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What does a graphic designer internship do?

Updated January 8, 2025
9 min read
Quoted expert
Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.
What does a graphic designer internship do

In a graphic design internship, one of the primary responsibilities is to accomplish tasks while under the supervision of more experienced colleagues. An aspiring graphic designer may use this opportunity to observe and participate in designing for various industries, handle different clients, participate in creative meetings, and learn strategies from experts. Furthermore, there may also be technical tasks involving research and analysis, gathering materials, coordinating with vendors, and producing reports and other necessary documentation. They may also be responsible for maintaining a database and responding to calls and inquires.

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Graphic designer internship responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real graphic designer internship resumes:

  • Manage the company's Joomla website with content & design updates.
  • Attend various B2C and B2B brand trade-shows identifying new distribution channels and sales leads
  • Create, implement and manage customer activation campaigns and loyalty programs tracking ROI and retention.
  • Manage all aspects of the creative process with includes; sketch formation, client collaboration, production coordination.
  • Manage an in-house advertisement/mailer for a vendor.
  • Manage data migrations and SharePoint integration for corporate Intranet with external consultants.
  • Develop and facilitate new website design employing specialization in image manipulation to enhance visual impacts using HTML / CSS coding.
  • Update website design and layout on WordPress while using custom CSS.
  • Used HTML and JavaScript to code the company website from scratch.
  • Used JavaScript and HTML to have dynamic contents in the websites.
  • Design homepage and website graphics, marketing materials, graphics and UI design for the mobile application and Facebook application.
  • Design brochures and flyers for non-profit organization and charity events.
  • Coordinate with senior designers on motion design, typography and initiatives for streaming experiences.
  • Implement marketing concepts through social media such as Instagram.
  • Assist with updates with the use of tumbler and twitter.

Graphic designer internship skills and personality traits

We calculated that 11% of Graphic Designer Interns are proficient in Graphic Design Intern, Adobe Photoshop, and Blog Posts. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Artistic ability, and Communication skills.

We break down the percentage of Graphic Designer Interns that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Graphic Design Intern, 11%

    Completed a three-month graphic design internship for college credit and was hired immediately following.

  • Adobe Photoshop, 6%

    Create website prototypes from PDF/PNG files in Adobe PhotoshopMake corrections to the existing logo

  • Blog Posts, 6%

    Created graphics for online email campaigns, social media, advertisements, website banners, blog posts, tutorials, etc.

  • Adobe Creative Suite, 6%

    Design and develop advertisement to promote gallery events using Adobe Creative Suite Applications

  • Adobe Illustrator, 5%

    Converted design concept drawings into digital formats using Adobe Illustrator.

  • Photography, 5%

    Followed style guide requirements to maintain brand integrity with specific treatments of photography, typography, graphic elements and team/sponsor/arena logos.

Common skills that a graphic designer internship uses to do their job include "graphic design intern," "adobe photoshop," and "blog posts." You can find details on the most important graphic designer internship responsibilities below.

Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a graphic designer internship to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "graphic designers must be able to perceive their work from their consumers’ point of view to ensure that the designs convey the client’s message." Graphic designer interns often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "explored marketing strategy and analyzed branding projections graphic design layout and logo conception newsletter article research and writing"

Artistic ability. Many graphic designer internship duties rely on artistic ability. "graphic designers must be able to create designs that are artistically interesting and appealing to clients and consumers," so a graphic designer internship will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways graphic designer internship responsibilities rely on artistic ability: "profile experience my love of graphic design came from my graphic design intern desire to hone my artistic skill. "

Communication skills. graphic designer interns are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to graphic designer internship responsibilities, because "graphic designers must communicate with clients, customers, and other designers to ensure that their designs accurately and effectively convey information." A graphic designer internship resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "edited over 50 press releases for consistent branding including appearance, content, and communication. "

Computer skills. A big part of what graphic designer interns do relies on "computer skills." You can see how essential it is to graphic designer internship responsibilities because "most graphic designers use specialized graphic design software to prepare their designs." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical graphic designer internship tasks: "learned the challenges and rewards associated with the computer graphic design business. "

Creativity. Another crucial skill for a graphic designer internship to carry out their responsibilities is "creativity." A big part of what graphic designer interns relies on this skill, since "graphic designers must be able to think of new approaches to communicating ideas to consumers." How this skill relates to graphic designer internship duties can be seen in an example from a graphic designer internship resume snippet: "helped to develop creative, intuitive, and detailed web pages for clients by using dreamweaver, illustrator, and photoshop. "

