– Tsering Dhundup
“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovate that draws from the kit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”- Tim Brown
My name is Tsering Dhondup. I am currently interning at Ishan Khosla Design, Greater Kailash on UI/UX design. I have completed my schooling from Upper TCV School and pursued a degree in Commerce thereafter. I first got interested in design during the first year of my college when I realized that I have no interest in the field of Commerce despite scoring good marks in the field. After much contemplation, I decided to become a UI/UX designer and begun to acquaint myself well with the field through rigorous self-study, by reading extensively on/about the software, learning how to design by watching many design tutorials etc. The more I study, the more engulfing and interesting it became.
User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) designs are of recent development and trending widely. In the same way, developing apps and websites has become an attractive career option for developers, designers and digital creators all over the world. One of the reasons I believe is clear i.e. smartphones are ubiquitous and the potential uses for apps are infinite. With that being said, I got my first internship opportunity as a UI/UX designer at Ishan Khosla Design (IKD hereafter), one of the well-known design studios in the country. Prior to this internship, I have been freelancing for a year. I started interning at IKD on September 13 and will continue till January (4 months in total) next year. I figured out that the IKD is a perfect play/practising ground for a UI/UX beginner like me to explore how UI/UX design is executed in the real industry. The best thing about interning at this studio is that I get to practice what they teach and hone my skills in UI/UX through various projects they assign to each of the interns.
In the past three months at the Studio, I was taught and assigned to work on book designs, websites, mobile apps and a commercial poster design for a perfume brand. I have also learnt how to approach/deal with prospective clients; how to prioritize multiple projects; how to file design works digitally and excel with new concepts and ideas in designing at the same time. Most importantly, I learnt how to work with a design team which can be exhausting and daunting at times as everyone has different ideas and thoughts which may not work in line with the rest of the team all the time; and how to deal with these kinds of situations is something that I would like to take away from this internship opportunity apart from technical learnings.
I feel fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to work with talented designers. I know I have miles to go before I can claim to be a competent designer but I am exultant that I could explore experience and learn so much from those who are so skilled and have accomplished so much through their hard work, creativity, and innovation in design. I look forward to absorb and learn more from the remaining one month of internship at this studio. I would like to thank Empowering the Vision (ENVISION) for not only assisting me financially through their Fellowship Program but also helping me connect and get the internship at IKD.