Our mission is to protect every livelihood from the growing threat of severe weather losses.
— Understory
Understory Summer Internship
Summer of 2021, I interned at a startup company, Understory, located in Madison, Wisconsin. My projects ranged from apparel design, branding, creating company business cards, designing presentations for stakeholders and investors, and conducting market research.
Overall I enjoyed all the work I was doing but felt the need to challenge myself and saw an opportunity to be a team player for the company. So I took initiative to the get involved with the development team and help with the launch of a new project called Dunvagan.
Role
UX Researcher
Design Consultant
Tool/Methods
Miro, RIT Library Database
Timeline
2 weeks
Summer of 2021, I interned at a startup company, Understory, located in Madison, Wisconsin. My projects ranged from apparel design, branding, creating company business cards, designing presentations for stakeholders and investors, and conducting market research.
Overall I enjoyed all the work I was doing but felt the need to challenge myself and saw an opportunity to be a team player for the company. So I took initiative to the get involved with the development team and help with the launch of a new project called Dunvagan.
Role
UX Researcher
Design Consultant
Tool/Methods
Miro, RIT Library Database
Timeline
2 weeks
1. The Challenge: The Dunvagan Project
My role was to create an in-depth analysis of 5 leading insurance companies that used different insurance portals to generate policy quotes for consumers.
2. Our Goal
Our goal as a team was to understand how our company could make our quoting portal better and more user-friendly. Down below is a slide deck of my findings.
My role was to create an in-depth analysis of 5 leading insurance companies that used different insurance portals to generate policy quotes for consumers.
2. Our Goal
Our goal as a team was to understand how our company could make our quoting portal better and more user-friendly. Down below is a slide deck of my findings.
3. The Process
By using a software called Miro, I was able to make a timeline of each brand's user experience. Then I documented the pleasure and pain points a user felt. Another element of my research was evaluating who the users were for each company. Over time I realized many different UX decisions were implemented in the interface depending on the audience. Some brands, like Lemonade, were targeting the everyday user looking for insurance, while companies like Arbol directly targeted insurance brokers and tended to use more fancy insurance jargon. These discoveries caused our development team to reassess our goals and targets for our portal.
By using a software called Miro, I was able to make a timeline of each brand's user experience. Then I documented the pleasure and pain points a user felt. Another element of my research was evaluating who the users were for each company. Over time I realized many different UX decisions were implemented in the interface depending on the audience. Some brands, like Lemonade, were targeting the everyday user looking for insurance, while companies like Arbol directly targeted insurance brokers and tended to use more fancy insurance jargon. These discoveries caused our development team to reassess our goals and targets for our portal.
4. Lessons
1) Startup companies may have short turnarounds and small teams that may not have members with a UX or design background. They also may not have time for research or user testing.
2) Don't assume your users understand how to use your interface. I found while analyzing other brands some brands
had UX designs that could be more intuitive. At times I was confused about how I would complete certain steps. When
I encountered these moments, it reminded me why user testing is so important to product development.
had UX designs that could be more intuitive. At times I was confused about how I would complete certain steps. When
I encountered these moments, it reminded me why user testing is so important to product development.