Time-management skills. Another skill commonly found on graphic designer internship job descriptions is "time-management skills." It can come up quite often in graphic designer internship duties, since "graphic designers often work simultaneously on multiple projects, each with a different deadline." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day graphic designer internship responsibilities: "completed projects to meet tight production deadlines working closely with professional graphic designers and editors. "

See the full list of graphic designer internship skills

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Compare different graphic designer interns

Graphic designer internship vs. Production artist

A production artist is responsible for managing digital content, meeting clients' standard specifications and requests for successful project completion. Production artists must have computer proficiency, especially on utilizing various software tools and applications to create illustrations and layouts. They also work closely with the creative team, cooperating in brainstorming sessions to ensure the consistency for each assigned task. A production artist should be keen on details, adjusting outputs as needed to maintain the highest quality for the actual presentation.

We looked at the average graphic designer internship salary and compared it with the wages of a production artist. Generally speaking, production artists are paid $26,070 higher than graphic designer interns per year.Even though graphic designer interns and production artists are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require adobe photoshop, adobe creative suite, and adobe illustrator in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, graphic designer internship responsibilities require skills like "graphic design intern," "blog posts," "flyers," and "typography." Meanwhile a typical production artist has skills in areas such as "production art," "color correction," "digital assets," and "production process." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Production artists tend to reach similar levels of education than graphic designer interns. In fact, production artists are 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Graphic designer internship vs. Assistant designer

Assistant designers act as administrative support to senior designers in creating innovative designs by negotiating with the vendors about the prices of decoration materials. They are keen and up-to-date to the latest fashion and trends by conducting surveys and research. They are exceptionally creative and innovative and have excellent IT skills as they use illustration, typography, and photography layouts in the design process. However, being an assistant designer, career development relies on his/her /her specialism, reputation, and experience depending on how its opportunities are influenced by the company he/she works for.

A career as a assistant designer brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a graphic designer internship. In fact, assistant designers salary is $16,675 higher than the salary of graphic designer interns per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both graphic designer interns and assistant designers have skills such as "adobe photoshop," "adobe illustrator," and "powerpoint. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, graphic designer internship responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "graphic design intern," "blog posts," "adobe creative suite," and "photography." Meanwhile, an assistant designer has duties that require skills in areas such as "tech packs," "line sheets," "trend research," and "garment construction." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Assistant designers earn a higher average salary than graphic designer interns. But assistant designers earn the highest pay in the construction industry, with an average salary of $57,526. Additionally, graphic designer interns earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $41,614 annually.In general, assistant designers achieve similar levels of education than graphic designer interns. They're 1.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for graphic designer internships in the next 3-5 years?

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

Department Chair Visual and Performing Arts, Professor of Music and Humanities, College of Central Florida

Technology is constantly evolving and changing the way we experience the arts, generally for the better. I anticipate great strides in the fields of digital media and digital music. Technology affords us the opportunity to connect with a larger, more global audience on the one hand, and also kindle, in a younger generation, an interest in the arts.

Graphic designer internship vs. Associate designer

An Associate Designer helps in developing sketches on paper and in graphic design software. They usually are supervised by the junior staff and interns.

On average scale, associate designers bring in higher salaries than graphic designer interns. In fact, they earn a $20,970 higher salary per year.graphic designer interns and associate designers both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "adobe photoshop," "adobe illustrator," and "powerpoint," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a graphic designer internship is likely to be skilled in "graphic design intern," "blog posts," "adobe creative suite," and "photography," while a typical associate designer is skilled in "cad," "customer service," "design projects," and "human centered design."

Associate designers earn the best pay in the retail industry, where they command an average salary of $61,366. Graphic designer interns earn the highest pay from the professional industry, with an average salary of $41,614.Most associate designers achieve a similar degree level compared to graphic designer interns. For example, they're 3.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Graphic designer internship vs. Designer

A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.

Designers tend to earn a higher pay than graphic designer interns by an average of $30,547 per year.According to resumes from graphic designer interns and designers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "adobe photoshop," "adobe creative suite," and "adobe illustrator. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between graphic designer interns and designers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a graphic designer internship might have more use for skills like "graphic design intern," "blog posts," "photography," and "flyers." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of designers require skills like "customer service," "html css," "javascript," and "revit. "

In general, designers earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $87,754. The highest-paying industry for a graphic designer internship is the professional industry.In general, designers hold similar degree levels compared to graphic designer interns. Designers are 4.5% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of graphic designer internship

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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