We’ve signed the Internship Pledge!

We spoke to Brad Harper, Founder of Design Truth, and the Internship Pledge to learn more about what drove this movement.

“The foundation of the pledge is to do the right thing. By proxy, we have set up an industry ecosystem where only those born into wealth can survive in industrial design. You might argue that reflects society, but I do not want to be associated with a sector that holds diversity with such poor regard.  For example, you can find a greater level of gender diversity in American mining that you can UK Industrial Design.  Unpaid internships symbolise design elitism - it's time we truly made the space inclusive and accessible for all. Not just those that can afford it.”  

Solid Solutions have signed the Internship pledge! - But what does this all mean?

• By signing the Internship Pledge led by Design Truth, Solid Solutions are stating that:
• We believe that industrial design interns should be paid at least the living wage.
• We will externally provide complete clarity of industrial design internship salaries on all job vacancies that we advertise. These are made accessible on the Design Truth Design Directory.
• We will not endorse, promote, or refer a designer to an internship position where the salary is below the living wage.
• We will not accept applications from interns who actively offer to work for free or below the living wage.   

Although these standards are aimed specifically at the Industrial Design industry, Solid Solutions is committed to upholding them across their entire internship programme

“Our internship programme is well established and hugely important in terms of developing our future talent pipeline.  Our interns perform an important role and therefore we are committed to providing an appropriate compensation package to reward them for their hard work.” – Kelly Shorthouse, HR Manager at Solid Solutions.

Take a look at our careers page to learn more about the opportunities available at Solid Solutions. LINK

We're not alone!

With the pledge getting over 150 sign-ups in the first 6 hours, it shows that there are plenty of companies dedicated to driving this movement, with more being added each day. We're proud to be part of this, and to see that a host of our customers have also signed the pledge, providing a fair working environment for their interns, here’s a list to name a few:

• Dolmen Design & Innovation
• Elvie
• beta. Design office
• Crux Product Design
• Kinneir Dufort Design Ltd
• Morrama Ltd
• Rodd Design
• The Fuel

You can view the full list in a handy map view here.  

What does it mean for those currently looking for internships?

If you're currently looking for an internship, you can rest assured that any company who has signed the pledge is committed to providing a legitimate, fair-paid role. This means that you can learn, while gaining relevant, hands-on industry experience as well as at the very least, living wage.