Design Research Intern

Job title: Design Research Intern

Work Location: Chicago, IL (Remote to begin with)

Role: Full-time Internship

Timing: 12-16 weeks, roughly beginning early Sep 2021

Functional Team: Design Research & Strategy

Reports to: Director, Design Research & Strategy

Background

Highland is a digital product and innovation consultancy based in Chicago. We research, design, and build digital products and experiences for mission-driven organizations and customer-centric companies. Over 21 years, our team of researchers, strategists, designers, and developers has helped organizations launch over 260 digital products, turning their biggest uncertainties into opportunities for growth.

We often refer to what we design as Experiences that Matter: digital products and experiences that make the world a better place to live in. We primarily work with leaders of mid-market services companies and corporate innovation labs at large companies.

Our mission is rooted in Human Flourishinginspired by research conducted at Harvard Universitys Institute for Quantitative Social Science. We design our work to help human beings flourish, while allowing ourselves to flourish as well. For us, our valuesPeople First, Give a Damn, Be Curious, and Be Transparentare not just things to hang on the wall, but something we live by everyday and call each other out on.

The Design Research & Strategy (DRS) practice is led by David Whited and Amrita Kulkarni, nurturing a team with previous lives in music, theology, architecture, philosophy, industrial design, and many others. We read books together, challenge each other, question everything, rumble with vulnerability, and live humanely every day.

Project Context & Responsibilities

Highland serves clients at every stage in their journeyfrom early stage, generative research all the way to new product/experience launch. The Design Research Intern supports many parts of that process:

Project-related Responsibilities

• Research Planning : Able to break down project brief into a productive Research Plan, design Research Stimuli, craft Screeners and Research Protocols/Discussion Guides.
• Recruitment/Sourcing Support : Able to organize and manage recruitment efforts on projects based on a range of selection criteria.
• Conducting Primary Research : Able to design impactful research methods, and facilitate & debrief user research sessions with team support.
• Executing Secondary Research : Able to organize and build a secondary research track when relevant.
• Synthesis Support : Able to support the team through synthesis and sense-making, articulating Guiding Principles, Design Directives, & Frameworks.
• Deliverable Development : Able to visually organize and deliver report deliverables narrating project story and outcomes, with support from team.
• Design Translation : Able to orchestrate translation of user insight into design actions, facilitating ideation and concept-creation with other team members and clients.
• Managing Client Engagement & Timelines : Able to facilitate client interactions, work-sessions, and other engagements and manage client/project timelines, deliverables, & budget as needed.

Participating in the Wider Dialogue

• Aware : Connected to bigger dialogue about Design Thinking through reading and participation in events.
• Passionate : Keen interest in following and leaning into Human Flourishing programs/initiatives at local and/or global level.
• Networker : Nurturing a growing network of mentors, peers, and other creatives in the industry.
• Sharer : Sharing learnings, insights, and observations from events, reading, networks, and other professional experiences with the wider DRS + PD team.
• Initiator : A sparker of ideas, question-er of the status quo, and participator in initiatives within DRS and across Highland.
• Writer : Write blog posts and other articulating points of view about Design Research, your Highland experiences, and design for human flourishing.

Developing Yourself

• Empathic : Able to understand and feel others point of view seamlessly.
• Observant : Able to notice immediate surrounding and discern subtle behavioral cues, trends and patterns.
• Articulate : Able to communicate complex ideas and conceptual thinking clearly.
• Organized : Able to meet deadlines and inspire confidence in our clients by being thoroughly prepared for every interview and meeting.
• Visual : Able to think visually and communicate complex concepts through visual media/diagrams.
• Collaborative : Disposed to check in with others frequently and willing to listen and learn from them.

Environment

The Design Research Intern embodies Highland Values:

• People First: What we make and how we work should make it a little bit better to be alive: for us, our clients, and their customers.
• Be Curious: The big picture is everyone's There is always more to learn. We are generous in teaching what we know.
• Be Open: We respond to problems with solutions, not Vulnerability, while risky, leads to trust and understanding. We're accountable to our clients and to each other. Even when things aren't going well.
• Give a Damn: Our client's goals are our We do work we can be proud of. Quality is non-negotiable.

Dispositions

• A commitment to be unabashedly human, bringing your whole self to work.
• Self-awareness and knowledge of what you seek in your professional career.
• An ask for forgiveness rather than permission mindset, ability to pivot quickly.
• Restless desire to learn and ample energy to try new things.
• Confident interpersonal skills and an impulse to co-create.
• Ability to think visually and a tendency to forget whose idea it was.
• Lack of fear to express opinions, question things, and suggest wild ideas.
• Self-motivation, constantly finding ways to contribute, able to manage ambiguity.
• Disposed to check-in with others frequently, willing to listen and learn from others.
• Able to demonstrate genuine concern and thoughtfulness for the well-being of others around you.
• Discerning and observant: able to connect the dots between seemingly unrelated worlds.
• Express yourself through a range of personal/professional interests, hobbies, and passions.
• Time-conscious and organized; able to inspire trust and confidence by meaning what you say.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Exposure to the entirety of the design process: generative research, synthesis, frameworking, opportunity definition, visual communication, prototype testing, and presentation.
• Familiarity with working in the digital environment, especially across platforms, apps, websites, and so on.
• General understanding of service design principles and methods.
• Confidence in operating or attempting to pick up Microsoft Office, Miro/Mural, Figma/Adobe Suite, Whimsical, Confluence, sketching, and other similar software.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.

Compensation:

Internship compensated at an hourly rate based on current market value.