You’ve stumbled upon the Wise design internship, and you’re wondering what it’s all about. Maybe you're deciding whether to apply, or maybe you've already applied — and you just want to find out more.

I'm Sophie, and as Wise’s most recent content design intern, I’ll be giving an insight into what it’s really like spending your summer with Wise in London. I’ll also be sharing a bit about what I’ve learnt in content design too.

If you’re looking for information about the product design or research internship — all Design internships have the same structure and support, so this will still be handy for you.

In a sentence, I’d say content design is about finding the best way to present information. 

Often this involves explaining things using simple, clear language. But it’s also rearranging things into an order that makes sense. Or, presenting information in a different format, like a table or diagram. Or, removing things that cause confusion, rather than clarity.

Content designers don’t polish up a piece of work at the end. They own a problem from the beginning and get to know it inside out, so they can create comprehensive solutions that are backed by research.

Check out gov.uk article on content design to learn more.

You could also be working on longer-form content like FAQ pages, guiding customers to the correct information if they encounter a problem. 

Or, you might be crafting presentations, training courses, or even just really good Slack messages to share information internally.

Maybe you’ll be creating guidelines to help others produce content that’s clear, consistent and accessible.

What links everything a content designer might work on is making sure the right people get the right information at the right time.

As you might expect, there’s no simple answer to this. But there are few reasons why I think content design works for me, which might help you work out if it could be your thing too.

I enjoy writing

I’ve always been interested in writing — and as a content designer, you get to work with words every day.

You don’t have to be writing groundbreaking novels or inspired essays to be a content designer. What’s more important is being able to write clearly, in a way people understand.

I like taking time to really understand things

Content designers spend a lot of time getting to know their problem area, and I really like digging deeper to become an expert on a topic. In particular, I’ve really enjoyed doing user research, building an understanding of what the customer needs, and how their brain works.

I like using reasoning to make decisions

Though I enjoy creative writing, I’ve realised I also really appreciate using evidence to back up my decisions. That’s why content design really works for me — I can have confidence in my designs, because they’re based on research and a thorough understanding of the problem.

I’m interested in visual design

Content design is as much about where things are on the page as it is about the words. I’ve really enjoyed designing screen layouts and looking at the overall user experience, not just the copy.

I enjoy working with others

In all my projects, I’ve been designing alongside product designers, using insights from researchers, and consulting with engineers and analysts. To come up with the best solution, content designers need to use the expertise of those around them.

Getting to know the project

Each intern had their own project over the 10 weeks, which meant we all left with a complete project to add to our portfolio.

I was working on improving the experience of customers who are invited to join a Wise Business account. As any good content designer does, I started by getting to know the problem I was trying to solve. This involved lots of experimenting with the product, tracking the different customer journeys and identifying any points they could be struggling with.  

I also spoke with the engineers in my team to get their expertise on the problem area. This meant I had to set up my first ever meeting (which was the moment I really started feeling like I had a proper office job).

Designing

Once I had a good understanding of the problem, it was time to start designing. My lead encouraged me to start by just experimenting a bit, and not rush to find a solution. For someone who tends to want to solve problems as quickly as possible, this wasn’t the most natural process for me. But, not restricting my options too early meant I explored some less obvious, and potentially more effective options that I otherwise might have missed.

Getting feedback

Next was my favourite part of the internship: Content Crit. In crits, you have the chance to share your work with other designers and get feedback. 

It was only a little terrifying showing my first ever piece of content design work to so many people who are very good at what they do. But, the content designers were all so encouraging — and receiving their feedback was one of my biggest learning moments. I’m very glad I pushed myself to share. Speaking about my project and being able to answer their questions also made me feel so much more confident in my knowledge, and I really started to see the benefit of my research. 

And the good news is, crits aren’t exclusive to content design. Getting feedback is a huge part of working at Wise, so whatever internship you apply for, you’ll most likely get the opportunity to share your work too.

Customer research

This was the part I’d been looking forward to from the start, getting to put my designs in front of real customers (!). I’ll warn you now, seeing how someone uses your design can be very humbling — it quickly became obvious that some of my explanations weren’t as clear as I thought. This research was really insightful, and helped me create designs that I felt confident would actually work for users.

Presentation

After finalising my designs and handing them over to the engineers, all the interns delivered a final presentation, sharing their projects and their overall experience of the internship. It was so lovely to see all the contributions we’d made, and how far we’d all come in just 10 weeks.

You get to work on a real project

This is something that I think makes the Wise internship really stand out. Knowing that I was working on something that would actually be used by my team really motivated me. 

Because you’re given responsibility to manage your own project, you also develop much more than just your craft — you learn how to manage your time, take initiative to progress your work, and build relationships with people you work with. 

You’re supported every step of the way

Working on a real project might sound intimidating — but don’t panic. Your lead will guide you through each stage, helping you develop your skills, providing the resources you need. 

You’ll also be assigned a buddy who’ll support you throughout, whether it’s giving advice on your project, sharing tips for your development or just generally helping you settle in.

You get to work with great people

Wise is full of some really cool people. Not only do you get to learn directly from the experts, but these experts are so willing to go out of their way to teach you. My team was so patient as I settled in and worked things out, and no question ever felt silly. 

I’m obviously a bit biased — but as places to start your career go, I think Wise is pretty hard to beat.