Tencent Interaction Design Intern
Brief: Recap of my internship at Tencent. Design highlights of a SaaS Marketing Analytics Tool for commercial banks.
Field: Product Design, Interaction Design
Timeline: 12 weeks | 2019
Role: Interaction Design Intern
Internship Overview
In summer 2019, I interned as an interaction designer at Tencent (Cloud & Smart Industries Group) with a design team of 35 people for 12 weeks. During the internship, I participated in the design of 6 projects in total. The most important one is a SaaS-based marketing analysis tool for commercial banks. I worked closely with clients and analytics professionals during the whole design process. The tool improves the efficiency of data analysis and customer management and will be implemented in the Tencent Cloud Service. Other projects include SaaS applications that serve professional industries, such as commercial banks, cybersecurity, and governments, and a big data visualization project. The detailed timeline of my internship and the time proportion of each project are as follows.
The internship timeline and the time proportion of each project
Among all the projects, I spent most time of my internship on the Marketing Analytics Tool and it was the most complicated one. So I will detail the design process, challenges, and project highlights in later sections.
Marketing Analysis Tool
Overview
The Marketing Analysis Tool was designed for a commercial bank to help them analyze their clients' distribution and personas in order to discover potential business opportunities. The key features include a dashboard, advanced search, a tag management system, and etc. I participated in the project since the very beginning and I was involved in every stage of the early project until I finished my internship. Our clients and GM were very satisfied with the product proposal and the Marketing Analysis Tool will be a module integrated into the Tencent Cloud Service. Now the development of the product is in progress.
Responsibility
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Did research to learn more about the commercial bank's business, marketings, and similar products.
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Worked closely with clients to understand their workflow and needs. Timely Communicate with clients about product progress and related questions.
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Consulted analytics professionals about analytical skills and the problems they encountered.
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Cooperated with the product manager to finalize project scope and feature breakdown.
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Composed interaction design specifications for graphic designers and developers.
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Made a product proposal PowerPoint with the product manager and iterated it many times.
Delivery
Process
Project Highlights - Dashboard
Goal:
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Synthesize complex information in a concise and easy to understand format.
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Conduct preliminary analysis on the dashboard.
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Identify the key variables that influence the outcome of the analysis
Challenge:
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Understand how professionals analyze marketing data.
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How to effectively organize all the information including filter type, filter parameter, results of each filter, and their relationship.
Demo:
* Data used in the demo is just a sample, only to show the interaction.
* The original language is Chinese, I use google translate it in English, so some layout is buggy.
Interactive Dashboard
All charts are connected, data analyst can start preliminary analysis directly on the dashboard
Process of Analysis
Visualize the process of preliminary analysis and the impact of each step.
Project Highlights - Advanced Search
Goal:
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Search by tags.
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Organize 3-level 700+ tags, search and locate tags effectively.
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Boolean algebra (AND, OR, NOT) among tags.
Challenge:
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Make the interaction of boolean algebra clear and easy.
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Work with developers to understand the logic and limitation of the database search engine.
Demo:
* Data used in the demo is just a sample, only to show the interaction.
* The original language is Chinese, I use google translate it in English, so some layout is buggy.
Organize 700+ Tags
Side navigation bar, hover to direct to the category
Effective Boolean Algebra
Side navigation bar, hover to direct to the category
Takeaways
Work with clients
During the internship, the most valuable thing for me was getting a chance to work so closely with clients. We have held many meetings with clients to clarify the scope of the product and features. It was a long process, but it was very important for later product design. I was lucky to participate in every meeting. Under the guidance of the mentor, I learned the things to pay attention to during the meeting:
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Learn from clients
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It is necessary to understand clients, but don't accept all their requirements without critical thinking.
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Learn to evaluate the cost of implementing features.
Iteration is the key
No one knows what the product will look like from the beginning. Every iteration and testing is very valuable, even if there are many back and forth in the process. When I was designing the advanced search function for the Marketing Analytics Tool, I tried three different versions and iterated 4 times until the final solution. But the final solution is still not perfect, more iteration is needed.
Be a strategic thinker not just a designer
I participated in the design of four SaaS systems. It was always interesting to learn new knowledge from different fields, but it was also challenging to understand the business and produce high-quality designs in a short time! The design of SaaS seems very similar, but there are many interaction details to be considered when it comes to specific business scenarios and functions. Only be a designer is far from enough, it is important to deepen the understanding of business strategies. I can't design a good product if I don't understand the business goal of the product. I encountered many difficulties at the beginning of designing the Marketing Analysis Tool because of the lack of a sense of business.
Marketing Analytics Tool
Overview
The Marketing Analytics Tool was designed for a commercial bank to help them analyze their clients' distribution and personas in order to discover potential business opportunities. The key features include a dashboard, advanced search, a tag management system, and etc. I participated in the project since the very beginning and I was involved in every stage of the early project until I finished my internship. Our clients and GM were very satisfied with the product proposal and the Marketing Analytics Tool will be a module integrated into the Tencent Cloud Service. Now the development of the product is in progress.
Responsibility
-
Did research to learn more about the commercial bank's business, marketings, and similar products.
-
Worked closely with clients to understand their workflow and needs. Timely Communicate with clients about product progress and related questions.
-
Consulted analytics professionals about analytical skills and the problems they encountered.
-
Cooperated with the product manager to finalize project scope and feature breakdown.
-
Composed interaction design specifications for graphic designers and developers.
-
Made a product proposal PowerPoint with the product manager and iterated it many times.
Delivery
Process
Project Highlights - Dashboard
Goal:
-
Synthesize complex information in a concise and easy to understand format.
-
Conduct preliminary analytics on the dashboard.
-
Identify the key variables that influence the outcome of the analytics
Challenge:
-
Understand how professionals analyze marketing data.
-
How to effectively organize all the information including filter type, filter parameter, results of each filter, and their relationship.
Demo:
* Data used in the demo is a sample, only to show the interaction.
* The original language is Chinese, I use google translate it into English, so some layout is buggy.
Interactive Dashboard
All charts are connected, data analyst can start preliminary analysis directly on the dashboard.
Process of Analysis
Visualize the process of preliminary analytics and the impact of each step.
Project Highlights - Advanced Search
Goal:
-
Search by tags.
-
Organize 3-level 700+ tags, search and locate tags effectively.
-
Boolean algebra (AND, OR, NOT) among tags.
Challenge:
-
Make the interaction of boolean algebra clear and easy.
-
Work with developers to understand the logic and limitation of the database search engine.
Demo:
* Data used in the demo is a sample, only to show the interaction.
* The original language is Chinese, I use google translate it into English, so some layout is buggy.
Organize 700+ Tags
Side navigation bar, hover to direct to the category
Effective Boolean Algebra
Visually input complex search conditions. It is friendly for both new users and experienced users.
(3 iterations )
Search Condition Preview
Preview complex search conditions in a SQL-like expression, which is more friendly for data analysts.
Results :D
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Our clients were very satisfied with the product proposal and paid $1.5 M.
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The Marketing Analytics Tool will be a module integrated into the Tencent Cloud Service. Now the development of the product is in progress.
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The design of the dashboard and advanced search became components that will be used for similar features.