LYFT INTERNSHIP
EMPLOYER?? Lyft
ROLE? Product Design Intern
DURATION??May – August 2018
A special summer filled with joy, growth, and discoveries while helping craft experiences to build the world’s best transportation
Overview
I spent the summer of 2018 as a product design intern at Lyft in San Francisco, California. I was a part of the passenger experience team where I focused on helping create reliable and effective experiences at airports and venues. The features I worked on are currently in production and are strictly under NDA which means I cannot talk about them. However I will talk about my experience, learnings and what I was able to achieve while I was there.
Illustrations by Nick Slater for Lyft
WHY LYFT?
Based on the preliminary research results I was able to establish 4 primary goals from this project. The goals focused primarily on visual design due to project requirements and I took this opportunity to dive deeper into the visual design process and improve my workflow and my technical vocabulary.
Inspiring company Mission
I was extremely drawn to the company’s stance on social and global issues. Striving to build a better world and doing good through innovation and technology really resonated with me.
Passion for transportation and cities
Cars spend over 90 percent of their lifetime parked. I believe shared transportation systems are the way to solve this problem and help build cities around people and not cars. This would lead to greener, safer and better cities.
Design driven company
As a design-centric company, Lyft really cares about and prioritizes designing valuable experiences for its users. This practice makes it a great place for designers to thrive.
WHY LYFT?
Based on the preliminary research results I was able to establish 4 primary goals from this project. The goals focused primarily on visual design due to project requirements and I took this opportunity to dive deeper into the visual design process and improve my workflow and my technical vocabulary.
1. Passenger and driver side experiences at airports
2. Cross-platform wayfinding and walking instructions
* While playing catch with office puppers
KEY LESSONS
This internship challenged and pushed me to grow as a designer while I worked with a great team solving really important problems. Here are some of the major lessons I learned from my intern projects.
Crafting experiences based on a user’s emotional journey
Users go through a range of emotions when navigating through their user journey. I realized the value of designing experiences based on the user’s emotional quality to create a more intuitive and connected experience.
Clarity and continuity to limit confusion and develop behavior
At Lyft, it was vital to maintain continuity and clarity in the design solutions to help build user behavior that would make the user’s journey through the app seamless over time.
Collaboration is key
Working with people from different disciplines on solving problems helped me grow into a more well-rounded designer. This helped me develop my overall skill set and approach.
Empathy fuels ideas and solutions
I realized how effectively being able to empathize with the user and putting yourself in their shoes helps in creating thoughtful solutions. This user first mentality and practice really helped me push my work further.
Thank you!
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