Creating the Competitive Edge: Successfully establish, lead and

mentor a student UX team

Robert E. Kennedy Library California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Kaitlin Reynolds Student Assistant

Conny Liegl Staff Member

On being an employee

On being a student

Robert E. Kennedy Library

Cal Poly State

University SLO

My life and UX

My life and UX

Building the right team

across disciplines

Being part of an inter-disciplinary

team

Giving pointers,

not orders

Working on assignments

Teach only what you’re

good at

Trust to be a subject-

matter expert

Talk and sketch

together

Team relations and

meetings

Challenge and support new ideas

Experiment and learn by doing

Keep problems

away

Have fun, enjoy the

experience

Finding opportunities

Taking chances

Mythbusters Sounds familiar?

Student Myths

§ Students are only good for busy work

§ Students are lazy and unmotivated

§ Students need close supervision and need their hands held at all times

Leadership Myths

§ Training employees takes a long time

§  It’s not worth the investment for short-term student assistants or interns

§ You can’t use student assistants or interns in real-life settings

Project examples Student-led work at Kennedy Library

Library Maps Redesign Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

Library Maps Redesign Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

Library Maps Redesign Benjamin Kieffer, Graphic Communication ‘14

Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15 Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17 Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15 Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17 Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15 Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17 Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

Website UX - lib.calpoly.edu Kaitlin Reynolds, Graphic Communication ‘15 Cameron Oelson, Graphic Communication ’17 Emily Wang, Graphic Communication ‘16

Thank you

Kaitlin Reynolds @kaitreynolds

Conny Liegl @connyliegl