As a high school student interested in visual communication, graphic design internships give you direct exposure to how creative work functions in professional settings. These internships place you inside real teams where design supports actual clients, campaigns, or products. You learn how design decisions are made under real constraints such as deadlines, brand guidelines, and stakeholder feedback. These experiences help you understand how creative skills translate into workplace responsibilities and strengthen your portfolio with practical work.
Graphic design internships are especially valuable if you want early clarity on creative careers, whether in digital media, branding, marketing, UX/UI, or content creation. By working alongside designers, marketers, or product teams, you gain insight into industry tools, workflows, and expectations that are difficult to replicate in purely academic programs. The main difference between a design program and an internship is that the former is a structured learning environment focused on teaching you how to use the tools and understand the theory behind design, whereas an internship is about applying those skills to solve live business problems alongside professional colleagues.
What should you choose a graphic design internship?
In a graphic design internship, you typically work on tasks such as creating visual assets, editing layouts, assisting with branding projects, or supporting digital content production. You learn to use industry-standard tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma, or Canva while developing an understanding of typography, color theory, and visual hierarchy. Many internships also expose you to feedback cycles, client communication, and collaborative design processes. Together, these experiences help you build both technical skills and professional habits that prepare you for future design programs or creative roles.
Below are 15 graphic design internships for high school students. While not all are conventional internships, they provide valuable hands-on experience in the field.
Check more design research programs here.
15 Graphic Design Internships for High School Students
1. Museum of Arts and Design Artslife
Location: Museum of Arts and Design, New York City
Stipend: $16.50/hr
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 10 students
Dates: 6 weeks in summer between mid-July and mid-August
Application Deadline: April 21
Eligibility: Rising sophomores and juniors enrolled in New York City public and charter high schools
In this paid 6-week internship, you work behind the scenes to learn how a major museum handles its visual identity and public engagement. You explore graphic design through specific rotations in the Communications department and by working with professional design mentors. Your core activities typically include designing and producing a collaborative zine, creating digital marketing assets for teen events, and developing visual concepts for youth-led tours. Ultimately, you learn how to apply design thinking to real-world business problems like branding and audience engagement rather than just making art for yourself.
Location: The Met, New York, NY
Stipend: $1,100
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; approximately 35–50 students
Dates: Summer: June 21 – August 8, Spring: February 10 – May 29
Application Deadline: Summer: March 7; Spring: October 27
Eligibility: High school students who have not completed another internship at the Met; Summer: Students in grade 10 or 11 who attend a high school or home school in New York City; Students in New Jersey, or Connecticut; School Year: Students in grade 10 or 11 who attend a high school or home school in New York City;
In this program, you are placed directly into a specific department, such as Design or Digital, to work alongside real professionals rather than just observing. If selected for the design track, your activities often include assisting with exhibition layouts, selecting color schemes for gallery installations, or creating visual assets for the museum’s social media channels. The program features the “Career Labs” series, where you attend workshops with curators and designers to understand the business side of the art world. Through this mentorship, you learn technical design principles while mastering collaboration skills within a major cultural institution.
3. Bloomberg Arts Internship (BAI)
Location: Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate varies by location
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; ~35–70 students per city
Dates: Typically late June to mid-August
Application Deadline: Typically, mid-March
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors residing in participating cities
In this paid internship, you are hired and placed at a local arts non-profit to work as a real staff member. If matched with a creative team, you explore topics like arts marketing and brand identity while helping the organization communicate its mission visually. Your specific activities often include designing flyers for public events, formatting digital newsletters, and creating social media graphics to drive attendance. The program also features the rigorous “College Readiness” curriculum, which pairs your design work with intense SAT prep and writing workshops. Ultimately, you gain technical portfolio pieces while developing the workplace skills of meeting deadlines and collaborating with a professional supervisor.
