Strategic Visual Designer

About Relish Works: 

We are Relish Works, an innovation hub focused on challenging the status quo and pioneering the next evolution of the food industry. While backed with the support of an established food service organization, Relish Works operates as an independent entity focused on user-centered solutions. Our efforts explore improvements to the established company's core business as well as solving for unmet customer needs, re-deploying assets and infrastructure, and developing new businesses. We are looking for hard workers, people willing to leave their ego at the door, learn from others and roll up their sleeves to do whatever job is necessary. 

What you’ll do as a Strategic Visual Designer:

Strategic Visual Designers at Relish Works are curious, empathetic, system-thinkers who can leverage visual design skills on innovation and strategy efforts to communicate research findings and illustrate future experiences, concepts, services and systems. These designers are active members of teams conducting research and synthesis on innovation efforts to uncover insights and opportunities for new businesses and service offerings. These designers play a critical role on our highly collaborative, multidisciplinary and human-centered teams.

The Strategic Visual Designer will join Relish Works as part of the innovation studio, working on multidisciplinary project teams of researchers, strategists and designers. They will be responsible for contributing to the development and communication of the hub’s innovation projects. In addition to innovation project work, the creative team may tap this designer to assist with one-off visual design needs like branding, information design, or presentation work.  

As a Strategic Visual Designer at Relish Works, you will:

• Shape and conduct user research 
• Synthesize and communicate research findings
• Develop frameworks to structure the thinking behind new concepts
• Support project teams with visual direction and guidance
• Visualize qualitative and quantitative information into diagrams and infographics
• Bringing new services, experiences, and business concepts to life through illustration, wireframes, presentation, and video
• Design and develop communication materials: Google slide presentations, decks, corporate communications

Relish Works is building an all-star team, and you should apply if you have:

• 1-3 years of experience in design-related field
• Exposure to and experience with human-centered design and/or innovation work preferred
• Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree
• Strong visual and communication design skills: 
• Information design: content organization, structure, and storytelling
• Sensibilities for communicating clearly through type, hierarchy, layout
• Readiness to sketch out or mock-up abstract ideas
• Ability to visualize content into diagrams and illustration 
• Flexibility and willingness to adjust the communication and design style to different audiences
• Illustration/animation skills a nice to have 
• Curiosity and passion to meet unmet needs of end-users, team members, and stakeholders
• Eagerness and flexibility to learn new skills and develop a breadth of capabilities
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to thrive in a self-directed culture
• Openness to learn from diverse perspectives and collaborate on multidisciplinary teams
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills (written, verbal)
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and willingness to learn new software as needed
• Portfolio of work demonstrating capabilities in user-centered design methodologies

You will thrive if you align with our values:

• We believe in the Golden Rule. 
• We act like owners and make decisions about our time and our resources accordingly. 
• We are generous in our assumptions. 
• Our team is our team — it’s imperfect and we love it anyway. 
• We use our hearts and heads in equal measure. 
• We take care of each other and our space as if we are a family. 
• We focus on our work and on delivering quality outcomes. 

Location:

The Strategic Visual Designer role is based out of Chicago - our offices are located in River North.