Faisal’s Journey as a Digital Experience Design Intern: Creating Value for Both Student and Organisation

A strong match from day one

Faisal started his internship with great enthusiasm. It quickly became clear that there was a strong alignment with Nazka and the scope of the Digital Experience Design programme. Throughout his internship, Faisal gained hands-on experience in branding, user experience, interface design, digital development, project management and communication, with plenty of room for growth and reflection.

Onboarding: learning by doing

Every internship at Nazka begins with a two-week onboarding period. During this phase, the focus is on getting to know our way of working and our technology stack. For Faisal, this included:

• becoming familiar with our technology and design stack and workflow.
• working with our internal Mapframe codebase and setting up a basic map application
• getting hands-on experience with our deployment flow, DevOps approach and Scrum/project management

This approach allows interns to quickly get up to speed and smoothly transition into working on real projects.

Working on real-world projects

We deliberately aim to create a win-win situation: for both the student and our organisation. We believe this can only be achieved by actively involving interns in ongoing projects, rather than assigning them to isolated internal tasks. This gives students a realistic insight into working in a professional environment, helps them develop teamwork skills, and supports both professional and personal growth. At the same time, it adds real value to our projects.

Key contributions

During his internship, Faisal worked on various projects and deliverables. Below is a brief selection:

Expansion and optimisation of Nazka’s UI Design Kit (Figma)

The UI Design Kit serves as a central foundation for consistent and recognizable UI design. It speeds up the design process and improves collaboration through reusable components and clear guidelines. This enables Nazka to efficiently design, expand and optimize its digital products.

Several variables were simplified by Faisal, and a number of components were optimised and made responsive.

Wireframes and mock-ups for the ClimRes Evacuation Service-map

In crisis situations such as wildfires or floods, fast and clear communication is essential. Within the CLIMRES-project, a tool is being developed that enables emergency services to map evacuation points and obstructions, and to send targeted alerts (with evacuation routes) to residents. Faisal contributed to the design of the mock-ups in preparation for a co-creation session with the target audience.

Interactive prototyping for the ENHANCE project

ENHANCE is a Horizon Europe project focusing on the resilience of coastal areas. Using a user-friendly toolkit, it will be possible to tackle health challenges for people, animals, and the environment in an integrated way. Faisal assisted in the creation of several visualizations and dashboards for this project. More information can be found on the ENHANCE project page.

Wrapping up with reflection

Traditionally, we conclude each internship with a final presentation. Faisal used this moment to reflect on his journey, the results he achieved and the lessons he learned. This helps him develop clear communication skills and provides us with valuable insights and feedback.

Thank you, Faisal. It was a pleasure having you as part of our team!