4. Cooper Hewitt Design Hive
Location: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY
Stipend: $2,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; typically 12–15 students
Dates: December 2 – May 19
Application Deadline: Typically, late September
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors in NYC
Design Hive is a paid, youth-led design program at the Cooper Hewitt that invites high school juniors and seniors to explore how design ideas evolve into finished products. In this collaborative experience, you work in small teams to study design objects, user needs, and creative processes while developing your own group design projects. The program emphasizes design thinking, problem-solving, and iteration, guiding you through research, ideation, prototyping, and presentation. You engage closely with professional designers and museum educators who provide mentorship and feedback throughout the process. You will also receive behind-the-scenes access to the Cooper Hewitt museum, allowing you to learn directly from exhibitions, collections, and design experts.
5. MIAD Design Internship
Location: Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) campus + partner design/architecture firms in Milwaukee, WI
Stipend: Paid, amount not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; ~55–60 students
Dates: Year–long February – Following April (Includes Spring workshops, a June/July corporate internship, and a July Pre-College course)
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Milwaukee-Area high school students who can commute to MIAD
The MIAD Design Internship is a free, year-long program created to build clear pathways for high school students interested in pursuing creative and design-based careers. You begin by developing foundational design skills through structured workshops led by MIAD faculty. A core component of the program is a 50-hour paid internship with one of MIAD’s professional partner organizations, where you work on real projects and gain firsthand industry experience. In addition, you receive tuition-free access to MIAD’s Summer and Weekend Pre-College courses, allowing you to explore design disciplines at both introductory and advanced levels.
6. Digital4Good (#ICANHELP) Volunteer Program
Location: Remote
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-selective; cohort size varies by committee
Dates: Year–round/Flexible
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Students aged 13+
In this fully remote program, you join a creative team dedicated to promoting digital safety and positivity through purposeful design. You cover practical topics like social media branding, visual identity, and campaign marketing while working directly on the organization’s real-world initiatives. Your specific activities often include designing Instagram carousels, creating merchandise mockups, and developing promotional assets for major events like the Digital4Good Summit. A unique feature here is the student-led structure, which gives you actual ownership over your creative choices rather than just assigning you busy work. Ultimately, you sharpen your technical skills in tools like Canva or Adobe.
7. Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC)
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Stipend: Paid, amount not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; ~12 students
Dates: School Year (September – June)
Application Deadline: Spring
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12) living in the Twin Cities metro area who can arrange their own transportation to weekly meetings
As a WACTAC member, you act as a paid creative strategist responsible for its youth visual identity. You explore topics like event branding, print layout, and arts marketing while defining how the museum speaks to your generation. Your actual design tasks often include laying out pages for the student zine, creating digital assets for social media, and developing the visual theme for the annual “Teen Takeover” night. The program treats you as museum staff with a paycheck and a real budget, rather than just a student volunteer. Through this process, you learn how to execute a cohesive design campaign for a major public institution.
8. ICA Boston Teen Arts Council
Location: Boston, MA
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly Competitive; ~12–15 students
Dates: School Year (September–June); a separate Summer session also exists.
Application Deadline: Spring
Eligibility: Boston-area High School Students (Ages 14–19)
As a member of the Teen Arts Council, you step into a professional role where you shape the museum’s visual identity for youth audiences. You dive into topics like event branding and marketing strategy, learning how to use design to drive real attendance rather than just making things look cool. Your daily activities involve creating digital ads for social media, designing printed flyers for Teen Nights, and collaborating with artists to produce event visuals. Through this experience, you master the professional workflow of taking a design from concept to print while developing crucial project management skills.
9. The Museum of Contemporary Art Teen Program
Location: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Stipend: Paid, amount not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; around 15–20 students
Dates: September – May
Application Deadline: June 1
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors at the time of application
In this paid internship, you function as a creative producer, shaping the visual identity for major museum events. You explore topics like event branding, marketing strategy, and layout design to effectively engage a youth audience. Your specific activities include designing social media graphics, creating the printed zine or guide for the massive “Teen Night,” and producing signage for student events. The program’s standout feature is your status as official museum staff, giving you access to real budgets and professional mentorship instead of typical volunteer tasks. Ultimately, you learn how to execute a cohesive design campaign from concept to print while developing the collaborative skills needed in a professional creative agency.
