Brand Design Intern Parousia Coffee | Richmond, VA Paid part-time internship | Scott’s Addition $15/hour | 8–10 hours per week
Brand Design Intern
Parousia Coffee | Richmond, VA
Paid part-time internship | Scott’s Addition
$15/hour | 8–10 hours per week
Help make Parousia recognizable before someone sees the logo.
Parousia Coffee is looking for a designer with taste, curiosity, and a strong sense of how people actually read/comprehend what they see.
We want someone who can make a social post, coffee-education carousel, photo, or small printed piece feel unmistakably Parousia—not because our logo is in the corner, but because the typography, imagery, colors, and ideas all belong together.
We care about work that is visually interesting, clear, and beautiful. But beauty is always in service of clarity and utility.
If a design makes the important thing hard to read, it has missed the point. We care about hierarchy, contrast, typography, and legibility: what someone sees first, and what they remember afterward.
About Parousia
Parousia is a coffee roaster and café in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood.
We care about exceptional coffee and food, but it’s always in service of hospitality—taking care of our customers. We like telling people why coffee tastes the way it does, where it came from, and how it was made—without lecturing or making anyone feel like they need to be an expert to appreciate it.
We think of the café, and our brand generally, as living-room hospitality: a place where people feel welcomed, comfortable, and cared for.
We want our visual world to feel the same way.
The role
Parousia already has a logo, colors, typefaces, packaging, and individual creative pieces we love.
Now we’re looking to expand and intensify that visual language and “feeling”. We want to grow our little brand seed into a big, lush tree.
You will work directly with ownership to turn ideas into clear, memorable visual work.
Sometimes the assignment will be specific:
“We are launching a seasonal menu. How should we introduce it?”
Other times, it will begin as a question:
“People do not understand this part of coffee. How could we explain it simply?”
This is not social-media management. We already have people who handle calendars, posting, and publishing logistics.
This role is about creating the thing that gets posted.
What you might create
The focus is social-media-centered visual design, slide-based storytelling, and basic photography.
* Instagram posts, stories, and carousels
* Coffee education slides and visual explainers
* Seasonal drink and product-launch graphics
* Typography-led graphics, illustrations, icons, textures, and recurring visual elements
* Simple café, drink, product, food, and people photography
* Photo selection, basic styling, and art direction
* Event graphics, digital flyers, and newsletter visuals
* Occasional small printed pieces, such as café signs, stickers, counter cards, or menu inserts
You do not need to be great at everything above. You will continue to learn as you create.
We are looking for strong visual instincts, clear thinking, and someone who wants to get better by making real work.
We would rather make a few thoughtful, finished things than cram a feed with filler content.
What we are looking for
Your major matters less than your work, your taste, and the way you think.
You might be studying design, illustration, photography, communication arts, advertising, marketing, or something else entirely. You may be self-taught. You do not need agency experience or a polished professional portfolio.
However, you should be comfortable in Illustrator, Canva, Affinity or similar design tools.
We are especially interested in someone who:
* Cares about typography, hierarchy, spacing, and legibility
* Knows that design should make an idea clearer, not just make it look more decorative
* Notices menus, packaging, books, posters, signage, clothing, websites, restaurants, and visual details that most people walk past
* Has opinions and can explain why something works
* Can take feedback, revise, and try another direction
* Makes things outside of assigned school or client work
Why this is worth doing
Instead of hypothetical projects for made up companies, you will make work for a real local brand, real customers, and a real physical space.
You may see your work in the café, on a customer’s phone, in an email, at an event, or on a piece of coffee packaging. You will work directly with ownership, get creative feedback, and have room to bring your own perspective.
For the right person, there may be opportunities for freelance work or future creative projects with Parousia.
Schedule and compensation
* $15/hour
* Approximately 8–10 hours per week
* Flexible around class schedules
* Based in Scott’s Addition, Richmond
* Some work must happen in person at the café; independent design work may happen remotely
How to apply
Send us a portfolio link, PDF, Instagram account, folder of work, or another reasonable way to see what you make.
A formal portfolio is welcome, but it is not the most important thing. We are often more interested in personal work that shows your taste, strengths, curiosity, and design thinking.
Class projects, posters, photography, illustrations, packaging concepts, sketches, paintings, shirt graphics, side projects, and strange unfinished ideas are all welcome.
Along with your work, please answer these questions. Keep your responses concise— 300–500 words total is plenty.
1. What kind of creative work do you most enjoy making, and why?
Tell us what you make when no one has assigned you a brief.
2. Choose two or three pieces you are most proud of.
For each, tell us the idea, your role, and one decision you are happiest with.
3. Name three artists, designers, photographers, illustrators, or other creative people who influence you.
Tell us what specifically draws you to each person’s work.
4. Name three brands, places, publications, restaurants, products, or organizations whose design you admire.
Tell us one specific thing each does well.
5. If you could create anything for a coffee company without worrying about what coffee companies normally do, what would you make?
Tell us what it is, who it is for, where someone would encounter it, and why it would be worth making.
We are not looking for perfect answers or one narrow visual style. We are looking for taste, curiosity, clear thinking, strong instincts, and attention to detail.