My internship adventure at Mobi Lab (or blown away with UX).
Never overrate sending emails to the general job email addresses if you are interested in a specific company. This is how I got my two months internship experience in Estonia with Mobi Lab UX/UI agency. Soon after I contacted them I received an invitation for an interview and two weeks later embarked on a two month internship adventure. Funny thing is that right before accepting the offer I found Mobi Lab’s internship campaign article on Medium and read that they were taking their interns to UX London, the biggest UX conference out there!
Thus, my internship journey started by going to London in the company of two senior designers Nele and Elmo, our CEO Veiko, and another lucky intern, Laura. Besides attending several workshops and talks by inspiring professionals we had time to visit Mobi Lab’s London office, explore the city and have drinks with some of the agency’s clients. Overall, after the trip I felt inspired as never before about chosen career path and happy that I got this chance to intern for Mobi Lab.
What I did and what I learned at Mobi Lab
My first project was dedicated to creating additional mockups and updating the existing UI for a trailer rental company. This cross-platform project was almost in the final stage but the client requested some changes. I worked on the payment process views, specifically the bank account payment forms. Also, I made small changes to the search field views and the calendar of bookings. In addition to that I researched about designing dashboards for the admin staff and wrote a proposal with design considerations for both design and development teams. This first project was very tedious and I am thankful to Nele who was very perfectionist with my deliverables and made me redo my designs several times before submitting it for further development. Since it was my first project for a real client, I realized how many little details a designer should think of and demonstrate in their mockups. This project helped me become more fluent in Sketch, more familiar with the expectations of the development team and more confident to embark onto my next projects.
Two other fun projects I had a chance to work on with Marie and Paul are the radio app for one of the radio stations in Mexico and an internal office app for one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Scandinavia. Both projects were in the initial stage.
In case of telecommunication company app I was responsible for developing UX for the restaurant part. Basically I had to ideate, research and prototype a feature which would allow the employees to easily access the restaurant menu offerings, see the best menu items and rate the dishes. This project was especially exciting because I was able to see design process for a large scale project from its initial point. I had the chance to analyze documentation provided by the client, build prototype based on the existing user stories and personas, add additional user stories and propose ideas. For instance, I proposed a sharing function which would allow the employees to easily invite a friend from his/her network for a lunch in the office cafeteria. At the weekly design meetings I was able to present my demo and received valuable feedback, after which I made significant changes to my initial wireframes.
The radio app was a smaller project but not less fulfilling and meaningful. The design process was challenging as it required a very limited number of interactions which would at the same time address the objectives of each user task and provide attractive emotional experience to people. In this project I was able to build a wireframe and then a functional prototype in Framer. Who could have thought I would work on a product for Latin American customer from the office in Estonia. I really enjoyed the fact that at Mobi Lab a designer can be exposed to a large diversity of projects across the world!
Fun part of my internship
Aside from my actual work I was exposed to fun and cultural experiences of working in an Estonian company. I went on Summer Days annual event, by the Baltic Sea. This gathering felt like a weekend with my friends. Sauna, barbecue, orienteering and fun games… the fact that Mobi Lab has people from all over the world is an inspiration and often resource for cultural exposure.
To conclude my story I can confidently say that my summer was well spent. I was able to apply my theoretical knowledge in real projects, contribute my ideas, be an essential part of the design team, attend design meetings and make new friends. I especially enjoyed the fact that interns were treated as an essential part of the team and included in all major activities and given responsible roles in each design project.
I would like to thank Veiko who interviewed me and gave me this opportunity to join as an intern, and to Nele, Marie and Paul for their mentoring. Also, separate thanks to Katrin and Silja for handling my HR papers and to everyone at Mobi Lab team for making my stay in Tartu unforgettable!
Mobi Lab creates exceptional experiences for people on the go. Our passion is to support the design community and it’s been a blast! We host Design Fridays, meet ups, and workshops. If you want to check out what we are up to visit our Facebook page or http://lab.mobi.
