InternPro | SERVICE DESIGN CASE STUDY
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Team: Cristina Barriga, Gabrielle Doshier, Nicola Erlund, Claire Renar, Amanda Shingler
Project Name: InternPro
Duration: 14 Weeks
Objective: Create an internship service for current students.
Target Audience: California State University, Chico Communication Design Students
Focus: Improve how these students navigate the process of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship by designing a user-friendly service that would increase the ease and efficiency of said process.
MY ROLE:
Leadership
I led each group meeting by...
-
Keeping us on topic.
-
Suggesting how we could tackle what we needed to do.
-
Making sure everyone had a specific task each time we needed to produce work.
-
Proposing due dates for each segment of work that had to be done to ensure deliverables were completed according to the class schedule.
Research
My portion of the research involved conducting an online survey on how students feel about pre-existing internship service features, as well as what students typically hope to gain from internships.
Content Production
-
Creating the site structure and designing the site map.
-
Originating much of the textual content in the User Persona & Journey Map, as well as designing and updating them from the original drafts.
-
Making the majority of content in the Service Blueprint, as well as designing and updating it.
-
Creating the navigation menu for the service prototype mocks and ensuring it visually matched the pre-existing site our service would become a part of.
THE SERVICE:
InternPro is a tool in the pre-existing Student Center (accessible through the Chico Student Portal).
-
Available only to students majoring in Communication Design.
Features
-
Increases access to important information concerning the mandatory internship requirement for the program.
-
Streamlines the process of registering for and completing the course.
-
Prepares students for getting hired.
-
Educates students on how to find an internship right for them.
-
Provides tools to increase the ease of access to Communication Design internship opportunities.
HOW INTERNPRO MEETS THE OBJECTIVE:
1: More easily accessible than current MADT internships page.
2: Increases the overall ease & efficiency of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship.
3: Students don't have to waste time trying to find advisor contact info on their own.
4: Provides more information than current resources, taking away the stress of having to contact advisors.
5: Streamlines and increases the clarity of the current process.
6: Provides guidance to students who might otherwise not know.
7: Increases a student's chances of getting hired.
8: Prepares a student for a process that is often quite stressful and intimidating.
9: Increases access to Comm. Design specific internships.
RESEARCH:
Methods
Since our target audience was current students, we needed to hear directly from them about the different aspects of their internship experiences.
Primary Data: Conducted various online surveys with Communication Design students at Chico State.
-
Internship Survey Categories:
-
Finding & Choosing
-
Preparation
-
Feelings On Current Internship Services & What Students Hope To Gain From One
-
Turning An Internship Into A Job
-
Balancing Internships With Academic & Professional Responsibilities
-
Secondary Data: Gathered through additional online research.
Key Findings
-
Most students do some kind of preparation beforehand, whether it's using online resources or reaching out to advisors.
-
It is ideal to be ready for an internship by building a portfolio, preparing a résumé, and practicing for an interview.
-
Common pain points with pre-existing internship services include…
-
Unclear job details.
-
Irrelevant material.
-
Such as the service confusing "Communication Design" with other Communication fields.
-
-
-
A good internship experience includes...
-
Gaining real-world work experience.
-
Clarification of career goals.
-
Opportunity to gain relevant practical skills.
-
Enhancement of future job prospects.
-
-
A poor internship experience includes...
-
Inadequate compensation (financial, skill development, networking, etc.)
-
Unorganized and/or unprofessional environment.
-
Irrelevant working experience.
-
Poor work/life/school balance.
-
VISUAL IDENTITY:
Our service was developed as a tool within Chico State's Student Center, so we designed it to fit in with the pre-existing visuals of the site, as well as the university's official visual identity.
The InternPro logo is our original design, which symbolizes the academic and professional journey of an internship. It also acts as the service's icon in the navigation menu of the Student Center.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
Challenges
I think that getting on the same page about the service we were designing was our biggest challenge during this project. When we talked about the features InternPro would have, it seemed like we often came away with different understandings of what we decided on, leading to confusion that would have to be cleared up later down the line.
Over the course of the project, I produced a significant amount of the materials we developed (including mapping, blueprinting, designing, writing, editing, organizing, etc.), both in terms of ideas and produced content. Because of my de facto leadership role, I also had to spend much of my time and energy coordinating the team, in general. And it is because of me having to contribute this disproportionate share of the total work that I didn't have as much time to refine my contributions to the project as much as I would've liked to during the original project timeline.
Learnings
Throughout this project, I learned about the integral elements of service design.
What stands out to me most is…
-
Learning how to curate a survey for primary research, elements of which include…
-
Overall Length
-
Question Clarity
-
Avoiding Redundancies
-
-
The importance of being on the same page as your team members.
-
Even if it seems like something is obvious, it would be wise to discuss every detail with your team members to avoid confusion that complicates or stalls the design process later down the line.
