by Nicole Findlay
Lindsey Fraser is helping to make everyday products a little less bewildering to use. The fourth-year cognitive science student has spent the summer interning at a local design firm.
In her position as a usability consultant at Akendi, a design consulting company, Fraser worked on everything from websites to workspaces, products to services. These otherwise diverse projects are linked by a common goal – to be user-friendly.
Fraser likes the variety she has encountered on the job. “I’ve written and edited reports for clients, researched academic findings, synthesized the results of our own user research and presented design recommendations directly to clients,” she said. “I do quite a bit of actual design work too.”
As part of her major in cognitive science, she has studied human perception, pattern recognition, and models of attention and memory. Understanding these systems and applying them in design can allow users to intuitively grasp how to operate products without cumbersome instruction manuals. Fraser compares the simplicity of the iPad to the impossibly complex VCRs of the past.
“I don’t think I would have understood the connection between the research, and the design process if I hadn’t had the opportunity to work in a place which so neatly ties them together,” said Fraser. “Co-op gave me a chance to work with a professional consulting firm with an international clientele; and I saw that cognitive science and psychology are incredibly versatile fields with many applications outside the lab.”
Carleton’s Co-op program provides students with an opportunity to develop work skills and acquire relevant industry experience by alternating work placements with periods of study. Co-op options are available to students of sociology, anthropology and cognitive science. For more information about Carleton’s co-op program visit http://www.carleton.ca/co-op
This year, the Departments of History and French have added a co-op option to their programs. For information about these options visit http://carleton.ca/co-op/news/french-history-co-op-information-sessions/