Student Spotlight: Preparing for an Internship at Instagram Through Her Capstone Project
Abiraami Muthukumar’s (MIIPS ‘25) capstone project prepared her for an internship at Instagram
By Hannah Brelsford
Abiraami Muthukumar (MIIPS ‘25) completed her undergraduate studies at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, earning a degree in Business Services and System Design. When she earned her degree in 2022, the field of service design was not as well-developed as it is today.
Due to the situation in the field at the time, there were limited opportunities in service design. As a result, Abiraami pivoted to the digital products sector. After gaining valuable experience in the industry, she felt it was time to return and further develop her skills. While she wanted to stay within the design industry, she was also eager to learn from other disciplines to enhance her capabilities in that area.
That is when she found the Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services (MIIPS) program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute.
“I wanted to get better at communicating with others. I knew going forward that as a designer, I’m not going to just work by myself, I’m going to be working with people from across disciplines.”
The Fast Facts: A Summary of Abiraami’s Time in the MIIPS Program
Bursting her Design Bubble 🫧
- UX Designer at Lollypop Design Studio
- Learned from different disciplines at MIIPS
A Capstone Experience in Social Media 📱
- Capstone project sponsored by ViralMoment
- Navigating team dynamics
Integrating Capstone Experience at Instagram ♾️
- How her capstone project helped prepare her for her internship
- Product Design Intern at Meta on the Instagram team
- Design culture at Instagram
What’s Next 🎓
- Graduating from MIIPS in December of 2025
- Ready to take her MIIPS knowledge and find a career
Bursting her Design Bubble
Before MIIPS, Abiraami worked as a user experience designer (UX) at Lollypop Design Studio, a small consulting design studio based in India. Here, she built on her undergraduate education and built a foundation that has helped guide her career and educational journey so far. She grew while working at Lollypop, gaining understanding in how to build and manage relationships with clients.
“For four years, when you are studying exclusively art and design, it can be a bubble. You only work with creative people, and after working, I felt like my bubble was bursting.”
Despite her growth, she noticed a significant gap in her skills— it was difficult for her to communicate with people who did not have a design background, specifically those in product development. This is when she discovered the MIIPS program, built to propel students out of their discipline silos.
A Capstone Experience in Social Media
The capstone project is part of the integrated learning experience in the MIIPS program. This project challenges students to collaborate in interdisciplinary teams with a sponsor to develop solutions to real-world industry problems.
Abiraami's industry sponsor was ViralMoment, a social media video analytics company that utilizes AI technology. Throughout the process of developing industry solutions, much of the conversation and data that informed their project came from stakeholders who had the deepest understanding of the problem. This experience provided Abiraami with valuable insights and learning opportunities.
The capstone class was an amazing learning experience for Abiraami and her classmates, but it was also the most challenging experience they have had in the MIIPS experience so far. Part of this challenge was navigating team dynamics.
“I learned so much about how to work with people who just don’t see things the same way you do and who don’t speak the same design, business, or tech language.”
The team at ViralMoment also showed her what it was like to work with a fast-growing startup. Discussing solutions and pivoting to find the solution that best fit the customer need helped Abiraami with the next chapter in her MIIPS journey, her internship.
Integrating Capstone Experience at Instagram
Abiraami’s summer internship, which is required as a part of the MIIPS Advanced curriculum, is as a Product Design Intern at Meta on the Instagram team.
Her previous capstone experience at ViralMoment helped her land and prepare for this work opportunity at Instagram.
Working with Meta, especially on the Instagram Team, has been a valuable experience for her. Although entering one of the largest companies in the world has been overwhelming, it has also provided insight into how the corporate world operates.
One aspect that Abiraami appreciates about working on the Instagram team is the company's strong focus on design. "Instagram is very design-driven. When a new product or feature is developed, it emerges from the design team rather than the engineering team, which is how the rest of Meta operates. This design emphasis permeates the company's culture and influences what they create." With this design approach, Abiraami feels that everyone is given the creative freedom to explore larger ideas and expand the possibilities on the platform.
“I never thought I would work for Instagram. I’ve been using it since before Meta acquired the company. It’s been incredible to see how the product has changed from my perspective,” she shared, reflecting on this learning opportunity.
Abiraami during her internship at Instagram
Abiraami brought a base level of knowledge about Instagram into her internship since she has acquired years of insights as a user.
Abiraami has gained insight into the significant effort that goes into designing our everyday interactions on social media. She noted, “There is so much thought and effort that goes into even the smallest features,” specifically mentioning the like feature on Instagram Stories. While this feature has been a successful addition to the app, Instagram is open to experimenting with new ideas and is willing to remove features that do not perform well. Their focus is on innovating for the future rather than pushing changes that are unwanted.
One aspect of Instagram's team culture that Abiraami enjoys is the emphasis on being engaged with pop culture, which is essential in the social media landscape. The platforms that set trends must also stay current with them. Every week, the design team meets to discuss the top ten moments in pop culture.
This is one of her favorite parts of working at Instagram, as it fosters bonding among team members and ensures the app remains culturally relevant in a constantly changing world.
Overall, Abiraami's experience at Instagram has been fantastic, providing her with the opportunity to work in a corporate environment and gain a new perspective on one of her favorite social media platforms.
What’s Next
With one semester of the MIIPS program left, Abiraami is ready to apply everything she has learned from the program to the future development of her career. She is not sure yet if she wants to pivot entirely out of design work, but she is using her experience from the program and future job opportunities to explore that.
However, one thing is for sure: she wants to find a job that challenges her and fits her new interdisciplinary skillset.
