Many agencies talk deeply about their process, but few of them talk about how they build their team. At Barrel, we've run a design internship program for more than a decade. It's a good window into how we actually operate day to day: how we mentor, how we collaborate across disciplines, and how new perspective moves into client work. This internship program is something we genuinely get excited about, and it says a lot about our culture.
Our interns work on client deliverables, the same ones our CPG clients see and approve, not hypothetical briefs or internal practice projects. Interns have worked across websites, email programs, and content creation, often collaborating directly with the project managers, strategists, engineers, and marketers running that account.
"What stood out about my Barrel internship was the balance: I was trusted with real client work, and the structured check-ins made sure I was learning and progressing the whole way. I came away with a better eye for digital design and a sense of my own practice that I'm still building on." - Hridaya Shah, Barrel Design Intern
That structure shapes how we staff and run projects. Every account has room for a fresh set of eyes, and every senior team member on that account has a stake in mentoring someone through it. That also means our clients get a team that's used to bringing people up to speed quickly while always keeping quality consistent.
Each intern is paired with a mentor on the design team and a manager who oversees their day-to-day experience. Interns are also exposed to all of our disciplines, immersing themselves with the breadth of services we provide at Barrel: from Shopify migrations, user experience (UX) strategy, and lifecycle marketing all the way to marketplace management and conversion rate optimization (CRO).
"The team is very supportive and caring for each other, and that positive environment helped me a lot to grow as a more confident designer who can speak up and communicate well with other levels of designers and the other parts of the team." - Soso Shin, Barrel Design Intern
For a CPG brand evaluating an agency partner, we believe this matters. A team that's built to teach, cross-train, and absorb new people well is also a team that holds institutional knowledge, adapts to a brand's specific needs, and keeps a project moving even as team composition shifts over a long engagement.
What started as a New York-based program with strong ties to schools like Parsons, Pratt, and NYU has expanded well beyond the city. Since 2020, we've hosted interns from across the US, including Utah, Los Angeles, and Maryland, as well as international students from Italy and Canada. Two years ago, we began a partnership with Capilano University's IDEA School, hosting a student from their Practicum program each winter, typically February through April.
"Although I’m currently situated in Toronto, it was easy to not feel alone as the team was welcoming from the beginning. I was able to work on so many projects and be mentored by an amazing team, who I owe a lot of my growth to" - Louise Delfin, Barrel Design Intern
Internships typically run three months at minimum, and we've had students stay on for as long as a year while they finish their senior year of college. Many have stayed with us afterward, some as contractors, some as full-time team members. The program has become and integral part of how we build our team, and we are proud of its longstanding success.
When we welcome a new intern, we start with an icebreaker to get to know them and celebrate them joining the team. When their time with us wraps up, they give an end-of-internship presentation on what the experience meant to them and what's changed for them at work and at school along the way. It's a small tradition that we take it seriously. It reflects how we treat the people who spend their time with us.
If you're evaluating agency partners and want to understand how we work, reach out to us or explore our client work.