-
InternPro | SERVICE DESIGN CASE STUDY
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Team: Cristina Barriga, Gabrielle Doshier, Nicola Erlund, Claire Renar, Amanda Shingler
Project Name: InternPro
Duration: 14 Weeks
Objective: Create an internship service for current students.
Target Audience: California State University, Chico Communication Design Students
Focus: Improve how these students navigate the process of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship by designing a user-friendly service that would increase the ease and efficiency of said process.
MY ROLE:
Leadership
I led each group meeting by...
-
Keeping us on topic.
-
Suggesting how we could tackle what we needed to do.
-
Making sure everyone had a specific task each time we needed to produce work.
-
Proposing due dates for each segment of work that had to be done to ensure deliverables were completed according to the class schedule.
Research
My portion of the research involved conducting an online survey on how students feel about pre-existing internship service features, as well as what students typically hope to gain from internships.
Content Production
-
Creating the site structure and designing the site map.
-
Originating much of the textual content in the User Persona & Journey Map, as well as designing and updating them from the original drafts.
-
Making the majority of content in the Service Blueprint, as well as designing and updating it.
-
Creating the navigation menu for the service prototype mocks and ensuring it visually matched the pre-existing site our service would become a part of.
THE SERVICE:
InternPro is a tool in the pre-existing Student Center (accessible through the Chico Student Portal).
-
Available only to students majoring in Communication Design.
Features
-
Increases access to important information concerning the mandatory internship requirement for the program.
-
Streamlines the process of registering for and completing the course.
-
Prepares students for getting hired.
-
Educates students on how to find an internship right for them.
-
Provides tools to increase the ease of access to Communication Design internship opportunities.
HOW INTERNPRO MEETS THE OBJECTIVE:
1: More easily accessible than current MADT internships page.
2: Increases the overall ease & efficiency of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship.
3: Students don't have to waste time trying to find advisor contact info on their own.
4: Provides more information than current resources, taking away the stress of having to contact advisors.
5: Streamlines and increases the clarity of the current process.
6: Provides guidance to students who might otherwise not know.
7: Increases a student's chances of getting hired.
8: Prepares a student for a process that is often quite stressful and intimidating.
9: Increases access to Comm. Design specific internships.
RESEARCH:
Methods
Since our target audience was current students, we needed to hear directly from them about the different aspects of their internship experiences.
Primary Data: Conducted various online surveys with Communication Design students at Chico State.
-
Internship Survey Categories:
-
Finding & Choosing
-
Preparation
-
Feelings On Current Internship Services & What Students Hope To Gain From One
-
Turning An Internship Into A Job
-
Balancing Internships With Academic & Professional Responsibilities
-
Secondary Data: Gathered through additional online research.
Key Findings
-
Most students do some kind of preparation beforehand, whether it's using online resources or reaching out to advisors.
-
It is ideal to be ready for an internship by building a portfolio, preparing a résumé, and practicing for an interview.
-
Common pain points with pre-existing internship services include…
-
Unclear job details.
-
Irrelevant material.
-
Such as the service confusing "Communication Design" with other Communication fields.
-
-
-
A good internship experience includes.
-
Gaining real-world work experience.
-
Clarification of career goals.
-
Opportunity to gain relevant practical skills.
-
Enhancement of future job prospects.
-
-
A poor internship experience includes...
-
Inadequate compensation (financial, skill development, networking, etc.)
-
Unorganized and/or unprofessional environment.
-
Irrelevant working experience.
-
Poor work/life/school balance.
-
VISUAL IDENTITY:
Our service was developed as a tool within Chico State's Student Center, so we designed it to fit in with the pre-existing visuals of the site, as well as the university's official visual identity.
The InternPro logo is our original design, which symbolizes the academic and professional journey of an internship. It also acts as the service's icon in the navigation menu of the Student Center.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
Challenges
I think that getting on the same page about the service we were designing was our biggest challenge during this project. When we talked about the features InternPro would have, it seemed like we often came away with different understandings of what we decided on, leading to confusion that would have to be cleared up later down the line.
Over the course of the project, I produced a significant amount of the materials we developed (including mapping, blueprinting, designing, writing, editing, organizing, etc.), both in terms of ideas and produced content. Because of my de facto leadership role, I also had to spend much of my time and energy coordinating the team, in general. And it is because of me having to contribute this disproportionate share of the total work that I didn't have as much time to refine my contributions to the project as much as I would've liked to during the original project timeline.
Learnings
Throughout this project, I learned about the integral elements of service design.
What stands out to me most is…
-
Learning how to curate a survey for primary research, elements of which include…
-
Overall Length
-
Question Clarity
-
Avoiding Redundancies
-
-
The importance of being on the same page as your team members.
-
Even if it seems like something is obvious, it would be wise to discuss every detail with your team members to avoid confusion that complicates or stalls the design process later down the line.
