Internship empowered Cosmin’s future as a UX designer

Multimedia designer Cosmin Coman was such a hit as an intern at the IT company Quick Info that they subsequently hired him as a User Experience Designer.

‘I am deeply grateful for my internship.’

Words pour from his mouth when Cosmin Coman talks about the benefits of his almost three-month internship with the Aarhus IT company Quick Info which has ten employees. The company builds management systems, event platforms and mobile marketing apps primarily for retail stores and chains.

‘It was a really pleasant and evolving experience that has improved my overall quality of life,’ says the 30-year-old multimedia designer and User Experience Design student who lives in Aarhus.

Swapped internship with permanent employment

Cosmin came from Transylvania in Romania in 2018 to study in Aarhus. And the diligent intern managed to plant his feet firmly in the Danish labour market before he even graduated.

At the end of his internship, Quick Info swapped his internship contract with a student job.

Fast forward three years from arriving in Denmark. Cosmin still works part-time at the company, now as a User Experience Designer, while he continues his studies on our Digital Concept Development Bachelor’s top-up programme.

Designed member app and campaign site

As an intern at Quick Info, Cosmin helped build the campaign site ‘Tæl Skridt’ (count your steps) for a Danish sports federation, Firmaidrætsforbund, and he helped in the development process of a membership app for one of Denmark’s leading retail company Coop.

Professionalised workflow

At Quick Info, Cosmin created not only value with his creativity and talent for designing great digital solutions. He also introduced a new open-source tool, Figma. Today, this is a permanent part of their workflow which has professionalised and streamlined collaboration throughout the process, from idea and sketch to finished app.

Communication, business understanding and hardcore design

With the job came countless hours behind the screen and many hours of creative play and learning in collaboration with colleagues, bosses, users and customers.

‘I worked on all stages of the development of a digital solution, from research and data collection to collaboration with developers and testing of the prototype.’

In addition to hardcore skills within the UX discipline, Cosmin also learned softer skills during his internship such as effective and positive communication with customers and colleagues at all levels.

Part of a workplace

Cosmin went to work with humility and curiosity. And at no point did he, the company’s first intern, feel like cheap labour.

‘I was given full ownership and responsibility for the features I helped design. It gave me so much knowledge and confidence,’ he says.

Also time for jogging, table tennis and hygge

Between tasks, there was also time for jogging and table tennis matches with colleagues and practising his Danish during lunch.

‘I felt welcome and appreciated. They were open to my ideas and there was a positive and constructive environment where good resources were exchanged from them to me and vice versa,’ says Cosmin, who also has a Bachelor’s degree in video production from Romania.

Cosmin Coman and Quick Info were among five nominees for Business Academy Aarhus’ Internship of the Year competition in 2020.