Alaska Airlines (Internship)
Join my 3 month long journey at Alaska Airlines. I worked on the Design Systems team to help developers communicate with designers by improving process and documentation.
Role
UI Design Intern
Platform
Web, Mobile web
Timeline
June ‘21 - Sep ‘21
(3 mos)
Tools
Figma, CSS, HTML, Javascript

Context

Joining Alaska Airlines

When I first joined as a UI design intern in June 2021, I was presented with a few problems. I was also given a lot of freedom to explore. I started investigating the root of the presented problems by talking to product designers, UI designers, and engineers.
Sketch to Figma migration
Designers were not familiar with Figma and struggled to maintain consistency across various products.
Engineer oriented documentation
The doc site was engineer oriented and designers had no resources to make use of existing components.
Miscommunication
Designers and engineers were not communicating design specs or requests clearly.
Context
Proposed Solutions
Solutions in Action
Results

Proposed Solutions

After identifying these problems, I started ideating solutions. These are solutions and action items I came up with for each problem.
Sketch to Figma migration
  1. Create components in a flexible manner
  2. Demonstrate using the components for different use cases
  3. Write release notes with details about each component
  4. Publish instructions on how to use Figma in a technical way
  5. Reorganize color, text, and spacing tokens (design tokens)
  6. Solidify Figma file structure
Engineer oriented documentation
  1. Add Figma components to a dedicated UI library
  2. Guide designers on how to use components in different use cases
  3. Compile “blueprint” documents that outline specs of a component
Miscommunication
  1. Create a “blueprint” handoff template that designers can fill out to communicate effectively with engineers
  2. Receive design feedback and pass it on to developers
  3. Communicate perspective of designers to engineers and the perspective of engineers to designers
Context
Proposed Solutions
Solutions in Action
Results

Solutions in Action

1. Assisting the Sketch to Figma migration

When I first joined as a UI design intern in June 2021, I was presented with a few problems. I was also given a lot of freedom to explore. I started investigating the root of the presented problems by talking to product designers, UI designers, and engineers.

2. Adding design to engineer oriented documentation

3. Resolving miscommunication

Results After Internship

Sketch to Figma migration
Designers learned about important features available in Figma: variants, instant swapping, and color/text styles.
Engineer oriented documentation
Design documentation supported designers and became the single source of truth.
Miscommunication
Designers and engineers had a better understanding of each others’ perspectives and workflow.
What happened next?
© June Lee 2023
LinkedInEmail