Commercial Designer

Commercial Designer - Maternity cover (10 month FTC)

London - (Hybrid: 2 days in the office, 3 days remote)

Time Out is a celebration of the city and one of the world’s most recognisable media brands. We exist to capture the rich and emergent culture within our cities and help millions of curious and diverse people make the most of them. Our passion for this has expanded globally over five decades to cover 333 cities, multiple media outlets and most recently, physical spaces with 13 Time Out Markets which bring together the best of the cities' unique dining culture under one roof. All of our products, from our social feeds to our events are curated by expert critics who provide our audience with the world's most trusted city guide.

Time Out is a brand which is experiencing a period of sustained growth. Central to this growth is Creative Solutions, a department which is responsible for all of Time Out’s commercial content and partnerships activity. We are searching for someone to cover maternity for our Commercial Designer within our team.

Role Overview

This role is responsible for the visual design and art direction for Time Out’s branded content campaigns. The position will involve working closely with the Project Management and Branded Content teams; producing commercial and client-facing collateral across our web, social and experiential offerings.

A key role of the Commercial Designer will be the management of a roster of freelance designers, illustrators, photographers and picture researchers and so you will be responsible for briefing on design and art direction tasks and ensuring their work is delivered to standard and on time.

The Commercial Designer will play an integral part in bringing our campaigns to life, working from start-to-finish on projects, from designing the look of our socials, video idents and logos, microsites, event signage, working with photographers and videographers on shoots and creating mockups and decks. They will collaborate daily with key members of various departments, principally, Project Management, Branded Content and Creative Strategists. The Commercial Designer will also work closely with Time Out’s design team to ensure that all collateral produced is on-brand.

Key skills and responsibilities

• Have an in-depth knowledge of InDesign and other creative cloud software, including Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Expertise in working with the Ceros platform would be a huge plus.
• Experience working on Trello would be an advantage.
• Be used to maintaining a good file structure and housekeeping of work
• Designing on-brand creative solutions for a variety of uses, collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver designs that are creative, useful and align with our technical and brand standards
• Taking ideas from concept to execution to deliver a effective digital user experiences
• When outsourcing projects, provide research, quotes & recommendations to the Project Manager
• Tweaking outsourced design work & images to meet our requirements, whether for use onsite or with any advertising material
• Creating artwork & banners for social media activity (mainly Facebook and Instagram) and for our channels.
• Generate lively, inspired visual solutions for digital and experiential design within Time Out brand guidelines.
• Designing a variety of commercial collateral for the Creative Solutions team (pitch decks, mockups, event collateral, and more).
• Embrace Time Out’s digital-first philosophy. A strong background in digital design is required.
• Working closely with other designers, photographers, picture editors, illustrators and writers; ensuring all work produced is up to the highest standards, on-brand, and consistent across our channels.
• Meet ambitious deadlines and ensure all work is completed on time and within budget.
• Work closely with other key company stakeholders, to ensure that all artwork produced is up to the highest standards, and is consistent with the company’s direction globally.
• A personal roster of freelance designers, illustrators and photographers is a plus.

Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in design, with a focus on digital publishing and media,
• Expert proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, AfterEffects, etc.), Ceros and G Suite.
• Advanced digital design skills, with experience in web design, dynamic ads, animation, responsive design, and social media.
• Experience in managing multiple projects from end to end utilising freelance designers.
• Must be willing to present ideas in meetings and be flexible to adjust ideas based on feedback, and willing to take on feedback accordingly.
• A thorough understanding of fundamental design principles, with a firm knowledge of photography, typography and illustration
• Excellent time management skills, able to work under pressure to tight deadlines on multiple projects simultaneously
• A firm understanding of the advertising industry, trends in the market, how it’s changing and how to be cutting-edge.
• Knowledge of design history, trends, and a current understanding of how the industry is regularly changing.
• A clear understanding of the financial and functional dynamics of a global media business.
• Ability to work in and contribute to a fun and dynamic team-based environment.
• Must be educated to degree level or equivalent industry qualification.
• Fluent in English is essential. Fluency in French, Spanish or Portuguese would be a bonus

Interested in applying but don't tick all the boxes on the list? Please apply, we'd still love to hear from you.

About our culture

At Time Out Group we believe in diversity and equal opportunity for all people. We do not discriminate against external or internal candidates on the basis of age; disability; gender, gender reassignment; race; religion or belief; sexual orientation; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity. We believe that diversity develops creativity and enables personal and professional growth where we all learn from each other. We believe in an open culture where ideas are shared candidly and where there is no fear of failure, but rather an understanding that we must experiment and have the freedom to succeed. We believe that everyone has the right to express themselves as they are as this enriches us all. We believe in an open world, social justice, and the pursuit of happiness, after all, we are in the happiness business.