DC Thomson Media, Design Lead - Children's Magazines
- Employer
- DC Thomson & Co Ltd
- Location
- Dundee or Glasgow
- Salary
- Competitive
- Closing date
- 6 Dec 2021
View more
- Industry
- Journalist
- Job Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
- Sector
- Consumer Publication, Magazine
- Discipline
- Designer, Digital Designer, Multi-skilled Designer
Job Details
Design Lead - Children's Magazines
Dundee or Glasgow
VAC052
DC Thomson Media has a rich history of publishing some of the best-known and successful magazines of all time. And you could be part of making the future just as exciting!
Working across a host of amazing children’s titles including Shout, Animal Planet, Unicorn Universe, 110% Gaming, Animals and You and The Official Jacqueline Wilson Mag, our new Design Lead will inspire our talented designers and ensure our products are striking, innovative and stay ahead of the curve.
We invite applications for a confident, enthusiastic and well-organised Design Lead to join our Children's Magazines team. Working closely with the editorial team, you will take an active part in determining the design strategy of various brands across print and online platforms and leading a team of Graphic Designers to produce relevant and visually engaging children's content within technical specifications, budgets and timelines.
This is a hybrid role offering a blend of home and office working from any one of our local offices in Dundee or Glasgow.
Key responsibilities:
- To work closely with the Content Editors and Programme Leads to devise short, medium and long-term strategies for the future design direction of the magazines.
- To lead a design team in designing page layout and digital content with high visual impact, in- keeping with style guides and brand values across a range of magazines and brands.
- To take design responsibility for checking and approving pages to ensure print-ready status.
- · To lead and motivate a design team to respond to business and customer needs.
- To take design responsibility for publishing product content (including packaging such as polybags, card wallets and paper wraps), plus any online activity, brand extensions, free gift artwork, promotional artwork, photography and illustrations.
- To work closely with colleagues to ensure all work is completed within deadlines.
- To anticipate trends and present proposals to make sure that the magazine’s design is contemporary and relevant for its intended audience.
- To identify opportunities to grow the brands through new products and innovations.
- To ensure that layout changes meet the needs of managers across magazines.
- To ensure all content is suitably tagged and categorised to agreed standards to ensure content can be searched and archived for future use.
- To prioritise tasks and show strong organizational skills to maximise the resources available.
- To network and set up working relationships with relevant external contributors including freelance designers when required, doing so within the confines of the editorial budget.
- To have a sound understanding of the current and emerging competitor set.
- To actively develop and maintain knowledge of relevant publishing tools and software.
- To ensure that all covermount and packaging specification sheets provided are adhered to with the correct technical aspects put in place along with the correct safety wording.
- To work with the Programme Leads and Head of Children’s Publishing in an ever-evolving creative and collaborative structure, possessing the commitment and enthusiasm to make things happen in a complex and challenging media environment.
Knowledge and Experience:
- With a Degree in Graphic Design or equivalent, and extensive experience in magazine Graphic Design, the successful candidate will be a proficient user of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, and have an awareness of trends in the children's and teen market.
- You will also possess excellent communication skills, the ability to interpret instructions, prioritise tasks, work to strict deadlines and style guides, and motivate a team to get results.
- You will show an awareness of magazine design culture, have a passion for the children's market and have an excellent awareness of current social media trends. Experience of managing, leading and motivating a team is highly desirable.
To apply for this role, please follow our online application process and submit a CV and cover letter.
This is a full-time, permanent position, working 35 hours per week from our office in either Dundee or Glasgow. We offer a generous package including 34 days holiday, health cash plan, excellent pension, a competitive salary, and many more staff discounts and benefits.
We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from everyone and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or any other protected characteristics.
If you have any issues with your application, please email recruitment@dcthomson.co.uk.
For further information, please visit dcthomson.co.uk/vacancies
Closing date for applications is Monday 29th November 2021.
Please note that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early once we have received suitable applications. Therefore, please ensure you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Company
DC Thomson is a British publishing and television production company best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy, and Commando comics.
- Website
- http://careers.dcthomson.co.uk/
- Telephone
- 01382 223131
- Location
-
2 Albert Square
Meadowside
Dundee
DD1 1DD
GB
Get job alerts
Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.
Create alert