My summer internship in Toronto

BA (Hons) Graphic Design student Leona Heung spent her summer interning at a design studio in Toronto. We asked her to share her advice about interning.

Over the summer, I did a two-month internship at Equal Parts Studio in Toronto. They’re a small studio based downtown specialising in branding, identity, packaging, and digital design. During my placement, I got to work on a variety of projects such as helping to create a visual identity for a new brand, creating sitemaps and wireframes for a new website, as well as assisting in a photoshoot for a client.

1. How to arrange an internship

When I applied for the internship, Equal Parts Studio actually weren’t even looking for an intern. I liked their work and thought I’d send them an email. Then after a couple of chats with the creative director, Rhodi, about my work and the studio’s work, she offered me an internship. This goes to show that you never know what people’s response will be, so if you’re thinking about applying for an internship, go for it! Even if they don’t offer you a place, at least you’re on their radar.

2. How to make the most of it

Be prepared – before starting my internship, I looked at the studio’s social media pages and the website to see if I could get a glimpse of what the studio culture is like, as well as thinking about what sorts of projects I could potentially be working on.

Once you’re there, the best way to make the most of an internship is to ask loads of questions, be proactive and offer your assistance whenever you can. Make sure you make the most of it while you’re there as time flies by so fast – even though my internship was two months long it feels like it was only for a couple of weeks! 

3. What it is like working in a design studio

Being in a design studio is a great experience. You get to see how important collaboration and communication really is, as you all have different areas of expertise. You’re working on different aspects of the same project, so everything must be consistent and you also get to learn from each other.

4. What I learnt from my internship

The most valuable thing I learnt was how to present your work to a client. Being able to study and work on the presentations that Equal Parts created was really helpful for me.

Doing an internship is just so beneficial. You get to experience so many different things while working in the studio. The best thing is when you get to see a project through to the end, and you see what you created and worked on being applied and used. My experience at Equal Parts Studio was amazing, I had a lot of fun and learnt so much from them. I strongly urge anyone thinking of applying for an internship to just do it – you will learn so much!

BA (Hons) Graphic Design