Position:Â
Design Intern, learning placement
Location:Â
Remote within Europe, Amsterdam or Naples preferred
Type:Â
Internship governed by a written internship agreement, a stageovereenkomst in the Netherlands or a convenzione di tirocinio in Italy, between Moods, the intern and, where applicable, the educational institution. This is a learning placement, not an employment contract and not a freelance assignment
Duration and hours:Â
4 to 6 months, 24 hours per week
Eligibility:Â
Open to candidates enrolled in, or recently graduated from, a design or related programme, where the placement can be linked to their studies
Supervision:Â
A named company tutor at Moods, the stagebegeleider under a Dutch stageovereenkomst or the tutor aziendale under an Italian convenzione di tirocinio, working alongside the academic tutor appointed by the educational institution (stagedocent or tutor didattico) where the programme appoints one. Written learning plan, weekly one-to-one with the company tutor, mid-placement review, progress reporting to the institution, and a written end-of-placement evaluation
Compensation:Â
EUR 700 per month internship allowance, paid under the internship agreement
Outcome:Â
A portfolio-ready project and a written reference at the end of the placement
Moods Studio is a product studio and development agency based in Amsterdam, working across AI, blockchain, and Web3. We build a broad range of software, from DeFi infrastructure and tokenization platforms to AI-driven applications, SaaS products, and mobile apps. We work in a small, senior-led team. Work is owned end to end, from the first conversation about a problem through to the release that puts it in front of users. Everything we build ships to real clients on real deadlines.
This is a learning placement and it is structured as one. The purpose is that you leave a better designer than you arrived, with work you can show and someone who can speak to it. You are assigned a named company tutor from the design team. In your first week the two of you write a learning plan: three or four objectives for the placement, what evidence would show you have met them, and which projects will give you that evidence. The plan is a working document and you revise it together as the placement goes on. You work on real client projects, because that is where the learning is. What you contribute is scoped to your level and is always reviewed before it goes anywhere near a client. You are not responsible for delivery, no deadline depends on you, and nothing in the placement is structured as a production obligation. If a piece of work turns out to be the wrong size for where you are, we change the work. You have a weekly one-to-one with your company tutor, a fortnightly review of work in progress with the wider team, and a written evaluation against your learning plan at the end.
Design systems in practice. How a component, a variant, and a token differ, why that distinction matters to the engineer reading your file, and how to build a small system that stays coherent as it grows. Interface design beyond the happy path. Empty states, loading states, error states, long strings, and small screens. Most of the craft in product design lives here, and most student portfolios skip it. Working to a brief. How a vague request becomes a scoped design problem, what to ask before you open Figma, and how to present a decision so that someone can disagree with the reasoning rather than the pixels. Handoff. What an engineer needs from a design file, what they are forced to guess at when it is missing, and how to review an implementation against your own design. Our frontend is Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS, with React Native for mobile. You will not be asked to write code, but you will see how your work is built, which is the fastest way to learn what a design decision costs.
Work alongside the design team: Sit inside real projects, take briefs, and produce design work under review. Scope is set with your company tutor and adjusted as you develop.
Contribute to design systems: Build and extend Figma components, variants, and tokens under supervision, starting with small additions to a system that already exists.
Design interface states: Practise the parts of interface design that are easiest to skip, including empty, loading, and error states, and responsive behaviour across breakpoints.
Present your work: Present what you have made at the fortnightly review, explain the reasoning behind it, and take questions from the team.
Observe handoff and implementation: Sit in on handoff conversations with the frontend team, watch your work get built, and review the result against your own file.
Build a portfolio piece: Develop one project across the placement to portfolio standard, with your company tutor's input on how it is framed and presented.
You are enrolled in, or have recently graduated from, a design programme or a related field, and the placement can be linked to your studies.
You have a portfolio. Coursework and personal projects are exactly what we expect to see at this stage.
You are already working in Figma, at whatever level.
You can take a critique, ask a question when something is unclear, and say when you are stuck.
You have professional working proficiency in English.
Some exposure to design systems, whether building one or working inside someone else's.
