We are exploring “The Seasons of Design Internships”, so if you had to describe your internship phase in three words, what would they be and why?
Anna. Chaos, Calm & Confusion??
The pre-internship period is often filled with cold emailing, building and refining your portfolio, waiting for campus internship placements, finger-crossed days, and moments where you begin to question everything you’ve learned. It’s mostly a time of chaos and uncertainty, never really knowing whether you’ll get in somewhere. Then, once you do get in, there’s a phase of calm. You don’t really know what’s coming next, but there’s a quiet sense of excitement that comes with it. And once you finally join, it may turn out to be nothing like what you imagined. Confusion arises, and after days of mistakes and learning, we realise that this learning phase is what we signed up for.
You’ve had internships at ClayWorks and Tata Elxsi. What were your expectations for your first internship, and how did they evolve by your second?
Anna. Tata Elxsi was a short, one-month internship that I did during my summer break in my third year at NID. My mother had previously worked with Tata Elxsi as a design consultant and had shared her experiences of their processes with large brands, which made me excited to learn more about the organisation. I initially expected to observe client meetings and brainstorming sessions with teams of designers. However, the reality was quite different. I found myself being a small part of something very large, working within a huge office space, contributing at an execution level to a much bigger system.
But I understand that this isn’t always the case everywhere. My experience at Clayworks was very different. There, I was often required to make decisions independently for the brand, as I was part of a much smaller team. The role involved extensive cross-departmental collaboration, which helped me grow significantly, especially in refining my thinking and understanding what it means to be a fresher entering the industry.
Do you remember your first day at each place? What felt similar, and what felt completely different?
Anna. Definitely, the feeling of being a very insignificant person lingered at the back of my mind. Along with that, there was also a quiet question of what I could do to make a change or a difference. During my first few internships, I experienced a strong sense of confusion and isolation, which gradually faded as I transitioned to new companies. One feeling that remained constant across all experiences was being seen as someone very different, a creative person, by colleagues from other departments.
What truly changed over time was the confidence I gained from interacting with team members to reaching out to my manager with questions. I gradually moved away from being a shy intern to becoming a more curious and confident individual.
