Team Reflection: Three Important Skills We Learned as UX/UI Designers 

In this blog, Mona and Becky discuss how they developed professional and creative skills in user experience design through collaborative practice in their work on the Supporting Student Parents mini site in partnership with the Family Care Office. Working alongside users and actively gathering feedback, Mona and Becky embraced opportunities to challenge themselves, refine their ideas, adapt to real-world needs, and produce work that they feel carries meaningful impact beyond the classroom.  

Written by the UI/UX Team

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This summer, our work-study as UI/UX web designers working on the Supporting Student Parents mini site opened the door to hands-on experience. Before this project, our experience was limited to academic work that primarily benefited our own learning and growth. Being part of something that has potential to create real change is a transformative experience that makes our work as UX designers feel significant. Through collaboration, many revision cycles, and navigating constraints, we discovered what it truly means to contribute to a team working toward a larger goal, and we’ve grown into better user experience designers as a result.  

 Confidence through Collaboration  

Collaboration is a huge part of the design process at iHub. When we work together in the same space, it is easier to bounce ideas off one another and build on these ideas until we’ve transformed them into something we’re proud of. Most of our best ideas for the Supporting Student Parents project came from these collaborative work sessions, where we had many open discussions with team members and project partners at the Family Care Office.   

Becky: When working on this project, I knew that it was important to collaborate with the team, but I didn’t realize how important it was to have meaningful conversations with the project partners as well. Talking about our work with the project partner was a new experience for me and initially felt nerve-wracking. I wanted to present myself as a thoughtful collaborator and someone who is confident about my ideas. Once we met with the partners and were bouncing ideas back and forth, I was no longer afraid of saying the wrong thing. Instead, this open discussion left me wanting to take greater initiative in the project. 

Mona: I loved the opportunity I had to discuss the project with the previous Team Lead and supervisor. We spoke about the design decisions made for the project and these conversations showed me the importance of understanding the context of the project and how past decisions were made. Connecting with different stakeholders made me feel more confident in the recommendations I was suggesting, ensuring they were aligned with the Family Care Office’s original vision. 

Every project is unique, so the opportunity to present our ideas directly to stakeholders, hear from users, and discuss the project within our team helped us to understand what mattered in the larger picture and develop innovative solutions that had impactful results.  

 Receiving Iterative Feedback  

One of our primary goals was to see how potential users who were interested in supporting student parents navigated through the site. We looked at the user experience in all kinds of ways, from formal user testing, surveys and in-depth interviews. We spoke to them about what worked, what didn’t, and what felt confusing. We used this feedback to refine our work and checked in with project partners to ensure we were on the same page.   

Mona: During the data collection process, I realized just how important it is to follow someone’s journey through a digital experience and see exactly what the user needs from the site. Conducting multiple usability testing sessions clarified the areas that needed improvement and helped us to prioritize next steps and design suggestions.     

Arshdeep: One of the biggest challenges we faced as a team was worrying about the quality of feedback we would receive and whether it would help us understand their needs. I then realized the real challenge was interpreting the feedback. Can we understand exactly what the user needs, without them directly telling us? After a few usability testing sessions, however, we started to see consistent patterns, which we analyzed and turned into actionable steps. 

 Creativity through Constraints 

Throughout the project we pushed ourselves creatively to think outside the box while still adhering to the Family Care Office’s style guidelines. This meant carefully blending fresh ideas with the existing brand identity, ensuring our work felt both original and consistent with the organization’s established image.  

Mona: Although there were some design constraints, I was pleasantly surprised by how much my personal style found its way into the final designs and how much I connected with what we created. 

Becky: Balancing creativity with established brand guidelines was a significant learning curve for me. I was used to starting projects from scratch, so adapting and reworking work originally created by others required a shift in my approach. It challenged me to respect the original intent and style while still finding ways to contribute my own ideas and improvements.  

While these constraints within the project were difficult to manage at first, they encouraged us to be more adaptable user experience designers that could problem solve. This experience showed us that limitations are not always obstacles but opportunities to innovate within the boundaries of a shared vision.  

Working on the Supporting Student Parents mini site this summer at the Innovation Hub gave us the opportunity to learn from the people around us, pushing us to be better. The iterative process allowed us to make mistakes, and encouraged us to brainstorm solutions, and constraints motivated us to work around challenges. We are grateful for the opportunity to work together and create work we feel proud of and look forward to applying the strategies we learned at the Innovation Hub to other parts of our lives! 

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