Our client is a Cardiff based creative agency, well known for their creative bravery – winning awards for their creativity and the impact their work has on businesses and society. They’ve achieved this through hard work, taking chances and striving for better work.
They believe every piece of content should move people, whether that’s an OOH poster, a placemaking brand, or a suite of social assets and now they’re looking for a Design Lead who shares their obsession. If you’re a designer with a passion for work that speaks to their audience, someone who wants to grow and develop a team, and who is restless to make better, braver work every time, you’ll fit right in.
The ideal candidate will be highly experienced, capable of bringing exceptional craft and someone who won’t let go of a piece of work until it’s perfect.
The agency has big ambitions, and their Design Lead needs to share in their ambition to raise the bar of creative design from Wales to the world. You won’t only be creating your own work, you’ll need to be a coach to their design team, so the ideal person will be a real team player and keen mentor.
We are looking for someone who is going to move the agency’s creative to the next level, coaching their brilliant team of designers and proactively finding opportunities for the team and their work to innovate and cut through.
What we expect from you day-to-day
* Lead the design team and design output
* Creation of a range of digital and print artwork and assets including social media assets, print collateral, digital and traditional OOH
* Lead client conversations and build solid client relationships
* Presenting concepts and work to clients to a high level with ability to defend it
* Brief initial concept designs to junior members of the team and review and develop their work
* QA of own work and QA of junior studio team members with meticulous attention to detail
* Taking part and being key part of creative ideation sessions, workshopping with team to come to brave creative solutions. Working in partnership with Creative Director to develop these from a design perspective
Your key responsibilities
* Creative direction over design work, ensuring there is a golden thread for both messaging and polished design applied across all
* Creative thought leadership, fostering a creative culture with technical skills-sharing and inspiration
* Ownership of projects from concept to delivery, involving client contact and presentation, overseeing more junior members of the team in their projects and reviewing work
* Line management of the design team, developing the skills within your specialism as well as working with them on their personal development and professional objectives. Looking at how we develop the team and the skills within the team and bolster them
* Responsible for workflow of design team. Collaborating effectively with campaign team to project timelines – ensuring time is managed on projects
* Have a business focus with knowledge of creative budgets. Responsible for keeping track of project hours and maximising working capacity. Responsible for reviewing and working on budgets for design projects, giving quotes to campaign and new business teams
* Working alongside Creative Account Manager and New Business team to develop the new business strategy for the Creative Studio, identifying new opportunities to grow and working on tenders for design projects. Feeding back skills gaps identified from new business into team’s development
Core skills
* BA Hons, or equivalent experience in graphic design or similar degree
* Outstanding experience and specialised technical understanding of core Adobe Creative Cloud software – Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Indesign
* Able to coach, mentor and develop the work of our team of designers
* Specialised and accomplished in either branding or campaign design work, highly competent in skills specific to that, bringing craft to design work
* Strong technical design skills with the ability to produce layouts and presentations efficiently and at an appropriate pace
* Skilled in accessibility requirements and looking at ways to innovate and implement across all work
* Strategic creative thinking developed, able to be the point person in the room for strategic conversations when looking at creative work and input into creative concepting with our Creative Director
* Exceptional presentation and communication skills communication skills – written, spoken, and visual – selling work into colleagues, clients and prospective clients to encourage bold creative solutions
* Able to lead team’s collaborative working with the whole agency, bringing the team along with solution focussed leadership
Who you are
* We are looking for people who share in our purpose to work with meaning
* Curiosity, energy, and a hunger to make better work
* You will care about creating a positive impact on society
* You will be self-motivated, dedicated, and curious
* You’ll take responsibility for getting the job done for your clients
* You’ll contribute to our inclusive work culture
* You’ll enjoy creative problem solving to generate ideas for your clients and us
* You’ll be honest and expected to be treated professionally and with respect, treating others in the same way
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