Location
Iowa City, IA | United States
Job description
The University of Iowa’s Office of Strategic Communication is seeking a creative leader, problem solver, and visual storyteller to lead our design team as Art Director . In this role, you have the unique opportunity to directly contribute to building and enhancing the Iowa brand as one of the nation’s leading research universities.
As a member of our cross-functional creative team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and implementing our visual identity across various projects, including flagship recruitment collateral, national brand campaigns, executive communications, environmental graphics, and event promotion. Your role will be instrumental in influencing and guiding the overall visual execution of the Iowa brand, ensuring a cohesive and impactful representation across projects and mediums.
This position offers flexibility with a combination of on-campus and remote work will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually, and must comply with the remote work program and related policies and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.
Work arrangement options are discussed during the hiring process.
Key Areas Of Responsibilities Media and Materials Creation - Oversee the design and production of marketing materials aligned with project goals and creative briefs. This includes publication design for recruitment collateral, event promotional materials like signage and posters, environmental graphics for campus spaces, and various executive communications, ranging from large-scale publications to presentations.
- Conceptualize and create compelling illustrations to enhance both print and online content, spanning areas such as brand storytelling, enrollment campaigns, email marketing, promotional items, and recruitment collateral.
- Organize and direct marketing photography shoots, including scheduling, recruiting student volunteers, and providing support to photographers during shoots.
Concept and Brand Identity - Maintain and drive the strategic development of Iowa’s visual identity while influencing the evolution of brand guidelines over time. Work closely with the brand manager to create scalable brand assets and play a pivotal role in shaping the execution of our brand across various channels.
- Explore methods to achieve design consistency across various channels and mediums, contributing to a robust library of branded assets and templates through the creation of graphic elements, icons, brand illustrations, and templates for widespread use.
- Collaborate with team members across functions to solve complex problems, develop strategic concepts, and influence the visual execution.
Project and Production Management - Coordinate, manage, and assign design projects to ensure on-time delivery in alignment with creative briefs.
- Proactively communicate with stakeholders and team members to ensure seamless collaboration and alignment across all project phases.
- Optimize work practices and processes for productivity, quality, transparency, and stakeholder satisfaction in all design execution aspects.
Financial Responsibility - Develop and present project options to campus partners within established budgets.
- Assist in budget planning and administration for marketing initiatives.
Supervision/Leadership - Supervise, coach, and provide constructive feedback to the OSC design team, cultivating a culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Increase engagement with the campus community through proactive outreach and consultation with designers across the university.
- Drive change to enhance effectiveness and efficiency, identifying opportunities to improve internal processes.
For a complete job description, please contact Libby Kleppe at [email protected] Education Requirement - Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, or equivalent; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Required Qualifications - 3-5 years of professional experience in a collaborative team environment, successfully completing design assignments across a wide range of traditional and digital applications.
- Demonstrated experience leading design projects and guiding the work of creative staff.
- Ability to work within established brand guidelines and concept new ideas within the brand framework while maintaining visual continuity across several mediums and channels.
- Expert-level proficiency in the use of Adobe Creative Suite software, including InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat.
- Experience working with high-volume design tasks that are deadline driven with a strong ability to manage multiple concurrent objectives, projects, groups, or activities, making effective judgments as to prioritizing and time allocation.
- Ability to establish and build healthy working relationships and partnerships with colleagues within and external to own unit, and those to whom services are provided.
- Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills.
- Provide a portfolio (min 5 work samples) that demonstrates a strong understanding of core design principles with attention to function and readability, showcasing informed choices regarding type hierarchy, font selections, line spacing, contrast, and an effective use of space.
Desirable Qualifications - Experience working in higher education.
- Experience creating illustrations or graphics using a consistent style.
- Experience designing documents and templates in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint application.
- Experience working with photographers, coordinating photoshoots, and providing direction to models to achieve desired outcomes.
- Knowledge of cost/quality/turnaround factors and considerations of various design and production techniques.
- Understanding of web content management systems and ability to update and edit web content.
Application and Position D etails - In order to be considered for an interview, applicants must upload the following documents and mark them as a “Relevant File” to the submission:
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- A portfolio (min 5 work samples) that demonstrates a strong understanding of core design principles with attention to function and readability, showcasing informed choices regarding type hierarchy, font selections, line spacing, contrast, and an effective use of space.
- Job openings are posted for a minimum of 14 calendar days. This job may be removed from posting and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended. Successful candidates will be required to self-disclose any conviction history and will be subject to a criminal background check and credential/education verification. 5 professional references will be requested at a later step in the recruitment process. For additional questions, please contact Libby Kleppe at [email protected].
This position offers flexibility with a combination of on-campus and remote work will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually, and must comply with the remote work program and related policies and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.
Benefits Highlights - Regular salaried position. Located in Iowa City, Iowa.
- Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans.
- For more information about Why Iowa? Click here.
Additional Information
- Classification Title: Senior Designer/Art Director
- Appointment Type: Professional and Scientific
- Schedule: Full-time
- Work Modality Options: Hybrid within Iowa
Compensation Contact Information
- Organization: Strategic Communications
- Contact Name: Libby Kleppe
- Contact Email: [email protected]
Job tags
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