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Instructional designer internship vs designer

The differences between instructional designer interns and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an instructional designer internship, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a designer has an average salary of $66,347, which is higher than the $33,791 average annual salary of an instructional designer internship.

The top three skills for an instructional designer internship include instructional design, powerpoint and subject matter experts. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.

Instructional designer internship vs designer overview

Instructional Designer InternshipDesigner
Yearly salary$33,791$66,347
Hourly rate$16.25$31.90
Growth rate7%3%
Number of jobs94,36652,433
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4438
Years of experience412

What does an instructional designer internship do?

The instructional designer intern focuses on resolving the skill gaps seen between employees of a company or a department. This type of designer formulates instructional materials to help improve the target audience's skills and enhance qualifications relevant to their position, nature of work, or career. An intern in this position works primarily under the head designer's supervision and mostly works on administrative and clerical duties, including editing tasks, especially for creating tutorial videos and materials.

What does a designer do?

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.

Instructional designer internship vs designer salary

Instructional designer interns and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Instructional Designer InternshipDesigner
Average salary$33,791$66,347
Salary rangeBetween $18,000 And $62,000Between $45,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City-Seattle, WA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-Meta
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between instructional designer internship and designer education

There are a few differences between an instructional designer internship and a designer in terms of educational background:

Instructional Designer InternshipDesigner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorKinesiologyGraphic Design
Most common collegeCalifornia State University - Long BeachUniversity of Pennsylvania

Instructional designer internship vs designer demographics

Here are the differences between instructional designer interns' and designers' demographics:

Instructional Designer InternshipDesigner
Average age4438
Gender ratioMale, 36.5% Female, 63.5%Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 5.5% White, 62.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%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 Percentage16%13%

Differences between instructional designer internship and designer duties and responsibilities

Instructional designer internship example responsibilities.

  • Design, develop, and manage faculty websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  • Lead the virtualization of military training exercises and provide periods of instruction using virtual simulations.
  • Revise SharePoint site when asset documents change.
  • Review and ensure compliance with SCORM standards.
  • Used the ADDIE model to enhance user experience in learning management software.
  • Engage with industry experts to inform approach while applying principles of ADDIE method.
  • Show more

Designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead & design all creative content stemming from apparel design to web identity.
  • Manage various PCB designs utilizing state of the art DFM techniques and comply with company standards.
  • Utilize CSS, DHTML, HTML, and JavaScript for cross browser, cross platform compatibility and consistency.
  • Develop different kinds of functions globally, locally for the development of forms using JavaScript, CSS.
  • Transform customer specifications into usable SolidWorks 3D models and assemblies from which all manufacturing are derived.
  • Process ECR's and ECO's using Windchill.
  • Show more

Instructional designer internship vs designer skills

Common instructional designer internship skills
  • Instructional Design, 12%
  • PowerPoint, 9%
  • Subject Matter Experts, 8%
  • Learning Management System, 6%
  • Internship Program, 6%
  • Photoshop, 5%
Common designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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