Ansys UX Internship
Internship, UI/UX Design, Shipped
Improving the experience of 3D product design and Design Language System
Overview
In fall 2022, I interned as a UX Designer in Ansys User Experience Team within the Design Business Unit. Ansys is a company that builds engineering simulation softwares of 3D product to solve complex design challenges and engineering products. During the internship, I worked on the Ansys Discovery — an interactive simulation-driven 3D design software tool, to create visions, brainstorm, iterate and enhance the overall user experience.
My Role
UX Design Intern
Duration
August 2022 —
December 2022
Users
Ansys Discovery Users — B2B
Ansys Staffs
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Visual Studio, MS Office
Ansys Design Site (Website & Desktop Toolkit)
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Helped with setting up and updating Ansys Design Language (ADL) site for Discovery using XML.
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Added images and text on the site.
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Supported creation of new visual assets in Desktop UI Toolkit for Ansys Discovery.
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Project 1
How it works
The Ansys Design Site is intended for use by members of product teams. Like PMs, designers, developers, and testers. It aims to provide structure and guidelines for the behavior and aesthetics of applications. It facilitates achieving a seamless and delightful user experience across Ansys’s broad portfolio of products.
2
Discovery Icons
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Assisted with the creation of high-fidelity visual designs and assets for Discovery.
Project 2
What I did
I was assigned the task of creating icons for Discovery software. Normally I would learn about the functions and requirements of the icons, how they work in the Discovery software, then brainstormed and did sketches, after multiple iterations, designed it in the Figma.
Every time after we finished creating the icons, we would export it to the UI Toolkit. This toolkit is also like a guideline for the team to have a basic understanding of what icons we have, and the functionality of them. We use Visual Studio to export the icons and keywords, and the result would be shown in the UI Toolkit. If you hover on the buttons, it will show the detailed information.
Multiple iterations
Final
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Toggle buttons to include contacts, bolts or both. Toggle buttons to include only those that have failed or are borderline.
Icons failed for connection toggle, contact toggle, and bolt toggle
Icon to create output parameter in Mass Properties and Measure Tools.
Radar Icon
On clicking this icon - all parameters defined in any components in this design tree get added to the parameter table. Users should be able to select all/ multi-select parameters that they wish to include in the table.
Icon for "Promote Parameters from all Components"
3
Ansys Design System
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Helped with designing the button components for the Ansys Design System using Figma.
Project 3
How it works
The aim for the Ansys Design System in Figma is to let people easily drag the buttons created, and change the states, size or composition by simply clicking on the buttons on the right side. Ideally the developers could be able to create a mockup or prototype by simply drag and change the properties of each button, without describing where and how they would like the button to be.
4
Icon for Chemkin and Forte ( Scheduled to be beta for software 2023 R1 release)
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Created icons for Chemkin and Forte products.
Project 4
How it works
This is another project I worked on before, creating a few icons for the Chemkin and Forte products for the Fluids department in CA.
Inspiration
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Multiple iterations
The UX team had meetings and communications with principle documentation specialist and senior R&D engineer in the Fluids department, did several iterations, and finally reach to the final design.
Event Based Trigger Icon
Spark Plug Icon
Engine Summary Data Icon
Documentation Layout
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Helped with designing the Discovery homepage of the Overlay help to get a better alignment, first access vs subsequent access
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Add topic navigator to search functionality
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Improve homepage — collapse and expand mechanism
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Improve algorithm
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standardize inclusion of links from overlay help to online help, use standard button link instead of text link
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Project 5
Iterations
Since this project started at the last few weeks of my internship, I was working on an early brainstorming stage, and it will be continued by the team in the future.
Learnings
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During my internship at Ansys, Inc., I had the opportunity to work as a UX Designer for the Discovery software. As part of the design team, I was responsible for the design system, icons, and layout of the homepage and overlay page.Through this experience, I gained a deep understanding of how to create a consistent and cohesive design language across multiple interfaces.
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I also learned how to effectively collaborate with other designers, developers, and stakeholders to ensure that designs were aligned with business goals and user needs. Overall, my time at Ansys was invaluable in helping me develop my skills as a UX Designer and I look forward to applying these learnings to future projects.
My Experience
During my time at MBU, I had the opportunity to partake in a number of memorable experiences. One of my fondest memories was a team event where we played Golf together and had a wonderful time. Additionally, I made new friends within the MBU team and carpooled together. To further enhance my understanding of user experience, I read several UX-related design books. Overall, these experiences have helped me grow both personally and professionally, and I am excited to continue learning and improving in the field of UX design.
Some of the work during the internship is under an NDA. Please contact me directly if you'd like to discuss my experience.