Lead Visual Designer

Description

Idea Couture at Cognizant Digital Experience is a carefully assembled network of studios of human-centered design practitioners from a wide range of educational backgrounds, international settings, and professional experiences. We help organizations navigate and innovate in complex and uncertain environments to connect people with extraordinary experiences.

We're a strategic innovation and experience design firm. That means we're all about bringing new products, brands, solutions, services, and technologies into the world. By combining insights with inspiration, process with collaboration, and empathy with economics, we help our Fortune 500 clients innovate more deliberately and effectively.

We love big ideas and even bigger ambitions. We stand out because we put human experiences at the core.Using design thinking methodologies, we solve problems and identify business opportunities-generating new growth, meaningful differentiation, and economic value, while improving everyday lives. The transformative solutions we provide our clients are born of transdisciplinary thinking, balanced research, and inventive methods, based in business rationale and great design.

Among us you'll meet anthropologists, sociologists, futurists, strategists, designers, technologists, engineers, and other super smartpeople. Andeveryone collaborates, we foster an environment where people are encouraged to explore beyond the walls of their job descriptions.

Lead Visual Designer

Visual designers are responsible for the look and feel of an experience. They listen to their hearts and minds, using both emotion and reason to find the perfect balance between form and function. They construct and document design systems from the primitive layer (typography, color, spacing) to more complex system parts (components, templates, and page layouts). Beyond looks, they also create interaction models and prototypes to demonstrate how a design system works in the context of an experience. They know how to stimulate emotion and create a visual experience that engages the mind as well as the eye.

Your professional journey has brought you to this moment. As the Lead Visual Designer, you are the center of the visual design universe. The idea of working for high-profile, internationally recognized brands gets your blood pumping. Owning the UI end-to-end experience is your sweet spot. You initiate and manage design activities from working sessions to prototype development. That voice in the room is your voice, leading the UI conversation with clients, guiding decisions while securing approvals. You're a teacher and foster professional growth within the design ranks. You lead a band of talented UI folks that bring experiences to life. Clients are impressed with your creative energy, unique design concepts and how you tell a clear and compelling story about the utility and strategy behind the experience. And when you're not busy winning the hearts and minds of the client, you'll find yourself crafting new designs and feature concepts that land the next big deal.

What your day-to-day will look like: • Understand the business objectives, requirements, and project goals • Demonstrate to clients an understanding of their products and marketing challenges • Respond to the strategic and creative needs of the brand • Manage the client in all matters relating to UI design • Translate research findings and discovery data (workshops, lab studies, field visits, ethnography, stakeholder interviews, rough sketches and whiteboards) into visual concepts and solutions that are on-brand and tied to project goals • Lead UI design, development, and management for "best-in-class" creative digital products across all digital channels • Provide ideas and feedback to fuel collaborations with UX/UI designers and technical teams in an agile design and development process • Collaborate effectively across disciplines, product lines, and roles • Direct or produce the creation of mood boards and style tiles • Create and evolve design systems from basic elements (color, typography, spacing) to complex components, templates, and pages • Originate design as needed while delegating and supervising team members assigned to projects • Develop, lead, and inspire your design team members to deliver differentiated end-to-end UI experiences • Present UI/visual design deliverables to internal teams and client stakeholders with a clear and compelling story that speaks to the utility and strategy of the design • Contribute to business development efforts including concepts, project approaches, and estimations • Work effectively in a fast-paced environment, juggling multiple projects, meetings, and the unexpected • Direct both on and offshore UI designers on your team • Foster career growth and skill excellence for junior level UI design team members

Qualifications

Qualifications • 7+ years of creative design experience for software and web applications • 2+ years of experience managing direct reports • A college degree in graphic design or related field of study • Proven client-facing role experience • Experience working with teams on large scale, long-term projects • Current with UI design patterns, trends, and best practices • Skilled in the design of modern iOS and Android native mobile apps • Strong written and verbal communication skills • Well-versed in web accessibility guidelines andcompliance • Advanced skill level in the creation of clickable prototypes using Adobe XD, Figma, or equivalent

Nice to Haves • Experience working in Travel & Hospitality, Life Sciences, Food & Beverage • Versed in photo compositing techniques, and photo retouching • Ability to design and produce original iconography • Illustration capabilities • 3D capabilities • Motion design capabilities • Other areas of interest, education, or hobbies beyond visual design that broaden your perspective and add value back to your professional practice

Application Requirements • A stellar portfolio that demonstrates your mastery of UI design. Samples should include well-written description