well, this defines you as a designer!
8. Keep yourself and your designs organized!
Your designs will not only end up in a Figma/ Behance project or some case study; they will be developed and get implemented. Your work will go through various stakeholders at various stages of progress, so it’s good if you keep them organized from the beginning.
9. Do keep an eye on the project deadlines
It’s good to explore different aspects while designing, but deciding the timeline of your designs is also your job. Your exploration and effort will go waste if (the designs) are not delivered on time because you are not the only one working on the project; there are different stakeholders, whose next steps depend on your timely delivery. Don’t worry, you will learn it with time and will get used to it.
10. Be proactive about how your designs get implemented
Other stakeholders don’t have the context with which you have designed (say, a component), and as a result, you’ll have to clearly communicate the intent and context of the use of your designs. Make sure that you follow up on your designs and communicate well to all stakeholders so that your designs get implemented correctly.
At last, have a great time at MMT; girl, you are gonna meet some amazing people and teams. Plus, you will get an opportunity to contribute to challenging and complex projects (no more hints on your projects🌚). Will be waiting for your article on the projects you have worked on, until then, hasta la vista!
Yours- You💜
Blog edited by Sarthak Veggalam
Illustrations by Krithi Priyadarshini. See her work here
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