The Language of Design Internships by University of Washington

"The Language of Design Internships" is a set of playful yet informative infographics analyzing the current landscape of design internship listings. These visual tools help young designers better understand the patterns in their search processes so that they can spend more time thinking about what they want in an internship and less time catering to hiring algorithms. Printed in full color on recycled newsprint, the infographics visualize language data from over 250 listings—related to terminology, phrasing, and structure—in an attempt to deduce potential employers' true meanings and intentions.

From the initial dataset scraped from over 200 LinkedIn and Indeed job postings matching the search term "Design Intern," patterns began to emerge. The listings called for "hard-working" and "hungry," yet "humble," prospective interns, with a desire to "work where you play," or "perform other duties as assigned." These compelling quotes form the basis for the cover of the broadsheet publication: the Continuum of Work Environments. Notable excerpts are charted on scales of rigidity (Flexible to Pressure Cooker) and energy level (Reserved to Lively) to demonstrate the range of work cultures available for young designers. 

Pages 2 and 3 of the broadsheet cover aspects of the application process that are especially relevant to prospective applicants. Figure 2, Priority vs. Application Count, plots 50 hired students’ job search durations and amounts of applications. These figures are then categorized by search priority; the pattern that emerges from the set indicates that applicants with more specific search parameters generally spent less time on fewer applications. This might prove useful and time-saving to those in the early stages of their job search processes. The Requirement Index represented in Figure 3 covers where different skills lie on a continuum from Required, to Preferred, to “a Plus.” This information was gathered from the same job listing data used in Figure 1, this time paying close attention to the skills that fall within certain categories of need/requirement posed by employers. Covering three dimensions of data—hard/soft skills, tendency toward requirement categories, and skill popularity within the dataset—the Skill Breakdown session offers a landscape of what proficiencies prospective applicants might be wise to spend their time honing. 

Finally, Figure 4 is an example listing providing the general structure that young designers can come to expect as they conduct their internship searches. Among vast seas of text, applicants can generally find discrete sections that provide key (if sometimes cryptically presented) information on the position. Sample keywords are highlighted to indicate where employers might be slipping in key descriptions of either their ideal intern or their company culture. Though the browser extension listed is not currently available, the philosophy behind it still stands. Although young designers face a tough task when seeking employment, there are ways to sort through all the jargon and come out on the other side with important experience under their belts.