Interface Composer (UI/UX) Intern (Pack STEM, SLEKE., Summer 2025)
**This internship is hosted by SLEKE. and sponsored by the Nevada Career Studio.
To be eligible for this internship, all applicants must have their resume and cover letter reviewed by the Nevada Career Studio (NCS). Please visit during drop-in hours before applying for this position. Students will not be able to submit applications for this position without NCS approval.
About SLEKE.:
SLEKE. is a startup building a smartphone designed to help you spend less time glued to your device and more time engaging with the world around you.
Our phone includes just the essentials (maps, messaging, music, money, and tools for life) and cuts out the rest (social media, infinite scrolls, games, and the unlimited access to the web). Built for people who want to be more present and intentional, it’s tech that gives your time and attention back.
The idea came while we were working and traveling through beautiful places in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Surrounded by real-life beauty, we still found ourselves glued to our screens. No device offered just the communication and utility features we needed for our travels without also hijacking our attention. So we built one.
SLEKE. users average just 38 minutes of screen time a day. The rest? That’s for fixing bikes, baking bread, or knitting cute capybara plushies.
We’re not anti-tech. We’re pro-human. We build tech for people who want to live stories worth telling.
Internship Description:
We’re rethinking what a smartphone should be and we need am unorthodox design mind to help reimagine how people interact with theirs. Now, we’re looking for someone to design our Launcher. A launcher is the interface/ front door of the entire user experience.
But this internship isn’t for redesigning icons and widgets. It’s for reinvention of the mobile interface itself.
We're exploring ideas like:
- Action-based UI – Only show what needs to be addressed, when it needs to be addressed.
- Visual entropy – How much information should exist in a user’s visual field?
- The built environment – What can we learn from architecture about digital space? How do we design such that user success is the only option?
- Generative UI – Interfaces that adapt to user context and behavior.
- Color psychology and depth perception – Leveraging emotional and cognitive triggers.
- The Two-Click Heuristic – Every action achievable in two steps or fewer.
- The Why of Interface – Not just where or when, but why we show anything at all.
Who We’re Looking For
- We're especially excited about applicants outside traditional UX/UI: People with backgrounds in architecture, mechanical engineering, industrial design, cognitive science, or even theater and set design—anyone who understands the form, function, and emotion of space, both physical and digital.
- Systems thinkers who can distill complexity into elegant, intuitive flows
- People who question default assumptions about design, environments, and interfaces
- Obsessives about user psychology, ergonomics, and environment
- Bonus: those who sketch ideas on paper napkins and prototype in weird ways
What You’ll Be Doing
- Co-create the conceptual foundation for a new kind of mobile experience
- Work closely with our team to experiment and prototype UI/UX ideas
- Develop and refine interface logic based on SLEKE’s mission: Create technology that enables deeper engagement with the real world.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Complete 360 hours of work as an intern (32-40 hours per week, 12 weeks total)
- Contribute to the conceptual design and structure of SLEKE’s next-gen interface
- Develop wireframes, sketches, and interactive prototypes to explore novel UX paradigms
- Analyze and translate abstract ideas (like entropy, presence, and environmental influence) into tangible interface experiments
- Collaborate with developers to test and iterate on prototypes in real or simulated environments
- Conduct user interviews or observational studies to validate or refine design assumptions
- Document your design rationale and iteration process for internal review and future reference
Goals and Expectations of the Intern:
- Gain experience designing experimental interfaces with an emphasis on user psychology and cognitive load
- Understand the challenges and opportunities in minimalist, presence-focused digital environments
- Contribute original thinking to SLEKE’s mission of building a human-first smartphone
- Build a project that challenges current interface conventions
- Leave the internship with a deeper understanding of systems thinking and product design
Required Qualifications:
- Must be a degree-seeking student at the University of Nevada, Reno after the Spring ‘25 semester
- Spring ‘25 or earlier graduates are not eligible for the Wolf Pack STEM Internship Program
- Enthusiastic about SLEKE.'s mission to design technology that enhances real-world living
- Strong interest in spatial design, systems thinking, and user-centered innovation
- Comfort with sketching, prototyping, or physically modeling abstract ideas
- Willingness to work with ambiguity and iterate through rapid feedback cycles
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Qualifications:
- Background in architecture, mechanical/industrial design, cognitive science, or other nontraditional UX fields
- Familiarity with prototyping tools like Figma, Rhino, Blender, or hand-built models
- An interest in psychology, human-centered design, behavioral design, or information architecture
- Experience working on conceptual or speculative design projects
- Based in Northern Nevada during internship (not required, but in-person collaboration possible)
Desired Schedule for Intern:
- Work hours distributed evenly between June 2 and August 22 (360 total hours)
- Flexible daily scheduling, with an emphasis on 4+ hour focused work blocks
- Fully remote position, with opportunities for local collaboration if based in Northern Nevada
Pack STEM internships require interns to complete 360 hours during their internship. It is the intern’s responsibility to ensure this requirement is met.