-
InternPro | SERVICE DESIGN CASE STUDY
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Team: Cristina Barriga, Gabrielle Doshier, Nicola Erlund, Claire Renar, Amanda Shingler
Project Name: InternPro
Duration: 14 Weeks
Objective: Create an internship service for current students.
Target Audience: California State University, Chico Communication Design Students
Focus: Improve how these students navigate the process of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship by designing a user-friendly service that would increase the ease and efficiency of said process.
MY ROLE:
Leadership
I led each group meeting by...
-
Keeping us on topic.
-
Suggesting how we could tackle what we needed to do.
-
Making sure everyone had a specific task each time we needed to produce work.
-
Proposing due dates for each segment of work that had to be done to ensure deliverables were completed according to the class schedule.
Research
My portion of the research involved conducting an online survey on how students feel about pre-existing internship service features, as well as what students typically hope to gain from internships.
Content Production
-
Creating the site structure and designing the site map.
-
Originating much of the textual content in the User Persona & Journey Map, as well as designing and updating them from the original drafts.
-
Making the majority of content in the Service Blueprint, as well as designing and updating it.
-
Creating the navigation menu for the service prototype mocks and ensuring it visually matched the pre-existing site our service would become a part of.
THE SERVICE:
InternPro is a tool in the pre-existing Student Center (accessible through the Chico Student Portal).
-
Available only to students majoring in Communication Design.
Features
-
Increases access to important information concerning the mandatory internship requirement for the program.
-
Streamlines the process of registering for and completing the course.
-
Prepares students for getting hired.
-
Educates students on how to find an internship right for them.
-
Provides tools to increase the ease of access to Communication Design internship opportunities.
HOW INTERNPRO MEETS THE OBJECTIVE:
1: More easily accessible than current MADT internships page.
2: Increases the overall ease & efficiency of finding, choosing, getting, and preparing for an internship.
3: Students don't have to waste time trying to find advisor contact info on their own.
4: Provides more information than current resources, taking away the stress of having to contact advisors.
5: Streamlines and increases the clarity of the current process.
6: Provides guidance to students who might otherwise not know.
7: Increases a student's chances of getting hired.
8: Prepares a student for a process that is often quite stressful and intimidating.
9: Increases access to Comm. Design specific internships.
RESEARCH:
Methods
Since our target audience was current students, we needed to hear directly from them about the different aspects of their internship experiences.
Primary Data: Conducted various online surveys with Communication Design students at Chico State.
-
Internship Survey Categories:
-
Finding & Choosing
-
Preparation
-
Feelings On Current Internship Services & What Students Hope To Gain From One
-
Turning An Internship Into A Job
-
Balancing Internships With Academic & Professional Responsibilities
-
Secondary Data: Gathered through additional online research.
Key Findings
-
Most students do some kind of preparation beforehand, whether it's using online resources or reaching out to advisors.
-
It is ideal to be ready for an internship by building a portfolio, preparing a résumé, and practicing for an interview.
-
Common pain points with pre-existing internship services include…
-
Unclear job details.
-
Irrelevant material.
-
Such as the service confusing "Communication Design" with other Communication fields.
-
-
-
A good internship experience includes.
-
Gaining real-world work experience.
-
Clarification of career goals.
-
Opportunity to gain relevant practical skills.
-
Enhancement of future job prospects.
-
-
A poor internship experience includes...
-
Inadequate compensation (financial, skill development, networking, etc.)
-
Unorganized and/or unprofessional environment.
-
Irrelevant working experience.
-
Poor work/life/school balance.
-
VISUAL IDENTITY:
Our service was developed as a tool within Chico State's Student Center, so we designed it to fit in with the pre-existing visuals of the site, as well as the university's official visual identity.
The InternPro logo is our original design, which symbolizes the academic and professional journey of an internship. It also acts as the service's icon in the navigation menu of the Student Center.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
Challenges
I think that getting on the same page about the service we were designing was our biggest challenge during this project. When we talked about the features InternPro would have, it seemed like we often came away with different understandings of what we decided on, leading to confusion that would have to be cleared up later down the line.
Over the course of the project, I produced a significant amount of the materials we developed (including mapping, blueprinting, designing, writing, editing, organizing, etc.), both in terms of ideas and produced content. Because of my de facto leadership role, I also had to spend much of my time and energy coordinating the team, in general. And it is because of me having to contribute this disproportionate share of the total work that I didn't have as much time to refine my contributions to the project as much as I would've liked to during the original project timeline.
Learnings
Throughout this project, I learned about the integral elements of service design.
What stands out to me most is…
-
Learning how to curate a survey for primary research, elements of which include…
-
Overall Length
-
Question Clarity
-
Avoiding Redundancies
-
-
The importance of being on the same page as your team members.
-
Even if it seems like something is obvious, it would be wise to discuss every detail with your team members to avoid confusion that complicates or stalls the design process later down the line.
-