An Interview with Abby

This week, I had the chance to interview Abby, CreativeX’s co-president! She is a User Experience Intern this summer at Santander.

What does your day-to-day look like at your internship?

For this particular role, I do a lot of user research. My day-to-day is conducting user tests on usability hub. From there, I gather all of the results and synthesize them to create a presentation of all my findings and recommendations for those findings. I then present them to stakeholders

A lot of my day-to-day is research, gathering results and synthesizing it, creating presentations, presenting those, and then making designs based on my findings.

How did you get your internship?

I applied on LinkedIn! I interviewed around May. I got the call back during finals season.

What tips or advice do you have for students who are looking for design internships?

It’s good to apply early! You don’t want to be crammed last minute. If you know what you wanna do, prioritize that first. Be early because people will be very quick with it. The second thing is don’t send out the same resume to multiple positions. You should tailor your resume to the job description. It doesn’t have to be verbatim, but throw in the keywords that they have in the description to increase the chances of your resume being seen. In my Figma file where I keep my resumes, I have over 40 resumes. It’s time-consuming, but it’s worth it!

How did you get into design?

On accident! I’m a transfer student, so I transferred during COVID. I didn’t want to continue studying what I was studying at the time, and I was looking to transition into something I’d be more passionate about. Through YouTube, I found design. From there, I found CreativeX!

What are some resources that helped you as a student learning about design?

YouTube is the biggest one. Medium articles are also helpful! UXplanet.org is a great website too. I’m a visual learner so I find videos are more helpful for me.

What are some projects that you’ve worked on?

My first case study for my portfolio was a social app for student housing. It’s kind of like Yelp but for college housing. Students could post reviews about the different places they could live on campus. At the time, I was a transfer student, and I was trying to figure out where I wanted to live during my junior year. I hadn’t stepped foot on campus at all, so I was confused on where I should live. Obviously, universities won’t tell you the truth about living on campus, especially dorms. I designed this app that would serve as a platform for students to share their experiences and connect with each other about their living experiences.

How has CreativeX helped you with your design journey?

CreativeX literally saved me. I was super lost when I came to Rutgers, and I wanted to learn design but didn’t know where to start. Design is very self-taught.

“CreativeX helped me build a foundation and get more involved within the community by meeting other designers. They literally helped kickstart my design journey.”

What’s your favorite CreativeX memory?

I liked our Sip n’ Paint event. It was a great turnout, and everybody was genuinely having fun!

What’s been the best part about your internship experience this summer?

Being able to present something that is solely my own and seeing it actually make an impact. It’s exciting to see your work get done, and I’m not just creating a hypothetical project that will never actually get developed. Seeing the impact in real-time is exciting.

What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of design?

I like to dance, go to the gym, and cook!