Finding Internships

Hey guys! I'm currently a graphic design student so as someone who's always on the hunt for internship opportunities I wanted to ask for some advice from such a thriving design community! If any of you were hiring (or are hiring) graphic design interns, what is something that you think would their resume or portfolio stick out from the rest of the competition?

Can't wait to hear what you guys think!

Hello

Good question! Lots of text but here are a couple suggestions based on my experiences:

• For your portfolio (at least the online portion), it's a really good idea if you can somehow include some process work that coincides with your finished designs. Prominent design firms will view your process just as highly — if not more — than your completed design. It could be anything: scribbles/sketches, word webs, thumbnails/wireframes, written sentences that discuss your audience and goals, rough layouts and ideas, typography exploration, etc.; take photos or scan these and make them presentable. You can either show them along with your finished work (on the same webpage) or I've also seen others post a link to an external blog e.g. Wordpress or Tumblr that contains all their rough work.

TL;DR (please read anyways ) Design firms not only look for talent, but they also look to see how you think. Design process is just as important as the finished product.


• I know you mentioned you're still a student, so I take it much of your work consists of school projects…? That's ok and design firms looking for interns will understand it's what's expected from a student's portfolio. But if you want to emerge yourself from other candidates, it's a good idea to try and get involved in designing real-world projects (aka freelancing… not including crowd-sourcing). In one of my first interviews while I was still in school, the art director who was interviewing me mentioned this: a moderately/adequately designed client piece is better than a brilliantly designed piece that serves little or no function. Granted that's just one's opinion, but it does make a good point. Having that experience of directly talking to/communicating with a client and working through real-life design problems goes much further than doing fake school projects. And this is something design firms will definitely take into consideration when choosing one candidate over another.

If you're looking for real-world experience, here's two methods you can try:

1. It sounds clichéd but look through local businesses. As an example, this is advice I actually gave to a friend of a friend who's studying design in school. Maybe there's a local family-run eatery and their logo is sub-par (get it, sub… eatery… bad joke… I'll show myself out now) and you think you can improve it. Try going in and ask to speak with the owner (or ask for an email address as a last resort; being more personal upfront is usually better than sending a random email). Tell the owner who you are ("I'm a design student from this college") and your idea ("I was looking at your branding and feel there are some ways in can be improved overall. Would you be interested in seeing some of my ideas?"). Even if the answer is no, re-word your question and ask if you could do a re-design of their eatery brand for portfolio purposes, which will help you later on in your job search once you graduate. They will most likely be more open in helping you with that. Ask to conduct a short interview whenever it's convenient; ask questions regarding who their usual customers are (target market), what food is ordered the most/least (maybe for a menu redesign that emphasizes certain items), anything that's relevant in helping you research and generate ideas. Once you begin putting together a few potential concepts, show the owner your progress. He/she may even have some sincere feedback and suggestions on what you made! You never know, the owner may like your concepts enough to consider them!
The whole idea behind this method is that you cannot lose (unless of course the owner will just not speak with you for whatever reason, which is a bad business decision on their part anyhow). Many possibilities can come from this: you'll create a new client relationship, your design actually ends up being used, and now you potentially have word-of-mouth exposure that can lead to other possibilities. Worst-case scenario is the redesign isn't used, but you now have a real-world design that you can include in your portfolio, and it also gives you some client relations experience… which in the end is a whole lot better than fake school projects with a predetermined brief.

Side note: eateries/restaurants are usually good because many different mediums are possible, like logo design, menus, website, advertisements, interior/exterior design, signage and wayfinding, food/drink labels and wrapping, and employee uniform design and apparel

2. Pro bono and volunteer work looks great on a resume because it shows employers that you're willing to allocate your talents towards good causes. Try contacting local non-profit organizations and offer your services. Even places like libraries or retirement homes are possibilities. A word of caution, do not become their slave. Work under your terms and don't feel bad if you cannot do everything for them.

Edit: I don't know if your school has mentioned these yet, but if you're lucky enough to get an interview, it's a good idea to bring along a couple "leave behinds" to give to the interviewer(s) before leaving. A leave behind is a self promoter piece. Here's a good explanation of what it is and it's intended purpose: www.lucidchart.com/blog/2013/02/22/what-is-a-leave-behind/

My apologies for the blog-like response But hopefully this gives you some ideas on how you can stand out as a candidate for internship. Best of luck!

Edited by HappyGD, 03 February 2014 - 07:51 AM.