10. Seattle Art Museum (SAM) Teen Arts Group
Location: Seattle, WA
Stipend: Paid, amount not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; typically, 12–15 students
Dates: School Year (October – May)
Application Deadline: Spring
Eligibility: High School Students (ages 14–19) in the Seattle area
In this leadership-focused program, you act as a creative strategist who uses design to connect the museum with local youth. You dive into topics like arts marketing, event branding, and visual communication while planning real public events. Your daily activities involve designing flyers and digital assets for the massive “Teen Night,” creating social media content to drive attendance, and curating visual themes for community programs. The program gives you actual decision-making power over these projects, ensuring your creative voice is central to the museum’s outreach.
11. New York Historical Society Student Historian Internship
Location: New York, NY
Stipend: $700
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; ~25 interns per cohort
Dates: Summer Session: Early July – Mid-August; Academic Year: October – June
Application Deadline: Summer: Typically early April; Academic Year; August 24
Eligibility: High school students entering grades 10, 11, or 12; live and attend school in the NYC Metro Area (includes NYC 5 boroughs, plus nearby NY, CT, and NJ areas)
In this internship, you bridge the gap between history and digital media by acting as a visual storyteller for the museum. You explore topics like digital curation, exhibition layout, and information design to make historical data accessible to the public. Your core activities include designing digital exhibits, creating visual assets for audio guides, and researching artifacts to build engaging online narratives. The program features a “Digital Humanities” approach, which challenges you to use modern design tech to present archival materials rather than just writing essays. Through this process, you master the skill of presenting complex information visually while gaining experience in web-based content creation.
12. Artists for Humanity (AFH) Internships
Location: Boston, MA
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not specified
Acceptance rate/cohort size: First-Come, First-Served; ~350+ teens annually
Dates: School Year and Summer
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students who are residents of Boston OR enrolled in a Boston Public School
At AFH, you step into the role of a professional graphic designer, getting paid to create work for real corporate clients like banks and law firms. You explore essential topics such as brand identity, layout design, and typography while working in a collaborative studio environment. Your core activities include designing logos, producing marketing materials like brochures or event signage, and presenting your concepts directly to clients for feedback. By the end, you will have mastered Adobe Creative Cloud tools and learned how to navigate professional client relationships and strict deadlines.
13. Internships at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Location: Mainly in-person in Washington, D.C.
Stipend: $700/week
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; ~100+ interns annually
Dates: Six weeks in the summer to one year
Application Deadline: Summer: March 1; Fall, Winter, and Spring: At least six weeks prior to the internship’s start date
Eligibility: All high school students
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage offers year-round internships that engage students in the study and preservation of cultural traditions from around the world. Internships are available across a wide range of fields, including folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, museum studies, arts administration, graphic and web design, videography, marketing, social media, and library science. Working under the guidance of professional staff, you contribute to real projects connected to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives, and educational outreach initiatives. You may support research, archival work, content creation, or production efforts tied to cultural sustainability programs.
14. Spikeview High School Internships
Location: Virtual
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-selective; ongoing teams of creators hired rather than a fixed class size
Dates: Flexible; year–round
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students 13+ with an interest in content creation, social media, or marketing; no prior experience required
In this fully remote internship, you act as a digital content creator for a tech startup, using design to market a portfolio platform to other teens. You cover topics like social media branding, visual storytelling, and viral marketing strategies to grow an online community. Your daily activities typically include designing Instagram carousels, editing short-form video content like Reels, and creating graphical assets for community challenges. Through this experience, you sharpen your skills in tools like Canva and video editors while learning how to analyze engagement metrics to see what designs actually perform.
15. Medicine Encompassed’s Graphic Design Team
Location: Virtual
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Non-selective; cohort size not specified
Dates: Year–round
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
Medicine Encompassed is a student-run nonprofit focused on improving access to information about medical careers. As part of the Graphic Design team, you contribute visual content for the organization’s website, blog posts, educational resources, and social media platforms. Your work supports one of the organization’s 18 medical-focused committees, which cover areas such as anatomy, surgery, and neurology. You collaborate closely with the Executive Graphic Designer and the Social Media & Marketing leadership to create clear, engaging visuals that support the organization’s medical curriculum and outreach efforts. communication, and teamwork skills.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like design thinking, creative research, or interdisciplinary work, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image source – Seattle Art Museum