This past Fall quarter at Western, I had the opportunity to serve as the Director of UX/UI for Integrated Marketing Communications, a student-led course offered by the marketing program at WWU. In this blog post, I’ll share what I learned over the last 10 weeks and give you an inside look at what it’s like to be part of the executive team within this course.
As the Director of UX/UI, my primary responsibility was to understand the user and customer journey from the perspective of the prospective students we were targeting. My goal was to identify their wants and needs and guide them from being potential marketing students to declaring for the major. Within our small executive team, we were tasked with overseeing the development of products and promotions created by a larger team of content creators. We approved and provided feedback on their work, collaborated with clients to ensure alignment with objectives and creative briefs, and even hosted weekly networking sessions at various venues around downtown Bellingham. Here’s a bit more about the experience and the key lessons I took away.
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As the Director of UX/UI, my primary responsibility was to understand the user and customer journey from the perspective of the prospective students we were targeting. My goal was to identify their wants and needs and guide them from being potential marketing students to declaring for the major. Within our small executive team, we were tasked with overseeing the development of products and promotions created by a larger team of content creators. We approved and provided feedback on their work, collaborated with clients to ensure alignment with objectives and creative briefs, and even hosted weekly networking sessions at various venues around downtown Bellingham. Here’s a bit more about the experience and the key lessons I took away.
One of the highlights of the quarter was learning and practicing sprint reviews. These sessions involved reviewing the products and promotions developed during the last “sprint” (or week of content). Using sticky notes, we would identify things each squad should:
-Start doing
-Stop doing
-Do more of
This process encouraged agile thinking by focusing on the issues without immediately solving them for the product manager. It taught us to provide constructive, actionable feedback while fostering creativity and autonomy within each team.
Practicing feedback—both giving and receiving—was another invaluable learning experience. As an executive team member, I held regular meetings with product managers, delivering feedback in the form of "start, stop, do more of." This helped me develop a deeper perspective, looking beyond surface-level details to see the bigger picture.It also reinforced the importance of professionalism. Receiving feedback from our managing director taught me to approach critiques with a growth mindset. These lessons will undoubtedly carry over into my professional career after graduation.
With just 10 students in the class, we became a tight-knit group. Weekly networking nights brought us even closer. Before each event, we’d gather at someone’s house, hang out, and then head to the venue together. This camaraderie extended into the classroom as well. Each session started with “stand-ups,” where we stood in a circle and briefly shared:
-What we last worked on
-What we planned to do next
-Any blockers preventing progress
-Something we were grateful for
By mid-quarter, at least one person during stand-ups would mention being grateful for the team, which was always a heartwarming reminder of the connections we’d built.
The most impactful lesson I learned was the agile process. Agile is about flexibility and adaptability—especially when the status quo changes. Instead of resisting change, agile marketing emphasizes embracing it and leveraging it to improve strategies and campaigns. Our professor, Dan Purdy, often emphasized avoiding the “BMW” mindset—Bitching, Moaning, and Whining. Change is inevitable, and how we respond determines our success. Working with product managers and our executive team showed me the power of agility. Even when adjustments were inconvenient, everyone remained committed to making things work. This mindset has changed the way I approach challenges, and I know it will serve me well in future roles.
Writing this blog post is bittersweet. The lessons I’ve learned and the connections I’ve made in this course will stay with me forever. As most of the Applied Integrated Marketing Communications team prepares to graduate, I am confident that we’ll all thrive in our respective industries. Thank you for reading about my experience as the Director of UX/UI.
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