Design Your Own Internship Project
Emily: She turned her capstone into a self-designed internship with a real client.
Student Profile
Emily · IUPUI · Graphic Design Major
“I didn't want to make up a fake company for my senior capstone. GradPlanHQ, which was just getting started, partnered with me to get the topic 'Redesigning the service-learning experience for students' approved by my professor and capstone advisor. I spent the semester working with the Department of Teaching and Learning to improve something real, and the poster I made became proof I could share with employers and on LinkedIn.View Emily's capstone poster
The Challenge
Most design portfolios are full of fake brands and class exercises. Emily wanted her senior capstone to have a real client, a real problem, and a real outcome.
The Project
Emily designed her own internship out of her senior capstone. GradPlanHQ, then early-stage, partnered with her to get the topic approved by her professor and capstone advisor, and the Department of Teaching and Learning became her host. She gathered campus data, interviewed staff and students, and packaged the findings into a poster that could be shared across the university. Named host, finished deliverable, supervisor on record — that's an internship, not a class exercise.
Skills Demonstrated
- Project Ownership
- Research
- Stakeholder Interviews
- Data Collection
- Visual Communication
- Critical Thinking
Frameworks Applied
The thinking behind the work — the part employers and community partners recognize right away.
Design Thinking
She interviewed staff and students and dug into campus data before she designed anything. The poster wasn't a deliverable at the end, it was the prototype she took back to stakeholders.
Applied design thinking to redesign the campus service-learning experience; partnered with the Department of Teaching and Learning, interviewed staff and students, built a custom data collection tool, and delivered recommendations adopted into program planning.
Name the lens, the move, and the number. Only list what you can back up in an interview.
Experience Translated Into Proof
- Designed her own internship around a real client instead of a fake-brand capstone.
- Led a senior capstone project that surfaced challenges and opportunities to improve the service-learning experience for the campus.
- Got the project approved by her professor and capstone advisor, with both on record as supervisors.
- Partnered directly with the Department of Teaching and Learning to define the project scope and goals.
- Reviewed existing campus data and built a custom data collection tool to speed up the research.
- Interviewed staff and students, then turned the findings into a clear, shareable poster.
- Applied critical thinking to move from raw data to recommendations university leaders could act on.
- Shared recommendations with university leaders to help shape the future of the program.
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Visibility Created
- A portfolio piece with a real university client, real research, and real recommendations.
- A named host and advisors who can confirm the work, so it's a story a hiring manager can verify.
- A LinkedIn post that earned clicks from people outside her class.
- A capstone poster she can walk a hiring manager through.
Opportunities Created
- Working relationships with advisors, department leaders, and the GradPlanHQ team.
- A portfolio project that stands out from fake-brand assignments.
- Follow-on requests to help improve the program.
Student Advice
“Pick a project you'd actually want to post about. If it isn't worth sharing, it probably isn't worth your semester.”
Related Project Launcher
Design Your Own Internship is the framework Emily used to turn everyday access into experience worth showing.
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