product design internship

Quora + Poe

Designing optimal experiences for over 350 million users across both Poe and Quora
Team
Project Manager, 2 developers, 2 ML engineers,  1 Data Scientist, 1 Designer
Tags
Heuristic evaluation, user research, market research, A/B testing, data analysis, usability testing, wireframing, prototyping
overview
In the fall of 2023, I joined Quora as a design intern. Quora is a question-and-answer platform for seeking knowledge and sharing expertise that boasts over 300M users. Early in 2023, Quora launched a second product, Poe, a platform that hosts over 10M bots including ChatGPT, GPT4, and Claude-instant, alongside an extensive collection of user-generated bots. During my internship, I worked as a product design intern on the Quora Growth & Home Team working on the question page and the developers team on Poe working on the bot creation flow.
Roles and responsibilities
I worked on several projects across both Quora and Poe that are under NDA but here are some of my responsibilities. 
Research
Finding clarity in the constraints
During my time at Quora I worked on a handful of projects. The research I did for each project varied. For example some projects required a competitive analysis, or a heuristic evaluation but in general I researched both internal and external studies to gain valuable context and insights for ongoing projects. Additionally, I utilized our internal dashboard to extract relevant data to guide and support design decisions.
Design
Putting the puzzle pieces together
I proactively sought relevant information by asking questions at the outset about project objectives and technical limitations. Given the scope I appropriately ideated and created mockups in figma for multiple device types. I aligned my work with existing and upcoming features by leveraging the design system and closely observing ongoing projects. Moreover, I ensured that my designs were consistent with the overarching vision and strategic direction of each respective product.
Gathering feedback
Feedback, feedback, feedback!
My designs were then subject to feedback from the design team and other relevant stakeholders, including users, project managers, software engineers, ML engineers, data scientists, and even the CEO. Working closely with our UX researchers, I created usability testing flows. Additionally, I suggested A/B test variants and presented the insights that could be derived from each variant.
Handoff
Ready for implementation
I was responsible for creating handover documents and leading the kickoff meetings for implementation. I worked closely with developers to ensure that the designs were implemented correctly and met the desired standards, providing valuable feedback when necessary.
Other highlights

During my time at Quora I also had the opportunity to:

  • Give an internship presentation on my learnings from the experience.
  • Participate in the design system guild where I was able to create components for the design system!
  • Give "armchair expert" presentation for the design team where I illustrated trading cards for the entire team!
  • Join the Women's ERG and help plan & host the holiday event! This included designing a zoom background for the event and a logo for the ERG!

Screenshot from the Women's ERG Holiday event!

Learnings
Stakeholder management
This was my first real experience working with a big remote team, and let me tell you, there was definitely a learning curve! I had to manage multiple teams at once, which meant understanding and adapting to the communication styles and norms of each team. It was eye-opening to see how the role of a designer can shift depending on the team. This experience taught me the importance of being adaptable and flexible. I also learned that it's totally fine to have a preferred communication style, and for me, real-time chats are the most productive for important milestone moments!
Designing wide versus deep
Throughout this internship, I worked on six different projects! I got a really good look at the variety of projects that can come a designer's way. From quick design work to unblock eng to highly exploratory product vision type work and everything in between. This experience helped me recognize the distinction between wide and deep projects. Wide projects involve broad exploration, while deep projects are more constrained and dive into intricate edge cases. While the design process varies, this framework can help clarify goals and constraints up front and serve as a helpful starting point!
Math 🤝 Design
I always knew that there was a connection between math and UX, but I didn't realize how deep they went until my time at Quora. At Quora, data plays a crucial role in decision making, and every new feature undergoes several rounds of A/B testing before launch. Being at Quora threw me into the deep end of tracking metrics and understanding how changes in the UI affect them. I also got work with Jupyter Notebooks to analyze data and extract insights to guide design decisions. It was so similar to my days as a math researcher in grad school. I had serious deja vu.
Another project to check out:

LinkedIn – Optimizing resume tailoring

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View case study

Thanks for checking out my portfolio!

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