Open Letter to Yext Consulting Design Interns
So you’ve landed a design internship at Yext.
This posting expresses the views and opinions of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yext and its affiliates, employees, officers, directors or representatives.
First of all, congratulations! Since Yext’s Consulting design team based out of DC is small, the design intern position is quite competitive. As you might remember, the interview process was a little longer and more rigorous than you may expect from a tech company. This is because as an intern with Yext’s Consulting design team, you must possess the skill and capacity to work with complex Sketch files, Fortune 500 clients, and a world-class design team. You have been hand-plucked from hundreds of candidates for this task, so give yourself a pat on the back.
Easy as Ace, Bev, Chaz
Upon opening your first starter file in Sketch, or perhaps even your take-home technical interview, you will be met with an agglomeration of nested symbols, artboards upon artboards of components, and a very long style guide. In order to maintain high production standards and efficiency, the design team at Yext elevated Sketch to the next level as a design tool. It may feel overwhelming at first to get ahold of all the custom controls, but do not fret about which override leads where. The onboarding process is laid out so effectively, that you will be a master of symbology in no time. During the first meeting with my mentor, I expressed concerns about matching the team’s technical acumen. She alleviated my worries by disclosing that before starting at Yext, her only experience with Sketch was limited to wireframe creation using shapes and text. Between online resources available and the carefully crafted Training Project, the Yext Visual Design workflow will be as easy as Ace Bev Chaz.
Silent Omnipresence
When friends inquire about your internship, it may at first be difficult to explain what Yext does or why it is significant. Here is what you should say — Yext is the biggest company that they’ve never heard of. If you visit the nearby Tysons Corner Center after work, it will be challenging to find a brand that is not a client of Yext. Given the company’s portfolio of clients, pages designed by the team are viewed by millions of people every day. Even as an intern, you will work with a brand’s internal assets from all verticals, be it Taco Bell or T-Mobile. If you’re a style guide nerd like me, prepare to be deeply satisfied by neatly laid out harmonizing color palettes and text styles. If you crave to discover all the clients your coworkers have worked with, you can always peruse the team’s Abstract workspace and scroll through layouts for many big names that I don’t think I am allowed to reveal here.
Love Thy Colleague
Something that is even more valuable than honing your design skills and building a portfolio brimming with Fortune 500 companies is developing connections with your fellow DC-office Yexters. The catered lunches and many Employee Resource Groups make it easy to mingle with your colleagues and learn more about their interests outside of work. Since you will be spending a lot of your time with these people, try to build meaningful relationships that will get you through the daily grind. From my experience, working with friends makes the day go by much faster. During design reviews, remember that all your co-workers think independently and may have different preferences when it comes to particular aesthetic choices. Therefore, you should never take any criticism personally, as long as your design is technically sound to be developed and meets all the client needs. As you are onboarding, do not feel like it’s awkward to ask for help; the team has adjusted capacities during your first few weeks, which means they have time allotted specifically to answer lingering questions at any point in time. Overall, the team is managed thoughtfully and transparently, which I hope you will appreciate. You will always get an honest answer and feedback to all of your questions, no matter how minor they may seem. Asking questions that challenge existing methods are especially encouraged; you are a fresh set of eyes that will prevent the design process from growing stale.
Good luck!
With that said, I would like to wish you luck in your summer adventure with the Yext Consulting Team. You will learn more about Sketch than in any of your design courses and probably gain a few pounds. The office is lively during the summer, and although you may be the only design intern, you are not an only child in the office. Do not be afraid to mingle with the developer or technical project management interns and have fun!
