Future Design Internship

Future Design Internship — Fall 2025 

Offered by ESG Real Estate Lab 

Overview 

ESG Real Estate Lab is a research and innovation lab focused on the built environment. Our products span newsletters, events, research reports, sustainability reports, and student-led programs. We’re seeking design-forward interns to help us unify the visual identity across all products and create clear, compelling ways to communicate our work. 

This internship is a cross-disciplinary, design-centered role for students who can translate ideas into modern, cohesive visuals across platforms (web, reports, presentations, and social). 

What You’ll Work On 

Content & Brand Audit: Review our newsletters, research reports, sustainability reports, event collateral, and student programs. Identify gaps and opportunities for a consistent look-and-feel. 

Design System & Style Guide: Develop/extend a brand kit (typography, color, components, iconography, data-viz conventions, accessibility guidelines) that works across products. 

Template Suite: Create reusable templates for reports (long-form + briefs), presentation decks, event one-pagers, social/LinkedIn carousels, and email/newsletters. 

Web & Presentation Design: Depending on time we may have a look at the website. Refresh landing pages or microsites, improve information architecture, and produce high-impact slide decks for internal and external use. 

Data Visualization: Turn research findings into charts, infographics, and interactive assets; create a lightweight visual taxonomy for recurring metrics. 

Cross-Product Cohesion: Propose concepts and design patterns that align our newsletter, events, research, and sustainability outputs under a single, recognizable identity. 

Note: Projects may touch multiple topical areas (real estate, ESG, technology, policy, planning). Prior subject-matter expertise is a plus but not required—design clarity and systems thinking are core. 

Ideal Candidates 

Core skills: Graphic/visual design, presentation design, and/or web design (Figma, Adobe CC, Canva, Google Slides/PowerPoint). 

Web/technical: Basic HTML/CSS or Webflow; comfort exporting responsive assets; familiarity with accessibility best practices. 

Data/visualization: Experience with Flourish, Tableau, Power BI, Illustrator, or similar; bonus for GIS mapping basics. 

Communication: Strong typography and visual hierarchy; ability to synthesize complex ideas into simple visuals; clear written communication. 

Mindset: Systems thinker, detail-oriented, collaborative, comfortable with feedback and iteration. 

We welcome undergraduate and graduate students from any major (design, architecture, urban planning, environmental studies, business, data/CS, communications, etc.). Diverse perspectives are valued. 

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of the internship, you will have: 

A published design system/style guide used across our products. 

A suite of production-ready templates (reports, decks, social, newsletters). 

A refreshed set of web/presentation assets and an organized asset library. 

Case studies documenting before/after improvements and measurable engagement gains where applicable. 

Details 

Timeline: Fall 2025 (flexible start in September; 12–14 weeks) 

Format: Remote (occasional virtual meetings across time zones) 

Commitment: ~1-5 hours/week 

Compensation: Unpaid or stipend-based (depending on placement/funding) 

Recommended: Join our LinkedIn page to get a better understanding/feel of what we do: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-real-estate-laboratory/