An interest in how interfaces get built, even without writing code.
Motion, illustration, or 3D alongside interface design.
Work that shows a point of view, even if it is still rough.
Professional working proficiency in Dutch or Italian in addition to English.
This placement is governed by a written internship agreement: a stageovereenkomst in the Netherlands, or a convenzione di tirocinio in Italy, signed by Moods, by you, and by your educational institution where your programme requires it. It is a learning placement. It is not an employment contract and it is not a freelance assignment. The agreement sets out the learning objectives, the supervision arrangements, the hours, and the evaluation at the end. Supervision is a named responsibility, not a general arrangement. Your company tutor at Moods is identified in the agreement before you start, so you know from day one who is accountable for your placement: the stagebegeleider under a Dutch stageovereenkomst, the tutor aziendale under an Italian convenzione di tirocinio. Where your programme appoints an academic tutor, the stagedocent or tutor didattico, the two agree the learning objectives and the assessment criteria between them at the outset, and your company tutor reports progress to your institution on whatever schedule it requires. In practice: a written learning plan agreed in your first week and revised as the placement goes on, a weekly one-to-one with your company tutor, a mid-placement review against the plan, and a written evaluation at the end. If your tutor becomes unavailable during the placement, a replacement is named and your institution is informed.
Internship allowance: EUR 700 per month internship allowance, paid under the internship agreement.
Duration and hours: 4 to 6 months at 24 hours per week. The days are agreed with your company tutor at the start and can be arranged around your study timetable.
Tutoring and supervision: A named company tutor at Moods (stagebegeleider or tutor aziendale), plus your institution's academic tutor (stagedocent or tutor didattico) where your programme appoints one. A written learning plan with agreed objectives, a weekly one-to-one, fortnightly reviews of work in progress, and a written evaluation against the plan at the end.
What you leave with: A portfolio-ready project and a written reference covering what you worked on and how you developed over the placement.
Tools: Moods provides the tools and accounts you need for the placement, including the design and AI tooling the team works with.
Location: Remote within Europe. Amsterdam or Naples preferred if you would like time on site, and time on site is optional.
Moods Studio is an equal opportunity organisation. We assess every application on the skills and experience that are relevant to the role, and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, or any other protected characteristic. If you need an adjustment at any stage of the process, for example a different interview format, extra time, materials in an accessible format, or a scheduled break, write to info@moodglobalservices.com and we will arrange it. You do not need to explain why, and asking has no bearing on the outcome of your application.
Controller. Mood Global Services B.V., KVK 85502081, Spinozastraat 47-C, 1018 HJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the controller for the personal data you submit through this application. Purpose. We use your data only to assess your application for this role and to communicate with you about it. We do not use it for anything else and we do not share it with third parties for their own purposes. Legal basis. Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, together with our legitimate interest in assessing candidates for an open role. Where we ask to keep your details on file for future openings, the basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Retention. We keep application data for 6 months after the process closes, and then delete it, unless you agree to a longer retention period so that we can consider you for future roles. Your rights. You can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, object to or restrict how we use it, and request it in a portable format. You can also lodge a complaint with the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. Contact. Write to info@moodglobalservices.com for anything relating to your data or to exercise any of these rights.
Read our privacy policyA portfolio is required, and student or personal work is exactly what we want to see. Include two or three pieces and, for each, a short note on what the brief was and what you decided. We aim to respond to every applicant within 5 business days of receiving the application. The process has three stages. First, a 30-minute introductory call about the placement, your studies, and what you want to get out of it. Second, a 45-minute portfolio conversation where we go through your work together. Third, a short practical exercise drawn from the kind of work the placement involves. The exercise is time-boxed to two hours, it is unpaid, and we send the brief and the assessment criteria in advance. If your programme requires a specific agreement, a set number of hours, or documentation from us, tell us at the first stage and we will work to it. We give a decision within 5 business days of the final stage, and we give feedback whether or not we make an offer. We never ask for salary history. Please do not include your date of birth, marital status, nationality, or a photograph in your application. We do not use them in any assessment and we would only have to delete them.
