To help design students complete their mandated internships during the April-July period despite the lockdown, Intern from Home, an 8-week internship program was initiated by Havas Group’s Think Design. “The idea was to provide rich learning and fun experience for students in the form of interesting projects, which they could also use later for their portfolios when they seek employment,” says Hari Nallan, Founder and CEO, Think Design.
In order to make the program seamless, the agency deployed digital tools and used its expertise in technology to its fullest. The program has been structured to keep a regular check on the participation of students as well as rate/grade them to keep them motivated and clued into the program whilst working remotely.
Running a remote internship
Giving us a glimpse into the course material, Nallan explains, “We have designed the course material to deliver fundamentals in Design Thinking and Research. Through 48 individual as well as interdependent modules, the students go through rigorous theory and at the same time, practice them in learning by reflection methodology.”
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The students are being given weekly assignments to assess their progress in grasping concepts. Agency leadership is helping them gain explore to practical applications of these concepts with the help of semi-weekly presentations. Every month, an online test is held for the students to test concept clarity among them.
As a part of the program, the students will also get to work on a month-long project along with industry professionals where they will have to research on key topics, studying the impact of the current times on industries such as retail, education and entertainment as well as cultural subjects like relationships, self-expression and evolving lifestyles. It is expected to help them gain a real-life like virtual experience of an internship.
Evolution of Design
“Design Industry has come of age in the last two decades. The industry today is quite mature, and we have events, programs, practices and industry bodies covering most of the concerns of the industry as well as professionals and practitioners,” Nallan tells us while talking about the evolution of the design industry over the years.
These changes have been captured in the internship modules. Nallan tells us, “Most of the topics of projects are centred around the impact on the industry from a design point of view. While topics such as Entertainment 2.0, Education 2.0 focus on the future of education, topics such as Retail perceptions, The new normal, Relationships 2.0 will bring to life macro-level understanding that could shape several sectors within.”
The designs students that were a part of the internship program were mostly those that still have semesters to go in their academic schedule. For now, Think Design has kept hirings on hold. It is expected that there will be an uptake in recruitments in the last quarter of the year.
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