Senior Designer
Design lives in the details. No, check that: design is the details. Because to get to work that really wows, you need those details. Pixels and picas. Kerning and tracking. Ink intensity and bleeding. At this point in your career, those subtle nuances are second nature, and you understand how important they are to push a piece from good to great. You don’t fall on your sword for these types of things because you’re some turtleneck-wearing prima donna who likes to show off your art school knowledge any chance you get. No, you fight for them because the craft is part of who you are and sweating the small stuff is how you really give flight to all those big ideas. When you design, you’re not just creating something that looks cool. You’re solving problems. And solving problems requires a deep level of understanding and creative thinking—and yes, an attention to detail. At the root of all you do, your creativity, conceptual thinking, collaboration, and strategic insights can transform simple down-and-dirty projects into big-and-shiny campaigns that get results and demand to be noticed. These are the things that put the “senior” in Senior Designer. If you have ‘em, we need to talk.
WHAT YOU NEED
- About 5 years of creative experience
- Conceptual firepower
- High proficiency in Adobe CC, Sketch, XD and/or Figma
- Animation/motion graphics skills are a big +!
- Workable knowledge of Microsoft suite
- Ample educational training: a bachelor’s degree or a certificate from the School of Hard Knocks
- Experience in leading projects and managing teams to develop not only highly creative work, but highly effective creative work (we’re not into pretty creative work that doesn’t do a thing for the brand)
WHAT YOU DO
- Ideas are the currency of creative. So have a lot of them. Concept, concept, concept. Share. Revise. Then concept some more. And then begin executing.
- Work with your Creative Director to find creative solutions to our clients problems, and build the most marketing-effective work possible.
- Lead, nurture, baby, and love your projects from kickoff to finish. Even during all those rounds of client feedback.
- Work with other disciplines in the agency to gain insight to help guide the creative work to be more strategically sound.
- Establish visual tone, styling, and, to borrow a lame ‘90s ad-industry word, ‘gestalt’ of brands.
- Work with your work friends to create something great together. Creatives may be signing their name on the art everyone has a role in creating it. Be willing to share the love.
- Play to your strengths, but never hesitate to ask for help. Know when to delegate and to trust others to do a job better than you can do it.
- Interact, collaborate, and even laugh with clients to build a solid relationship with them. It goes a long way. A really long way.
- Maintain monthly check-ins with the VP of Creative and stay receptive to constructive feedback for your growth.
WHAT YOU BE LIKE
- Be a pro. Respect the people around you, be on time, keep a positive attitude, and always look for ways to be part of the solution.
- Be collaborative. Work with copywriters and your team to come up with ideas, solve problems, talk about what TV shows you’re binging, and crank out cool work together.
- Be in touch. Stay coordinated with your project managers, account peeps, and vendors to get work done on time, on strategy, and on budget.
- Be available and accessible, especially as we embrace remote working. And don’t miss meetings if possible.
- Be vulnerable and ask a lot of questions—especially when you need help. We have a saying that ‘it’s never your problem, it’s our problem.’ If you’re not asking questions and you’re trying to do it all by yourself, chances are things aren’t going to go well.
- Have a “yes and” mentality. That means be thinking of what else you can do. What can you add to make each project better, a pitch more complete, the agency a better place to be.
- Be happy and scrappy. It’s the Contravent motto. You should be ready to get your hands dirty doing anything—and do it with energy and good vibes.
WHAT YOU ASPIRE FOR
Your craft is becoming so dialed, you’ve found a newfound passion to share it and use it to lead others. At the same time, you realize the more you learn, the more you know how much you don’t know. That’s good. You’re driven to create and to grow in your capabilities as not only a well-respected and well-achieved designer, but also in your leadership and marketing skills. As you dive deeper into the Contravent world, you’ll gain greater expertise into other marketing facets that need the effective touch of design. As demands increase with work, timelines, revisions, and new skills, you’ll learn how to properly balance your time and talents. Over time, your ability to lead successful projects (and all the new territory/learnings that come with them) plus increased trust amongst your peers, colleagues, and clients can guide you to an Associate Creative Director position.
