A design internship is an opportunity for a student in a design program to gain hands-on experience in their field of choice. There are many different kinds of design interns can focus on, such as graphic design, UX design, interior design, and more. The tools that a design intern learns how to use may depend on the kind of internship they have. For example, a graphic design intern may spend a lot of time with Photoshop while a UX design intern needs to know basic coding languages such as HTML.
However, many of a design intern's tasks are similar no matter what kind of design they are focusing on. They shadow professional designers and attend meetings with them to learn about the work. Interns often take on menial tasks like managing social media in addition to their design work.
Most design interns are working towards a bachelor's or master's degree in design or are recent graduates. They do not need many years of professional experience to work as an intern, but a few design projects in their portfolio will make their application stand out. The average salary for a design internship is $46,512 a year, however many internships are unpaid.
What is a Design Internship?
What Does a Design Internship Do
There are certain skills that many design interns have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed time-management skills, communication skills and analytical skills.
How To Become a Design Internship
If you're interested in becoming a design internship, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.1% of design interns have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.6% of design interns have master's degrees. Even though most design interns have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Design Internship Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a design internship can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as designer, progress to a title such as design engineer and then eventually end up with the title project engineering manager.
Average Salary for a Design Internship
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Design Internships
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
6. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
7. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
8. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
9. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
10. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Design Internship
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.1% of design interns listed graphic design on their resume, but soft skills such as time-management skills and communication skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Design Internship Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Design Internship templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Design Internship resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Design Internship Demographics
Design Internship Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among design interns, 58.3% of them are women, while 41.7% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among design interns is White, which makes up 76.1% of all design interns.
- The most common foreign language among design interns is Spanish at 32.3%.
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Learn Logo Design Theory, The Creative Process, How to Work With Clients & Master Adobe Illustrator Tools...
The Ultimate Graphic Design Course Which Covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Design Theory, Branding and Logo Design...
Best States For a Design Internship
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a design internship. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts. Design interns make the most in Washington with an average salary of $63,464. Whereas in California and Hawaii, they would average $60,504 and $60,389, respectively. While design interns would only make an average of $57,578 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$63,464
Avg. Salary
2. California
$60,504
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$57,578
Avg. Salary
How Do Design Internship Rate Their Jobs?
Top Design Internship Employers
Most Common Employers For Design Internship
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IBM | $72,724 | $34.96 | 20 |
| 2 | Broadcom | $56,749 | $27.28 | 30 |
| 3 | Intel | $52,132 | $25.06 | 53 |
| 4 | Calvin Klein | $51,256 | $24.64 | 29 |
| 5 | Anthropologie | $50,143 | $24.11 | 41 |
| 6 | Michael Kors | $49,883 | $23.98 | 76 |
| 7 | Ralph Lauren | $49,286 | $23.70 | 50 |
| 8 | Abercrombie & Fitch Co | $48,737 | $23.43 | 24 |
| 9 | The Donna Karan Company LLC | $48,208 | $23.18 | 52 |
| 10 | Tory Burch | $47,906 | $23.03 | 20 |
Becoming a Design Internship FAQs
Do design interns get paid?
Yes, design interns can get paid, although many internships are also unpaid or offer only class credit as compensation. Ultimately, it depends on the industry and company.
The average salary for the average design intern is $38,000 yearly. On the lower end of the salary range, they may only earn around $28,000 and, on the higher end, they may make about $51,000.
How do I get a UX internship with no experience?
To get a UX internship with no experience, you need to at least be enrolled in a degree-earning design program or related field. Ideal candidates are design students or recent graduates with a portfolio that demonstrates knowledge of UX design, Microsoft Suite, and prototyping tools such as Adobe Creative Suite.
How do graphic designers get college internships?
Graphic designers get college internships by being current college students or being recent college graduates and applying for school-sponsored internship programs that hire graphic designers.
What does a design intern do?
A design intern gains real-world experience working in design. This can include graphic design, UX design, interior design, or other related design fields.
Depending on the design field chosen, many of the specific tasks of the internship will vary greatly. Design interns typically shadow professionals in the design field of their choice while being responsible for small tasks and projects, like various aspects of social media management.