INTERNSHIP STORIES

My journey with AARP began when I was actively searching for internships in publication design. I discovered the opportunity through a faculty member who taught designing for a diverse and mature audience. I secured the internship after a competitive application process, which included a phone call and an interview that tested my design sensibilities and understanding of AARP's audience. My primary responsibilities included working on layouts for the upcoming issues of AARP's magazine, creating branding assets, assisting in preparing presentations, and providing support for social media campaigns. I was deeply involved in the conceptualization to final production stages of several key layouts, which taught me the intricacies of publication design in a real-world setting. I am most proud of a layout design I created for a feature article in the magazine. I’m eager to see the response of the readers. The most important thing I learned was the significance of empathetic design – c...

Originally I was going to intern for someone else, but I expressed an interest in product photography and they introduced me to the Prop Up Shop–a product photography studio. Then, I was interviewed and I’ve been working there for the last four months.   The Prop Shop is run by a prop stylist and her husband who is a graphic designer. The studio contains a gallery of props that clients are allowed to rent out. My direct supervisor was the studio manager and his role was to help manage the cleanliness of the studio, helping clients rent props, as well as documenting studio prop inventory to show up on the Prop Shop Website. I was also tasked with helping my supervisor and the past studio manager style props for a creative shoot. The Prop Shop is run by my supervisor who is a Prop stylist and her husband who is a graphic designer. The studio contains a gallery of props that clients are allowed to rent out. I was also able to shoot their fabric collections and was tasked with hel...

I found this internship from a Google search. I just uploaded my resume and my personal website. I don’t really remember how much time passed, and then I got an email that said they were interested in working with me. For the process, they sent me something that acted as a test that required me to finish a piece of work, almost like an audition. Then, after my work was reviewed, they would send an email back to tell me if they wanted to hire me. After that, they sent me the offer.  They are a non-profit publisher organization. They don’t really have a lot of people, the only two people I knew were our direct supervisor, and another one being the Editor-in-Chief. My direct supervisor would give us work that we needed to complete in time before the deadline. She would also give you help if you were to have any problems as well as suggestions sometimes.  My position was as an illustrator intern. I needed to finish the illustration for their specific work. The work would be an ill...

This summer, I held a position as the design intern of an architecture and interior design firm called SSAT+. The firm is based in Bucharest, Romania and they work on various types of projects, both commercial and residential. They work on projects that involve creating buildings from scratch as well as ones that involve renovating existing structures. I learned about this internship through connection an acquaintance of mine had with one of the heads of SSAT+. During my internship, my direct supervisors were one of the heads of SSAT+, as well as an interior designer with whom I worked more closely with. Her and I met on a daily basis to discuss furniture design for an interior design project. We also participated in team meetings less frequently to discuss the project as a whole. The project that I worked on with my supervisors involved the renovation of an old historical building that is being adapted into mostly office spaces. The other part of the project was the creation of a new ...

My four week internship at Baremetalco was exciting and fulfilling. I wanted to further build on my metalworking skills I learned at MICA, so over the summer I wanted to work at a metal shop. Since I was heading back home to Singapore, I decided to reach out to Baremetalco through social media and was accepted as their first intern. Baremetalco is one of the few companies in Singapore specializing in sheet metal fabrication. The company fabricates a variety of steel, stainless steel, and aluminum products such as railings and postal boxes. They also often fabricate metal sculptures for local artists in Singapore. At Baremetalco, I worked directly with the second-generation owner of the company. They are currently rebranding the company and expanding its focus from fabrication to design and innovation. As it is difficult to sustain the business solely based on manufacturing products, he is attempting to move up the value chain to position Baremetalco as a company that designs and custom...

The organization I interned with was a banquet furniture manufacturer called Lion’s Wood. They specialize in crafting elegant and functional furniture pieces for the food service industry. Their commitment to blending creativity with functionality resonated with me. They are known for their attention to detail and innovative designs that elevate event spaces. The journey began when I discovered this internship opportunity through MICA Network. After thorough research and preparation, I applied and successfully secured the position. Throughout the internship, the marketing director guided and mentored me. Her expertise in the field, coupled with her willingness to share insights, played a pivotal role in shaping my learning experience. My responsibilities were diverse and hands-on. I learned positions within the company, gained insights into their business model, and dived into the fascinating world of link boxes and induction. I had the opportunity to create new spec sheets for the com...

Hill Studio is a design and development studio that provides creative, thoughtful and lightly engineered solutions in partnership with companies. They provide sketch concepts, physical prototypes, and 3D models to the clients. The businesses they work with are furniture and lighting manufacturing businesses in North America with some overseas. I was offered this internship by my supervisor, we had already discussed this position over the summer, and I pursued it and continued the conversation before the semester. My direct supervisor is the owner and principal designer of the studio. I’m not able to discuss the details of the projects because I signed an NDA but they range from furniture, lighting, and household products. I helped develop concepts, create 3D models, 3D renderings, and 3D prototypes as well as designing presentation decks to present to clients. I am most proud that one of my designs for a product was approved by the client. I have many key takeaways from my internship, ...

Polygraph Creative is an award winning design studio based in Washington,D.C. that specializes in branding, product, editorial and environmental design. They have a reputation for finding truth and authenticity in their work by fusing creativity, passion and craft into their creative decisions. Due to the lengthy and competitive nature of finding a summer internship position, I sought advice from my department chair. She recommended several local design studios and agencies, one of which was Polygraph Creative. Their website did not list any open positions, so I did not expect to receive a response to my cold email. However, one of the principal designers  happened to stumble upon my recent packaging project on MICA's Instagram account and recognized my name upon reviewing my email. He replied a day later, and I went in for my interview soon after with my physical portfolio in hand. The next afternoon, I received the official offer and was welcomed to become part o...

I applied to Google’s UX design internship online through their application portal . My New York office offer was finalized in early April.  Although the hiring process is quite opaque, I assume that I stood out in the candidate pool  because of the diverse design projects I worked on outside of class and my in-depth progress  for my design challenge. During my interviews, I also spoke confidently and engagingly about  my designs. I lead the development of two UX projects for Google Docs and proposed new solutions that  make it easier for users to work in Docs.  Being the first to work on a new  problem space at Google, I wasn’t given specific design instructions . Instead, I took it into my own hands to research the problem area and  discover useful data to identify previously unthoughtful design directions. I also actively  prepared and set up user studies to test my ideas and learn more about user behavior. ...

In late February this year I started to look for internships. I was considering both printmaking internships and illustration internships. I searched for pattern design studios. I found several places that have similar styles of my drawings. I sent cold emails to around five places, and Nikki Martinkovic Design Studio was the one that replied and scheduled an interview. After interview they offered me an assignment as a test, and accepted my application one week later. Kyle Naughtrip is listed as my direct supervisor. There are six interns for the summer; I and another girl from RISD are creative interns. We draw small elements on paper, and other employees in the studio transform them into patterns. As interns we did not get chance to do patterns by ourselves, but they gave us several tutorials on how they do patterns. We have freedom on what we want to draw. Every several weeks the studio would come together and discuss what kind of images they need more in t...