overview
UX Design Internship at Pegasystems
All the US interns in a team meeting!
Pega is a platform for workflow automation and generative AI-powered decision-making for businesses. They provide software solutions that help organizations automate business processes, improve customer experiences, and drive digital transformation. Pega's platform is used by Fortune 500 companies worldwide to streamline operations and deliver personalized customer interactions at scale.
I was a UX design intern on Pegasystem's Research and Testing team during the summer of 2023. I primarily worked on Pega's new design system "Constellation." More specifically, I conducted usability studies to test newly released features, collaborated with other designers to align UX patterns, and worked on new design system features.
project
What I did as a UX design intern at Pega
One feature that I worked on is designing the additional information feature on different field types. I collaborated with other designers to conduct a competitive audit of other companies' approaches to authoring and displaying additional information while focusing on accessibility considerations. Then, I conducted multiple ideation workshops with other UX designers to create wireframes and mockups for our new designs. Finally, I organized a design proposal file that was ready for development!
After the end of my internship, the additional information feature went into development and was announced in Pega Platform '24!
This feature alllows users to define the content (including rich-text, images, and can even refer to case data) within an additional information field, which provides contextual information to end users in an accessible and space-efficient manner.
Additional information feature demoed in Pega Platform '24 announcement! See the full demo here
What else I worked on at Pega
Throughout my internship, I also worked on other projects in both design and research. I helped align UX patterns for Constellation, conducted usability studies to test newly released features, and worked on new design system features, such as the file attachment widget. My group and I also won the annual intern hackathon, which included Pega interns all over the world.
takeaways
What I learned from this experience
Like I said to all the people I worked with during my time at Pega, working here has been an AMAZING experience! So, I would like to share a few key takeaways that I've gained from it!
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Build strong relationships
The format of my internship was really flexible, and I got to work on a breadth of projects ranging from research to prototyping. As I jumped from project to project, I got to work with many different designers (who were all very, very nice) and build great relationships with them. I learned that building rapport with others is definitely something that makes a work day enjoyable.
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It's okay to be confused
Pega is complicated! There's a lot of things to learn during onboarding, like the weeks of design training to introduce the design system and to learn Pega-specific terms. The designers that I worked with always emphasize that it's okay for me to not understand how Pega's software works because it takes time to get the hang of it. At first, I felt clueless listening in on meetings, but after some time, I started to understand more and more. Now I know, it's okay to be confused; it just takes some time!
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Explore different parts of design
As an early career designer, I really wanted to gain experience in different aspects of design to figure out what I am most interested in. Thanks to the flexibility of the program, I was able to join both the research team AND the design team on projects and really spend time working on all aspects of the design process. As I move forward with my career, I still hope that I can continue exploring different sectors of design.