12-week summer internship
role
UX Research Intern
impact
5 page research report, competitor analysis, video reel, presentation
timeline
June - September 2022
In the summer of 2021, I had the pleasure to intern as a UX Researcher at Amazon under the Fashion Team. I can confidently say that within those 12 weeks, I learned so much more than I could have imagined. I went into this internship with little to no user research experience, but I left with a more well-rounded knowledge of how research fits in with the design and decision making process at a large-scale company.
This work is protected under NDA. If you’re interested in hearing more about the project, please contact me!
Collections can be anything from "Trending Now" to a "Summer Looks" to even a "Plus Size" page that curates content for the customer and drives traffic to certain pages. I wanted to understand why customers use collections and how different attributes of a collection can influence their experience.
As the first step of my research project, I spent several weeks drafting out the most important step: the research plan. This served to be crucial in the rest of my research process, as I was constantly referencing it again and again. This was my first time making a full research plan, where I included research questions, goals, and also a moderator guide and screening criteria.
This phase was probably where I made the most mistakes. I was new, both to the company and to research, and I definitely stumbled through the process because of it. This led to a draft that didn’t best reflect my skills and did not effectively communicate my research process.
However, through the support of my manager and mentor, and also Amazon's leadership principle, Learn and Be Curious, I sought help from multiple avenues. I took the initiative to schedule 1:1s with the many talented people in and outside the team, and dove deep into past research archives to see what I could absorb from them. I learned so much within those first few weeks, and it allowed me to change and adapt for the second half of my internship.
competitors analyzed
participants interviewed
minutes spent interviewing
What my Miro board looked like at the end of the data synthesis. Blurred due to NDA.
Once the primary data was gathered, I spent several weeks synthesizing the results and analyzing for any trends and insights that may appear. Since I'm a visual person, I found that organizing a virtual post-it board on Miro brought me the most success in quickly identifying themes.
At the end of my internship, I submitted my final deliverables, which included: 5-page research report, appendices, a video highlight reel of participants, in-depth competitor analysis, and presentation to stakeholders. For a more in-depth slide deck of my intern journey, please contact me and I’d be happy to speak about it!
Overall, I truly enjoyed my time at Amazon. Special shoutout to my amazing team, especially my manager, Crystal!
Thanks for stopping by!
michellekou@gmail.com
