Art Director

The Art Director is responsible for leading the development and execution of impactful design solutions for a diverse range of interdisciplinary projects. In this position, the Art Director provides a progressive point of view on design excellence. They collaborate with the Creative Director on ensuring the creative vision on projects and direct design teams towards cutting-edge visual experiences.

For this role, we are specifically looking for someone with physical exhibit design experience. An understanding of how graphics translate into spatial environments is a must. The ideal candidate will have experience in putting together technical graphics package documentation with elevations and sections. The ability to direct junior designers is also important.

When you apply, please include a link to your portfolio and/or website.

• This position requires the ability to work on-site in our studio in NYC
• Must be able to travel as needed
• Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States

Requirements
• A design degree (graphic, interaction, communication, media design, or a related field)
• Superior design and art direction skills exhibited in an outstanding portfolio
• Minimum experience of 7+ years, or an outstanding demonstration of experience

DESIGN
• Excellent typography and design skills
• Accomplished in developing unprecedented design solutions that actively engage audiences
• Accomplished in establishing complex design systems for digital and built environments
• Accomplished in visualizing concepts for time-based and interactive experiences
• Experience in designing for physical spaces, with a sensitivity to environmental graphics
• 3D or animation and motion graphics are a plus!
• Precision, detail and solution-oriented

STRATEGY
• Strong strategic and conceptual skills
• A proven record of driving experiments, iterating quickly and pushing conventions
• The ability to distill key insights and translate them into design principles
• The ability to cut through complex content and translate narratives into compelling visual experience design
• Familiar with expressing arguments and ideas visually, verbally and in writing
• An awareness of contemporary trends in technology, art and design

MANAGING
• Proven track record of project direction and team management
• Disposition to inspire, mentor, and lead by example
• Strong leadership and mediation skills
• Confidence to make difficult decisions and guide designers towards aspirational design solutions
• Experienced in structuring workflows and managing design teams
• Leading and maintaining strong design direction across multidisciplinary teams

PROCESS
• Excellent technical, organizational, and time management skills
• The ability to collaborate in teams, work autonomously, take direction from creative leadership and translate goals into actionable items for junior team members
• Progressive understanding of UX, GUI, and interaction design as well as the workflow of time-based media
• Experienced in structuring and holding working sessions and presentations, internally as well as to clients and collaborators

ATTITUDE
• A highly self-motivated, ambitious, and professional work attitude
• An empathetic nature with an open, positive mindset
• The ability to thrive in a fast-paced creative environment

RESPONSIBILITIES:

DESIGN EXCELLENCE
• Develop, maintain and enhance the creative vision in collaboration with the Creative Director
• Provide art direction on visual experience design for projects of various scales and types - from web and mobile to interactive installations and large scale exhibition graphics
• Provide compelling arguments for the design direction that foster internal and external understanding and agreement
• Establish conceptual frameworks to solve complex design challenges
• Establish smart, sophisticated, and impactful visual systems
• Strive for innovation and aesthetic excellence
• Ensure integrity and quality of visual direction throughout all phases of a given project and esp. when translated to linear media, interactive media, and physical environments

LEADING COLLABORATION
• Collaborate with strategists, content developers, UX designers, creative technologists, etc. to come up with unexpected, meaningful, and innovative ideas and concepts
• Direct, collaborate, execute, mentor, and support projects from ideation through design development, asset production and launch with the fidelity needed for effective team collaboration at each phase
• Coordinate with project team members to clarify and aggregate all design dependencies (hardware and software specs, content specs, architectural specs, etc.)
• Encourage progressive thinking and the pushing of boundaries

MENTORSHIP & GUIDANCE
• Bring new approaches to the creative process, ideation and design strategy and inspire across disciplines
• Flag stumbling-blocks and offer solutions
• Provide accurate time estimates and expectations for yourself and designers on a project
• Juggle multiple projects, establish expectations for designers and ensure deadlines are met

Benefits

Local Projects offers to its Full-Time staff Health/Dental/Vision, FSA, 401k, access to Short Term and Long Term Disability Insurance and Life Insurance as well as a generous PTO package.

Local Projects is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. Our collaboration with each other and the experiences we create together greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across all disciplines, at all levels of the studio. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color, and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

Local Projects is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity, and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.