Autodesk

Strategic Foresight and HCI + Data Viz Internships

I completed two internships with Autodesk. One was with their Corporate Strategic Foresight Team, the other with Autodesk's Human Computer Interaction & Data Visualization Research team.

Role

Skills

  • Strategic Foresight

  • Product Management

  • UX Design

  • HCI & Data Viz Best Practices

  • Product lead

  • Strategy researcher

Highlights

Technology

  • Figma

  • Project Management Tools

  • Foresight tools

  • Running workshops for company strategy leads

  • Building network of industry experts

Autodesk is the largest provider of computer aided design software. They service the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Their work and research is often on the cutting edge of design.

Corporate Strategic Foresight Internship

Julienne Devita (Intern teammate) and I were tasked to produce a narrative that captured the spirit of the three themes of Strategic Innovation Priorities (SIPs) that Autodesk used to direct company wide innovation.

Original Prompt

Modified Prompt

We conducted an impact assessments on the original prompt, and saw it as a failure in all past iterations. We sought out to redefine the internship.

As members of the foresight team, we were also involved in pulling industry signals spanning AEC, Manufacturing, and Media and transforming those signals into long term strategies for the company.

Foresight Work

I worked directly with the Strategic Foresight team, collaboratively envisioning the future or Autodesk industries while leveraging the lens of the futures cone on the right.

Futures Cone

Problem Deconstruction

Surveys, Interviews, System Maps, and beyond

We conducted surveys and compiled quantitative and qualitative research about the effects of foresight narratives within the company. We created system maps to see how information flowed and broke down power structures to determine best routes for impact.

Despite high praise, nobody in the company had been impacted by the work of the past four intern groups. I decided to change course.

Persuading Leadership

Report

We recognized the depth of the problem at hand and wanted to create systematic change in how strategic foresight was explored. We began by creating a long form report, channeling all of our research, interviews, and insights. To make this more palatable, we created a shorter form report seen on the right that was accessible to busy employees.

Podcast

Many of our users indicated their lack of interest in reading another report.To address this, we created a podcast that included sound bites from the many interviews we conducted with industry experts. After we released the podcast, we had senior leaders across the company coming to us inspired to learn more about our research.

After our podcast, we had senior leaders across the company coming to us inspired to learn more about our research.

Flash Fiction Narratives

Foresight Workshops

We created "Flash Fiction Bento Boxes" as tools for discussing and exploring narratives of the future. We held workshops with senior strategy leaders where the "Bento Boxes" sparked conversations that helped leaders thing creatively, and more importantly, define a strategy to reach innovative futures.

Human Computer Interaction &
Data Visualization Research Team

Graduate Internship 2

For my second internship I was embedded with the HCI and Data Viz research team. The team was full of experts who routinely published meaningful papers in the HCI field. My task during the internship was to harness their expertise and make it available to the rest of the company.

To do that we set up internal consulting sessions and got buy-in from Autodesk leadership. I also created a series of bite sized cards that provided quick intros to key topic areas. The cards were then followed by a series of full length web-pages that provided deep dives into HCI and Data Viz research, fundamentals, and company specific points of view.

Gaining Expertise in HCI and Data Viz Topics

Over the course of the internship, I created content articles on 35 concepts with mentorship from the experts on the research team.

Eye tracking
Factors that Contribute to Adverse Effects in VR
HCI Heuristics/Heuristic Evaluation
Immersion/Presence
Interaction Types
Interactive vs Static Visualizations
Just-In-Time Learning
Knowledge Capture
Managing Application, Information, and Spaces
Display Technologies
Emotional Design/Affective Computing​​
Natural Language Interfaces

Peer Learning
Pen Based Input
Perception Design Guidelines for XR
Perceptual Stability, Attention, and Action
Research Ethics
Software Learnability
Visualization Aesthetics
VR Content Creation Design Guidelines
VR Design Basics
XR Opportunties
Multi-App & Multi-Device/Cross-Device Design
​Exploratory vs Explanatory Data Viz

(Not) Lying with Visualization
2D and 3D Visualizations
3D Selection
AI and HCI
Brain Computer Interfaces
Choosing graph types
Cognitive Bias
Cognitive Frameworks/Aspects of Design
Data Gathering
Data Physicalization
Design for Collaboration

Research Process

The research process involved compiling research papers, internal projects, text books, and more. I also relied heavily on the mentorship of research team members on key topic areas to help me capture each of these topics and their design implications.

Concept Pages

Detailed internal resources

Each topic listed above has a corresponding concept page that I developed in partnership with various research team members.

HCI and Viz Concept Cards

Best practice at a glance

These quick-view cards were made for each of the 36 topics. They serve as either quick intros or reminders about the topic. The cards link to the standalone concept pages that I developed for each of the topics.

A knowledge hub within Autodesk

Navigation and Discovery

On this navigation page you can see all of the topics and materials displayed in an easy to search fashion