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Interior design internship vs designer

The differences between interior design 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 interior design 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 $45,975 average annual salary of an interior design internship.

The top three skills for an interior design internship include revit, sketch and auto cad. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.

Interior design internship vs designer overview

Interior Design InternshipDesigner
Yearly salary$45,975$66,347
Hourly rate$22.10$31.90
Growth rate1%3%
Number of jobs88,15152,433
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4238
Years of experience412

What does an interior design internship do?

When it comes to interior design internship, interns are typically responsible for performing support tasks and gaining industry insights while under the supervision of managers or senior designers. They often participate in designing spaces, responding to clients' calls and correspondence, answering inquiries, and preparing conceptual presentations for clients. They may also run errands and perform clerical tasks such as preparing progress reports and documentation, create proposals, and even schedule appointments. Moreover, as an intern, it is essential to understand and adhere to the company's policies and regulations.

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.

Interior design internship vs designer salary

Interior design interns and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Interior Design InternshipDesigner
Average salary$45,975$66,347
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $63,000Between $45,000 And $97,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaWashington
Best paying companyLEO A DALYMeta
Best paying industryConstructionTechnology

Differences between interior design internship and designer education

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

Interior Design InternshipDesigner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorInterior DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCornell UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Interior design internship vs designer demographics

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

Interior Design InternshipDesigner
Average age4238
Gender ratioMale, 11.9% Female, 88.1%Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 1.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 4.6% White, 82.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%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 Percentage23%13%

Differences between interior design internship and designer duties and responsibilities

Interior design internship example responsibilities.

  • Manage the website and twitter page, write the blog posts and attend numerous fashion shows and sample sale rooms.
  • Work primarily with AutoCAD, SketchUp, and materials selection.
  • Conduct concept sketch, research materials and select furniture for these projects.
  • Create an initial design concept on sketch plans and as an online model.
  • Create finish board layouts and develop 3-D SketchUp renderings to assist presentations of finishes and interior features to clients.
  • Create client meeting PowerPoint presentation.
  • 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

Interior design internship vs designer skills

Common interior design internship skills
  • Revit, 20%
  • Sketch, 8%
  • Auto CAD, 6%
  • SketchUp, 6%
  • Design Solutions, 5%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
Common designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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