“I’ve never met anybody who really, really wanted to do this and couldn’t”

Getting [an internship] at Pentagram is not as hard as you think. There’s a person who looks at all the portfolios, and then takes the best ones and recommends them to partners who need interns. I take most of my interns out of my class, because I teach. So that happens all the time. All kinds of people turn up there and they work. You have to go to every place you think is potentially a good place to work and try to get hired. At the beginning you don’t know anything, so you’re not worth anything. Later when you know something, you are worth something. And you’ll begin to negotiate your way through your growth and situations at hand. I’ve never met anybody who really, really wanted to do this thing and couldn’t. It’s not like trying to be a movie star – that’s really hard. Find out who’s good, and where you could work. If you go to a bad place and you can’t find anything, then get out and go someplace else.

Paula Scher is a graphic designer, artist, and partner at Pentagram, the world’s largest independent design consultancy.

This is a transcript of a recording from Unit Live! An Evening with Paula Scher at the Royal Geographical Society organised by independent publisher Unit Editions.