Northwestern Medicine Information Services Internship
ROLE:
UX Intern
TEAM:
1 Manager
3 DPs
4 Designers
2 Researchers
TIME:
May 2025 - Present
SKILLS:
Design Systems
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Stakeholder - Communication
Product Thinking & Design
Color Accessibility
TOOLS:
Figma
Azure Devops
Microsoft Office
OVERVIEW
Streamlining the user experience across services
During my internship at Northwestern Medicine, I was part of the User Experience team. My team is in charge of handling all patient facing and internal digital products, doing everything from research to design. As the only intern on the UX team, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of professionals within my team as well as cross collaborate with individuals in other teams and departments. This experience not only refined my technical skills, but also taught me how to approach a variety of unfamiliar situations. Despite being an intern, I was able to mark my spot within the team and create impactful contributions to projects with a patient/user first approach.
My main contributions include:
Taking lead with redesigning a patient/user facing platform to reduce repetition in content, better organize + group services on the page, and tackle design inconsistencies to limit patient frustration, increase navigation, and increase user traffic to specific pages
Turning an internal service for developers into dark mode while also testing out dark mode color palettes to reduce eye strain to enhance digital work experience
Supporting the research behind another patient facing service through pain point analyses, organizing and drafting questions for user tests, and sitting in on moderated test sessions
Creating components and consolidating the existing design system to formalize design styles and enhance consistency across products
At the end of my internship, I had the opportunity to present my work to the entire IS department. I had a lot of fun creating meaning with my designs and getting the opportunity to share my work and connect with many inspiring people from all backgrounds. I’m working part-time at Northwestern Medicine this fall, so look forward to updates as I continue learning!
REFLECTION
Good designs work; great designs work for everyone.
Accessibility is such a crucial part of design, yet it’s easy to overlook. When experimenting with colors, I often assumed they were accessible at first glance, only to find they didn’t even pass the WCAG AA test. During my time at Northwestern Medicine, I gained a much deeper understanding of accessibility standards—their different levels and how to properly test for them.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable.
As the only intern on the team, I often felt anxious about making mistakes—everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Many of the tasks I faced were brand new to me, which was intimidating at first. However, each time I pushed through, I not only learned how to improve but also gained the confidence to take on similar challenges again.
Clear communication drives trust and momentum.
With so many projects going on at the same time, it's crucial to be as communicative as possible. Taking charge, being proactive with questions, and setting aside time to share my work fostered trust towards me. This allowed me to tackle problems early on and stay aligned with the rest of my team.
