Visual Design Intern

Job Description

Internship, Visual Designer, Design Studio (Fall 2026) | Tesla

The Tone:
This is an internship at Tesla, located in Hawthorne, CA. The company is a leading innovator in sustainable energy and transportation, also known for its cutting-edge design and engineering. This role is specifically within the Design Studio, focusing on developing and executing world-class graphic design and branding. As a Visual Design Intern, you will play a key part in crafting how the Tesla brand communicates visually across various critical platforms and projects, contributing directly to the company’s public image and product presentation.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, Hawthorne, CA
• Pay: $20.00 – $50.00 hourly
• Team: Part of the visual design team at the design studio, reporting to the manager for visual design.
• Mission: Develop and design assets that communicate Tesla’s visual style creatively across various platforms and projects.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Develop comprehensive visual campaigns: Design and develop graphic assets for a diverse range of needs, including full campaigns or unique one-off properties for events, communications, web, marketing, sales, and products, ensuring creative alignment with Tesla’s visual style.
• Integrate design across company functions: Collaborate directly with various internal professionals such as sales teams, engineers, digital modelers, and architects to bring design projects to fruition.
• Contribute to brand strategy and principles: Participate actively in cross-functional discussions on strategy, timing, and process, helping to define and uphold Tesla’s brand and visual design principles.
• Manage external production and prototyping: Work with external suppliers to ensure design goals are met for physical assets and collaborate with the internal fabrication team to complete necessary prototypes.
• Support broader design initiatives: Apply your multitalented skillset to contribute to design efforts outside of your primary area of expertise as dictated by project necessity.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Actively enrolled student pursuing a degree in Graphic Design or a related field, capable of committing to a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time (40 hours/week) and on-site.
• Experience: Demonstrated ability to showcase a portfolio of work that reflects strong creative thinking, a broad range of design capabilities, and a distinct modern, minimalist aesthetic.
• Skills: Proficiency in visual brand communication, graphic design development for various media, and collaborative design processes.
• Bonus: In-depth technical knowledge related to product development in graphic design, such as printing processes, and web and mobile application development.