Internship

About the Role

The role of Undergraduate Design Intern is intended to start in Summer 2027. This is a temporary position within 3M, typically working a full-time schedule throughout a 10-12 week assignment, limited to 899 hours per service credit year.

About the Safety & Industrial Business Group (SIBG)

SIBG offers a diverse range of products designed to enhance safety, productivity, and efficiency across various industries. Key product categories include personal safety, abrasives, adhesives and tapes, electrical markets, automotive aftermarket, and industrial and safety markets.

About 3M Design

Inside SIBG, 3M Design operates as a multidisciplinary internal creative team supporting brand, product, packaging, digital experience, and design research across industrial, safety, and professional-use markets.

The Impact You’ll Make

As an Undergraduate Industrial Design Intern in the SIBG team, you will help create user-centered products and experience solutions that support industrial safety, productivity, and performance. You will contribute to the design and development of products used in industrial, safety, manufacturing, and workplace environments, focusing on usability, ergonomics, customer value, and practical application. You will work closely with Industrial Designers, Engineers, Marketers, Product Managers, and other cross-functional partners to understand user needs, develop concepts, build prototypes, and support design solutions that address real-world challenges for 3M customers.

Key Expectations For An Undergraduate Industrial Design Intern

• Be Motivated: Take ownership of your work and bring curiosity, initiative, and creativity to each assignment. Be organized, reliable, and eager to contribute to meaningful design projects.

• Contribute to product design and concept development for physical products, tools, equipment, packaging, or safety-related solutions.

• Develop sketches, CAD models, renderings, mockups, and prototypes to communicate design ideas.

• Build skills through project work, design feedback, and mentorship from experienced designers and cross-functional partners.

• Support innovation efforts by helping identify new product opportunities and improvements to existing solutions.

• Be User-Centered and Collaborative: Help translate customer and end-user needs into practical design solutions that improve comfort, usability, safety, and performance in industrial environments. Value openness, strong communication, and a willingness to learn new ways of working.

• Assist with user research to better understand worker, customer, and end-user needs.

• Apply ergonomic and usability principles to improve product comfort, fit, ease of use, and productivity.

• Synthesize research findings and translate insights into actionable design recommendations.

• Consider material, manufacturing, durability, cost, and performance requirements when developing design concepts.

• Collaborate with engineering, marketing, product management, manufacturing, and customer-facing teams.

• Participate in design reviews, critiques, workshops, and cross-functional project discussions.

• Communicate design concepts clearly through visuals, prototypes, presentations, and documentation.

• Help ensure design solutions align with 3M’s innovation, quality, brand, and customer experience standards.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree, or higher, in Industrial Design from an accredited institution.
• Experience using 3D CAD software.

Additional Qualifications That Could Help

• Experience using SolidWorks, Sketchbook Pro, or similar design software to develop sketches, renderings, CAD models, or product concepts.
• Experience participating in ideation sessions, design workshops, or concept development activities informed by customer needs or user insights.
• Interest in conducting customer and user research, including potential travel to observe users, gather insights, and better understand industrial work environments.
• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher in Graphic Design, Brand Design, Design Communication, Industrial Design, UX/UI Design, or a related field from an accredited institution.
• Experience designing physical products, tools, equipment, PPE, packaging, or industrial solutions.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating concept development, user-centered design, prototyping, and design execution.
• Proficiency in design tools such as SolidWorks, Rhino, KeyShot, Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, or similar platforms.
• Experience conducting user research, usability testing, ergonomic assessments, or customer discovery.
• Ability to translate customer needs and business requirements into practical product design solutions.
• Understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, design for manufacturability, and cost considerations.
• Strong collaboration skills with cross-functional teams such as engineering, marketing, product management, manufacturing, and sales.
• Excellent visual, verbal, and written communication skills, including storytelling and presentation of design concepts.
• Interest in safety, industrial, manufacturing, construction, transportation, or other B2B end markets.

Work Location

This Role has an on-site working model, with employees working at least four (4) days a week in the office at 3M Center, located in Maplewood, MN.

Travel

May include up to 10% domestic travel.

Additional Information

3M provides eligible interns with a housing and transportation stipend in accordance with current policy. Must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status.

All US-based 3M full-time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms for using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets, and discusses conflicts of interest and invention assignment. Employees at Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers.