Product Design Lab
Product Design Lab: Design a Feature for a Real SaaS Startup. A 4–8 weeks Intravarsity career experience (30–50 hours) for school and undergraduate students.
You'll be embedded (remotely) in a SaaS startup's product team. The startup gives you a real design challenge — a feature their users need. You'll conduct user research, design the full UX flow, build interactive Figma prototypes, and run usability tests. Your designs may actually ship.
Work with a real SaaS startup to design a new product feature from scratch — user research, wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes in Figma, and usability testing with real users.
Who it is for
High school, secondary school students & undergraduates. Interest in design, tech, or psychology. No Figma experience required.
Weekly plan
Week 1: User Research & Problem Framing
- Meet the product team and understand the feature brief
- Conduct 5 user interviews to understand pain points and needs
- Create user personas and journey maps
- Define the design challenge with the startup's product manager
Week 2: Wireframing & Information Architecture
- Sketch 3 different design directions for the feature
- Build wireframes in Figma with proper information architecture
- Get feedback from the startup's lead designer
- Select the strongest direction and refine user flows
Week 3: High-Fidelity Prototyping
- Design pixel-perfect screens following the startup's design system
- Build an interactive prototype with realistic transitions and states
- Add micro-interactions and edge case handling
- Prepare a usability testing protocol
Week 4: Testing & Handoff
- Run usability tests with 5+ real users and analyze results
- Iterate based on testing insights
- Create a design specs document for engineering handoff
- Present your work to the startup's leadership team
What you produce
- Complete Figma design file with components
- Interactive prototype
- User research report
- SaaS startup recommendation
- Intravarsity Proof-of-Work credential
Skills
Figma, User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Design Systems, Information Architecture, Product Thinking
Commitment
~5–8 hours/week for 4–8 weeks (30–50 hours total). 100% Virtual — work remotely with a real SaaS startup.