Maak: Task Management Feature Integration
Hala Chat: AI-Powered, Meeting and Collaboration Platform @VML&PIF

ROLE

UX/UI Design Intern

TOOLS

Figma, Miro, Jira, Microsoft Office, Loom, Notion, Slack

TIMELINE

June 2024 - August 2024

TEAM

Head of CX, Head of Design, Senior Product Designers, UX Designers, UI Designers, UX Writers

Contributions

For my Summer 2024 Internship, I worked at VML as a UX/UI Design Intern, contributing to two key projects from 0 → 1: Maak, a task management feature integration, and Hala Chat, an AI-powered meeting and collaboration platform, both developed for a government company.

While any mid to high-fidelity screens are under NDA, I've broken down some takeaways and design processes that allowed me to be successful at my work and helped hone my design skills.

KIND WORDS FROM OLIVER WEST, HEAD OF CX AT VML

Key Takeaways

Leverage Established Models and Frameworks (Jobs to be Done & RICE Scoring Model, Kano Model)

User Flows are Your Best Tool to Deconstruct a Brief
Being Proactive Goes a Long Way
Feedback is Gold
Data-Driven Decision-Making will Never Fail
There’s Always Something New to Learn About Figma

Methodology

Research

Existing Product Analysis

User Interviews

Competitor Analysis

User Flows

Sitemap Development

Define

Expectations Alignment

Breakdown of Screen Inventory

Design

Feature Ideation

Paper Wireframing

Digital Wireframing

MVP Generation

Copywriting

AI Asisstance

Evaluation

Internal Managerial Check-Ins

External Client Check-Ins

HalaChat

This product is a chat and video web/mobile app for corporate conversation with similar functionalities to Teams or Slack, intended to combine the best of what was on the market already but tailor the process to the government entity,

I worked on secondary research and feature analysis for WhatsApp, Slack, Teams etc. to inform the new design drawing from things that the client wanted to keep vs. discard
I shadowed client calls, developed feature list, managed screen inventory and designed 60+ wireframes for the project.
My work focused on developing innovative solutions that streamlined processes such as file and photo retrieval and voice note delivery, contributing to the overall efficiency and user-friendliness of the platform.
I pitched, designed and worked on integrating AI technologies, including Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) into the app for advanced efficiency particularly for these search functions.

I worked on secondary research and feature analysis for WhatsApp, Slack, Teams etc. to inform the new design drawing from things that the client wanted to keep vs. discard
I shadowed client calls, developed feature list, managed screen inventory and designed 60+ wireframes for the project.
My work focused on developing innovative solutions that streamlined processes such as file and photo retrieval and voice note delivery, contributing to the overall efficiency and user-friendliness of the platform.
I pitched, designed and worked on integrating AI technologies, including Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) into the app for advanced efficiency particularly for these search functions.

Maak

Research on the existing method of Task Management for the firm and conducting analyses/critique (what to keep, what to change) based on user interviews and client brief.

Replicating the existing product using wireframes to break down the information architecture and understand functionalities.

Research into market competitors and drawing from layout and functional insights and trends keeping in mind mobile design best practices.

Developing a features list for client approval and crafting a sitemap and screen inventory to duplicate effective functionalities into the app

Paper Wireframing → Digital Wireframing in an iterative process considering weekly client check-ins and managerial feedback. This then led to creating the final screens in batches. Some empty states are shared below. Under NDA, I am not able to share anymore.

Simultaneously I worked with UX copywriters to discuss and finalize accurate and intuitive language for mainly buttons and empty states in conjunction with existing terminology and interview insights surrounding language on the current tool used for the most efficient transition for users