Internship - 2027 Undergraduate 3M Industrial Design Intern - Safety & Industrial Business Group (SIBG)

Location: US, Minnesota, Maplewood; US, Texas, Austin

Job Description

Internship - 2027 Undergraduate 3M Industrial Design Intern - Safety & Industrial Business Group (SIBG)

The role of Undergraduate Design Intern is intended to start in Summer 2027.

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

An internship is a temporary position within 3M. Interns typically work a full-time schedule throughout a 10-12 week assignment. This position is limited to working 899 hours per service credit year.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

About the Safety & Industrial Business Group

The Safety and Industrial Business Group (SIBG) at 3M offers a diverse range of products designed to enhance safety, productivity, and efficiency across various industries. Key product categories include personal safety (respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection), abrasives (coated, bonded, and non-woven), adhesives and tapes (industrial adhesives and various tapes), electrical markets (electrical tapes, wire connectors, and cable management), automotive aftermarket (collision repair and automotive tapes and adhesives), and industrial and safety markets (safety solutions and industrial maintenance products).

About 3M Design

Inside 3M’s Safety and Industrial Business Group, 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. As a 3M SIBG Design Intern, you will apply your design skills to real business challenges

while collaborating with experienced designers and cross-functional partners across business, marketing, engineering, product, and technical teams. Interns gain exposure to a human-centered design process, translating customer insights and business needs into brand-aligned solutions across physical products, digital experiences, packaging, and visual systems. Project work may include brand design, visual asset development, packaging systems, design research, product design, UX/UI design, industrial design, prototyping, testing, brand audits, and system refinement. Through onboarding, coaching, and hands-on project experience, the internship is designed to help you build foundational design skills, gain exposure to global design challenges, and explore a meaningful career path in design.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

As an Undergraduate Industrial Design Intern in the Safety & Industrial Business Group (SIBG) team, you will help create user-centered products and experience solutions that support industrial safety, productivity, and performance. You’ll contribute to the design and development of products used in industrial, safety, manufacturing, and workplace environments, with a focus on usability, ergonomics, customer value, and practical application.

You’ll 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. You’ll receive mentorship, structured onboarding, and hands-on opportunities to strengthen your skills in product design, research, prototyping, and cross-functional collaboration.

Key Expectations for an Undergraduate Industrial Design Intern:

Be Motivated You’ll take ownership of your work and bring curiosity, initiative, and creativity to each assignment. While support and guidance are available, we’re looking for someone who is 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 your 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

You’ll help translate customer and end-user needs into practical design solutions that improve comfort, usability, safety, and performance in industrial environments. We value openness, strong communication, and a willingness to learn new ways of working. Our projects rely on teamwork and the ability to partner effectively across design, technical, and business functions.

• 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.

Your Skills and Expertise

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a bache