This week started off pretty fast, I gotta say! My first interaction on Monday morning was with a branding specialist, Matt. Our chat was very insightful as Matt shared the branding process at Metalab including the timeline and details they go through with clients and I was delightfully surprised to know that a lot of what we were taught in IDEA is pretty accurate with the way some agencies work (here for sure so far). It was really interesting to learn about Metalab’s experience with branding as they mainly focus on interactive work and digital products but it seems to have grown really quickly and is continuing to expand to create well-rounded products.

After this lovely chat with Matt, we had a company-wide zoom call (and this is probably the largest zoom call I’ve ever attended with 120-ish people to meet the new CEO, Arif Mansuri! It was pretty exciting, they had held off giving us the name beforehand for an element of surprise (no sneaky Googling!) and it was very well received. Arif introduced himself, spoke about what his plans at Metalab would be, and showed us his adorable new pup. The meeting wrapped up with hard-hitting questions such as: “is it pronounced Gif or Jif?” and “Mint ice cream– love it or does it taste like toothpaste?”. Let’s just say he made some friends and enemies that day.

The rest of the week went by quicker than I even noticed. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was put on a project that centers around sports and it’s been a really interesting experience so far. What I was really excited about going into this project (and am continuing to enjoy) was the fact that I would be working alongside female designers, one of who is a design lead. For me, it’s been really inspiring to see more women in the digital space, especially in higher positions of power. Anyways, the first portion of the project I was exposed to was the research side. I really enjoyed digging into the research plan and learning what the process was like, which research methods were used, how they went about finding an audience to interview, and what the overall goals of the research plans were going in. It was quick learning and I hope I can take it all in before I move onto the next project in the next couple of weeks! 🙂

Alright, week 2! This week was a lot more hands than week one. As I mentioned in the last post, the project I was put on to shadow was quickly wrapping up. However, as a little bonus for the clients, I was asked to create additional styling for a couple of screens and for their email template. It was an interesting assignment because I had to use specific guidelines for a portion of the product and then experiment with completely different styling for another portion. In the end, the team organized the Figma files well enough to pass along to the client and after our last meeting with them, we had a virtual celebratory drink together as a way to celebrate the end of a two-year project.

In between this assignment, my coach Jeremy also gave me another exercise to work on, an exercise called a Tarantino. It’s a design test that Metalab uses during the interview process. The brief for this specific exercise is to create a scooter app that is mounted to rental scooters available in the city of your choice and it’ll need to focus on creating the best possible experience for touring that city. The only constraint is the size of the screen but other than that, you’re free to do what you like! I started by doing research on scooter rentals, coming up with a user, looking at the competition, and then jotting/sketching down features I would like for an app like this. So far, I LOVE this exercise. I find it super liberating to go as creative as I want while also designing the flow and look of it. Originally this exercise is meant to be created within 10 hours but after going over my ideas with Jeremy, we decided that I can work on it as a personal project during my time here and my goal now is to have a portfolio piece by the end of this practicum!

My next week heading up is looking pretty interesting as well. I’ve already been told which project I’ll be on and it sounds exciting – a live sports app. What I’m really enjoying about my time here (and a big reason I chose an agency like Metalab) is the variation of projects that they work on. They seem to work within a lot of different industries– from fintech to mental health to pups, there’s constant learning involved in each project. I love it because aside from learning about a specific topic, you also get to learn about human behavior in that space, it’s super fascinating. With that said, I’m off to learn more about the sports world 🙂

It’s pretty wild to think that we’re finally at this point in the program: practicum! Of course, I never thought it would happen under these circumstances with Covid but I’m thrilled we’re here anyway. My first week at Metalab has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least. The first day started very calmly (better than I had anticipated being honest) with an onboarding meeting where I met my coach, Jeremy, a Design Lead who I’ll be working with, and Lauren, a Product Designer who’s gone through the internship program and is my designated buddy.

Every day since then, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of super fascinating and friendly members over Zoom meetings. I’ll be honest – it’s been a really long time since I last spoke to someone else other than the people in my household so it’s super refreshing to speak to other team members and learn more about their roles at Metalab. In a place like Metalab where remote working has been the norm long before 2020, it’s very likely you’ll be meet someone in a completely different city (or timezone) as you. I’ve learned something new from every single person I’ve met so far and I love it!

In terms of work, I’ve started at a slightly strange time right as a two-year project is coming to an end which means most of the work is just wrapping up. While it sounds slightly unfortunate, I’m really grateful I wasn’t immediately thrown into the deep end, and instead, I get to learn what the end process looks like (also known as a Handover). While I did sit in on internal meetings and one client meeting, I was also given time to familiarizing myself with current and past Metalab work, learning about the different tools used Metalab uses and basically trying to expose myself to as much information as possible. So far it’s a lot to process but not overwhelming! I’m just excited I get to learn it at all 🙂