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Design internship vs junior designer

The differences between design interns and junior designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a design internship and a junior designer. Additionally, a junior designer has an average salary of $53,349, which is higher than the $45,791 average annual salary of a design internship.

The top three skills for a design internship include design intern, sketch and graphic design. The most important skills for a junior designer are sketch, graphic design, and adobe creative suite.

Design internship vs junior designer overview

Design InternshipJunior Designer
Yearly salary$45,791$53,349
Hourly rate$22.01$25.65
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs97,01858,152
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a design internship do?

As the name entails, graphic design interns learn about the career in graphic design in a hands-on setting. They have varied tasks and duties, including taking part in every meeting of the design team, conducting client research, assisting with social media and design projects, and working closely with experienced designers. They are often paid little or nothing at all for their service, but the experience that they acquire from their field can be dispensable.

What does a junior designer do?

A junior designer is an entry-level professional who is responsible for creating high-quality designs according to the requirements of clients. Under the supervision of senior designers, junior designers must understand project requirements and projects and use various techniques to create drafts, models, and prototypes. They collaborate with team members to pitch in creative ideas and produce final design solutions that can include banners or logos. Junior designers must also take on specially design tasks and use feedback from other designers to improve.

Design internship vs junior designer salary

Design interns and junior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Design InternshipJunior Designer
Average salary$45,791$53,349
Salary rangeBetween $32,000 And $64,000Between $43,000 And $65,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASanta Rosa, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonAlaska
Best paying companyMetaNike
Best paying industryTechnologyTechnology

Differences between design internship and junior designer education

There are a few differences between a design internship and a junior designer in terms of educational background:

Design InternshipJunior Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Design internship vs junior designer demographics

Here are the differences between design interns' and junior designers' demographics:

Design InternshipJunior Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 41.7% Female, 58.3%Male, 50.4% Female, 49.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between design internship and junior designer duties and responsibilities

Design internship example responsibilities.

  • Design promotional materials, annual reports, newsletters and HTML emails, manage the website presence and functions
  • Manage the website and twitter page, write the blog posts and attend numerous fashion shows and sample sale rooms.
  • Assemble front-end implementation using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  • Develop knowledge of designing websites and learned languages such as HTML and CSS.
  • Improve and simplify the user interface by using interaction design and data visualization.
  • Leverage project management principals to improve process and program effectiveness, drive down costs and improve efficiency.
  • Show more

Junior designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage the website and twitter page, write the blog posts and attend numerous fashion shows and sample sale rooms.
  • Coordinate REVIT teaching for inner office/branches.
  • Utilize PowerPoint to create furniture, lighting and final material selection presentations for client meetings.
  • Create PowerPoint templates to be used by clients or other upper management in proposals or live shows.
  • Sketch new designs (by hand and computer aid) add colors and make updates to carry-over styles as necessary.
  • Develop residential designs using Revit.
  • Show more

Design internship vs junior designer skills

Common design internship skills
  • Design Intern, 12%
  • Sketch, 11%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • Visualization, 3%
  • UI, 3%
Common junior designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Graphic Design, 9%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 8%
  • Revit, 5%
  • Design Projects, 5%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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