What I Learned as a Work Learn Student at UBC CCEL

Irene Zhang
nwPlus
6 min readAug 10, 2022

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During my third year at UBC, I held a Work Learn (WL) position at the UBC Centre for Community Engaged Learning, or CCEL, for short. Although my role as a Communications & Program Support Assistant (a mouthful, I know) entailed a variety of tasks related to graphic design, social media marketing, and communications, my most important project was the CCEL website renewal project.

The old CCEL website was static, difficult to navigate, and didn’t provide much value for UBC students, faculty, or community members. My job was to give it a refresh by improving both the UI and UX of the site. This project proved to be equal parts challenging and rewarding — I would spend hours trying to wrangle WordPress’ stubborn Gutenberg Editor or planning out how content could be housed, but I’d also enjoy the fruits of my labour when pages of the website were finally launched.

Here are my key takeaways from my 8 months as a Work Learn student at UBC CCEL:

Looking Through Rose Colored Glasses — Ellen Surrey

1. Take off the rose-coloured glasses of design

When I first started creating the new UI for the CCEL website, I was in love with one design from the initial sketches and was determined to see it to the end. However, the feedback I received from my coworkers on this design was hard to implement. I had no idea why until I realized that being so attached to this one solution had limited my creativity to what already existed, making me inflexible to iteration and different approaches. After taking a step back from that first design and experimenting with other website layouts, I discovered that the feedback I received made a lot more sense and significantly improved the user flow.

As designers, it’s easy to trick yourself into believing that the current design you’re working on is the most beautiful and perfect solution. But that sort of mindset can pigeonhole you into a corner of your own making. Be willing to see the faults in your design and entertain multiple ideas for solving the design problem you’re facing. Instead of diving into the first solution you come up with, be willing to see all your designs critically and for what they are.

Show your work by quzz_me on Dribbble

2. Show your work, but not in the way you think

Upon finishing designing and implementing the new homepage for CCEL’s website, I was prepared to launch myself into the next web pages on my to-do list. My supervisor then told me: “hey that looks great, let’s publish it!” But why would anyone publish just one shiny new page when the rest of the website still needs to be updated?

I then learned that it was better to get one page up than have nothing to show for at all. More importantly, from a maintenance standpoint, troubleshooting for one live page would be easier to handle than dealing with a barrage of new issues that came hand-in-hand with an entirely new site — especially when dealing with constraints of limited staff capacity.

As any good product designer knows, start with a minimum viable product (MVP) that meets the basic requirements and iterate from there. On top of having something to show for your work, you also have more flexibility and time to address the issues of that first product (or in this case, web page) rather than trying to play whack-a-mole with all the problems that might pop up with an entirely new site.

Blueprint by Ivan Dubovik on Dribbble

3. Nothing ever goes according to plan

My ambitious goal for this project was to launch CCEL’s entire brand new website by the end of the year. It was all meticulously mapped out on a Google Sheet, complete with action items, deadlines, and colour-coded statuses. Needless to say, the project wasn’t finished on time. Between juggling other tasks on my plate and meeting with stakeholders from different departments for content, only a handful of tasks on my project tracker were done before I realized this approach was not going to work.

Pivoting, I began prioritizing the key pages that defined the overall architecture of CCEL’s site and communicating progress updates to the relevant teams that needed to provide content so that they would be prepared for our meetings. Although we couldn’t hit the original deadlines from the project tracker, the ball was finally rolling and one by one, new pages of the website went live.

Project scope creep is real! You can have this beautifully formatted, painstakingly planned, and detailed project tracker for the next six months, but it will not unfold as dictated by Excel, Google Sheets, or Notion (no matter how much you want it to). Prioritize tasks and assess the impact of getting something done or not done. Most of all, don’t forget to keep the important people updated on your work.

Referral by Aisha Ahya on Dribbble

4. Share the wealth (of knowledge)

V, ], Shift + Scroll. Figma enthusiasts know these shortcuts are the bread and butter of optimizing your workflow. But does your co-worker know? Several times I found myself taking on design tasks for the website that could have been performed by someone else, justifying it with: “their main job isn’t to design anyway.” One day, a co-worker told me that they would love to learn how to use Figma too, and it dawned on me that I had been hogging design knowledge to myself. Every task I took over was a lost learning opportunity, so from then on, I ensured that every Figma file I shared was accessible to anyone and offered design tips to teammates wherever possible.

Teach people how to use tools, don’t just do a task for them. Designers have a wealth of knowledge that we sometimes don’t even realize we possess because it feels intuitive, so take every opportunity to invest your wealth back into your teammates. Share useful shortcuts, freely give out advice, and use templates and assets that everyone in the organization can access. You have one less thing to do, they have one more thing they can do, and everyone’s happy!

Illustration for Wattpad by Karolina Kalinowska on Dribbble

5. Document, document, document!!!

Proper documentation is underappreciated. When the website project was handed over to me, the transition package I received from the previous WL in my role helped me hit the ground running. I instantly knew where to find the documents I needed, who I had to contact next for information, and what the final website needed to accomplish.

Documentation will help you when reflecting on your work performance. Was there one part of project management that you really struggled with? Write it down! Are there useful “shortcuts” for using finicky editors like WordPress? Write that down too! What was the impact of your work on the website project? Definitely write that down!

Tracking your processes not only makes information accessible to your teammates but also helps them do their job better. Lots of people will be grateful for documentation when you write things like…

  • A report — your supervisor/manager will thank you
  • A transition package — the next WL/person in your position will thank you
  • A portfolio case study — you will thank you

If you’re interested in participating in UBC’s Work Learn program, you can check out their website here! Applications for 2022/23 Winter Session jobs are now open, so go update your resume and cover letter. You can also check out UBC CCEL’s work here and I would like to give a special shoutout to my fantastic co-workers at CCEL, who defined my short time as a Work Learn student and continue to do amazing stuff.

Whether you’re working on an existing website project or entering a role relating to UI/UX design, I hope my takeaways will help you succeed in your endeavours. Thanks for reading!

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