I was the Content Design Intern in Instagram's Core Creation design team during my summer internship at Meta.
I spent the summer of 2023 working onsite at Instagram in Menlo Park, CA, as a Content Designer, optimizing the New User Experiences (NUX) for Instagram’s Posts, Stories, and Reels creation flow. I collaborated with engineers, UX researchers, product designers, and data scientists to focus specifically on the Tooltip experience for new users on Instagram.
Although my strengths lie in Product and UX design, I wanted to use this special opportunity to hone my skills in UX writing and develop a business-focused mindset. As a Content Designer, I needed to think about features holistically and keep the big picture in mind. I have definitely gained a lot from this internship, and it has made me a better designer. Unfortunately, some of my work is under NDA. This case study will showcase few of the work artifacts and focus primarily on my learnings.
Auditing and learning context
To better understand the problem, I audited all tooltips and relevant NUXs across the Instagram product. I also set up 1:1 meetings with designers, engineers, and market managers from different teams to gain deeper insights into the problem.
Building relationship with
cross-functional peers
Optimizing the tooltip experience required deprecation and A/B testing. I spent time discussing tooltips and other NUXs with other content designers. Additionally, I worked closely with engineers to test specific strings and make informed decisions about deprecation.
Designing
I primarily used Figma and Instagram’s design system to create potential solutions for various NUXs. I led brainstorming and critique sessions with different design teams. To better convey my ideas when proposing new solutions, I built a clickable prototype using Origami.
Proposing centralized solution
Beyond my core project, I aimed to maximize my impact by proposing a long-term centralized solution to prevent similar problems in the future.
As mentioned above, I had a core project for my entire internship, which I divided into several milestones. Each milestone took approximately one to two weeks to complete. My main responsibility was to improve the tooltip experience in Instagram's creation flow. To ensure a structured approach, I first outlined the project's goals and broke them down into manageable tasks. I prioritized these tasks based on their importance and impact, setting clear deadlines for each milestone. This methodical planning allowed me to stay on track and ensure steady progress.
Beyond my core project, I sought opportunities to contribute to broader initiatives and think about long-term solutions. This included collaborating with other teams to identify areas where my work could have a more significant impact and proposing strategies to enhance the overall New User Experience on Instagram.
The project brief below explains in detail what I accomplished at each stage:
Working at the world's leading tech company was definitely a dream come true for me. So, here's a fun rundown of my summer stats, both on and off the clock!
I blurred out some of the important information, but feel free to contact me if you want to learn more ☺
01: Don’t be afraid to ask questions
There are no silly questions! Asking for clarity and understanding from mentor and peers can lead to valuable insights and foster growth.
02: Seek feedback even at early stages
Feedback helps you grow! We should always seek feedback and improve the work based on it.
03: Keep track and document your work
Organization is key! It is important to document and organize our work for better collaborations.
