During summer of 2019, I landed an internship as a graphic designer for a large art museum. I got this job through a good interview, and I hadn’t even shown the design team any past work or portfolio beyond the typography on my resume. Although I had some print production job experience and had taken a UX design class before, I quickly realized that I was in for a wake up call.
So I learned a lot the hard way about what makes a good graphic design intern and what I didn’t bring to the table at this job. I feel like I’m a strong conceptual thinker, but a design intern is not a design lead. My Adobe Suite skills were advanced to me yet beginner to everyone I was working with.
So I realized that software efficiency, file management and sharing, and good communication skills are the things that can make or break an internship experience. Also, I was an art major who spent most of my creative energy working alone and being someone defensive about my artistic decisions during critiques.
While learning these lessons the hard way felt difficult in the moment, I now have a more realistic view of what working in the design profession is like. I now view graphic design as a means of efficiently helping and/or communicating with others, which is a far different skill set from my background as a 2D visual artist. It also freed me from being as precious with the work that I make. If a client or boss can’t understand or doesn’t feel like my design decisions are working towards what the piece is trying to communicate, it actually feels good to change the work. Something I didn’t often feel as an artist.
And additionally, during the internship, I met some younger professionals working on my team who were both designers and artists. I used to think that you had to choose one or the other. And I’m glad I don’t feel that way about my creative and professional life anymore. I’m interested in how the two are different yet feed off one another.