Paid CO-OP
User Research
DABL Process
Web Design
Prototyping
Research Analysis
CO-OP 16 Months
Ministry of Transportation Ontario
2-4 minute read
Hybrid enviornment
I was fortunate to work as a junior UX designer for MTO for 16 months!
Here I will review some highlights of my journey throughout my CO-OP experience. 🔑🚚
Overview
Contents
Tools Used
Timeline
16 month (May 2024-August 2025)
Miro
Figma
Slack
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Outlook
Background
The design team within MTO designs
public and internal facing products and services for Ontario citizens and staff
UX designers on the team work independently and collaboratively while
balancing business goals, user needs & technical feasibility
Purpose:
Create a public-facing self-tracking tool for workers to track their potential exposure to harmful substances.
Timeline:
The business initially requested the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) by year-end. However, their expectations expanded to include both
the self-reporting tool and the Occupational Exposure Registry (OER) within the same timeframe.
As the scope continued to evolve, the goalposts kept shifting.
Some of my contributions:
Project Spotlight: Occupational Exposure
I created wireframes and applied feedback from business in workshopping sessions.
Synthesized on Figjam. Made a synthesis insight powerpoint to present to internal team.
Note-taking the "Ask the Expert" interview sessions where we got feedback on our approach, wireframes & mock-ups.
Notetaking & Analysis
Some of the user interview note-taking I conducted for a project involving trucking permits.
Two examples of interview analysis of how users navigate an internal trucking inspection application called Prio.
Some interview notes from a project involving users in the workplace inspections process.
Journey Mapping
Before
Not scannable
Hard to read
Too wordy
After
Scannable
Easy to read
Succinct writing and clear illustrations
→
I helped create creative visuals such as improving journey maps.
Prototyping
Created an interactive Miro Training Board for the business team.
I was involved in the brainstorming & wireframing throughout the Discovery & Alpha stages of an "Audit Tracker" project.
Miro is a free digital platform for remote team communication and project management.
UX designers in the OPS (Ontario Public Service) heavily used this platform until March 2025.
?
Branch Meetings
Every quarterly branch meeting, the other CO-OPs and I organize activities & semi-host!
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Overview of our branch meeting schedule, including agenda.
2
Calendar overview of our schedule.
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Task allocation.
Roles discussed with management & re-assigned.
Voting on and discussing which activities to host. It had to be collaborative and able to accommodate for employees online and in-person.
We decided on doing trivia!
Brainstorming some trivia questions.
Some feedback we collected for future branch meetings.
Hackathon
Participated in an OPS (Ontario Public Service) Hackathon with other UXD co-ops.
Our schedule and task allocation for the OPS Annual Hack-a-thon.
Schedule
Voting
Our process of voting on an idea.
We used a star system, where we voted on what ideas we liked by placing stars beside them, then used the process of elimination to reach ideas that the most amount of team members like. We then listed the pros and cons of the ideas to further dwindle to one idea only.
Research
Used research to support our idea, is helpful to put in our final presentation as well.
Comparative Analysis
Compared different road safety applications to find pain points and gaps we can fill.
Solution
We prototyped an app called SafeTravel using Figma, then created slides and a script. Finally, we recorded a presentation video that puts everything together.
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Brainstorming
Brainstorming ideas with our own brains and with AI. Topic is about road safety and accident prevention.
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What I learned & Accomplished
This valuable experience gave me a hands-on experience of how UX designers work in the workplace.
I was able to see how the gears shift within the minds of designers when they navigate problems, work with business
& organize project meetings.
I am eternally grateful for this opportunity and for the managers, senior UXD's and team that helped me along the way. I've learned a lot more then I can verbalize on this page.
