Product Design senior lands Under Armour internship

For Benjamin Cole ’24 (Product Design), sports are an integral part of life. The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) senior started his fall semester fresh from an internship with Under Armour as part of their innovation team focusing on footwear design.

“I come from a family that’s huge on sports,” explains Cole. “I always really wanted to do shoes.” In high school, Cole was not aware that footwear design was a career field. “I had zero idea what I was going to do,” he says. “I liked drawing shoes and I liked playing sports. I had no idea where I was going to go to school.” After seeing his drawings, his aunt suggested that he start applying to art schools.

“It was like a dream come true,” says Cole of his internship at Under Armour. During his first year at MIAD, Cole almost decided to study Interior Architecture and Design. “I couldn’t avoid the fact that I really wanted to work on shoes and I really wanted to work with athletes,” he says, noting that Product Design allowed him to pursue this passion.

Scheduled to graduate in 2024, Cole plans to pursue a career in footwear design. After his experience at the highly competitive and selective Under Armour internship, Cole is already well on his way to breaking into the footwear design world. “In my freshman year [at MIAD], I still hadn’t really figured out what was possible for me,” he says. “During one of my drawing classes, a teacher sat down with me and he said ‘If you want to design shoes, you can.’ … From that moment on in my life, I was going to figure out how to turn this into a career.”

Keep up with Benji and learn more about MIAD’s Product Design major.