Creating proof of design concepts to improve voice safety based on a competitive analysis of 20+ companies and current engineering capabilities.
During this process, I collaborated heavily with our User Experience Researcher to understand research best practices and how to present my ideas in a way which both communicated the potential impact of my work, while explaining the actions required by cross-functional stakeholders to make these features a reality.
Determining the impact of language on user interactions.
I worked closely with our Content Designer and Data Scientists to understand how different types of language can lead to different user actions, and how different user journeys can be mapped by data signals in the platform, to create more quantitatively defined user personas, and as a result more informed features.
Creating a framework to identify areas of opportunity for future interventions based on different user journeys informed by data signals.
I worked with designers, product managers, and engineers from across the organization to understand what features were already being built, how to incorporate these new features within the product timeline, and how to create MVP versions of the proposed features with existing technologies. Talking to people from different teams was very useful during this process, since it allowed me to view these features from different lenses and understand how a Safety feature could potentially provide value, or even take away from another feature proposed by another team.
Learnings
Here are some of my key learnings from the term:
1. Data-driven decisions give you the ammunition to make better products
While I was aware going in that data was very important to make better products, I wasn’t aware of the extent to how much it could help in everyday decisions. Previously, I had only made user personas and journeys from research sessions/qualitative conversations, but being able to leverage the data signals we had to better identify different user groups and behaviours allowed me to curate what I was building to their explicit needs, as well as understand how it impacted them after launch.
2. Tailoring the information I present to get decisions made
People naturally tune out during long meetings, and it is my job as the presenter to ensure that key information is communicated clearly and effectively. Whether that’s replacing five bullet points with a visual representation, or presenting a Google Doc walkthrough instead of a presentation. The method of presentation isn’t as important as communicating expectations/needs, and getting the information across.
3. Identify areas of opportunity, and figure out how to solve them
My most interesting projects were those where I found an area of improvement, told someone about it, and worked on a team to solve it. While this may not always be possible, it’s important to be vocal about things you want to do. Coming in as the most junior (by a long shot) on the team, I didn’t know if I was “allowed” to find something other than my assigned work interesting, but actually expressing what I thought was important allowed me to work on projects I found interesting and gain a better understanding of how business goals lead to prioritization of work.
4. Safety first, and safety always
During my internship I came across the book Design for Safety by Eva PenzeyMoog, which talked about the different ways everyday features can be leveraged for nefarious means by those who want to do so. Talking to my manager, mentor, and the rest of my team about this was very eye-opening because this was something they thought about often when making decisions. This has led me to consider the same thought process when making design decisions on future projects: how can this feature be leveraged by those who want to use it for bad intentions, and what can we do to limit this?
SPECIAL THANK YOU
The past summer was a phenomenal experience, due in large part to the extremely welcoming Roblox community; I had the chance to sit down and chat with so many different people from the organization to learn about so many different topics. I want to give a specifically huge thank you to my Safety Design team - Tricia, Minseung, Alex, Sonali, Kelly, and Yumo - for being incredibly supportive, taking the time to teach me how to become a better designer and communicator, and allowing me the chance to explore different aspects of being a product designer. It was a great experience, and I took so much learning away from my time there.
Photo Library
Check out my photo collection below to see the incredibly cool people I met, and activities I did over the summer!
L-R: Skydiving in Tahoe, a small portion of our intern class on the last day
L-R: Food from one of our many Happy Hours, welcome sign on our first day, my roommates and I on our first day!
L-R: Visiting Harry Potter World for the first time, running my first half-marathon, Fourth of July in Tahoe
L-R: My favourite late-night burrito place in the Bay, views from the pier, views from the precarious rocks on Highway 1
