Director of Design

Angola, Indiana

Summary

Under the general guidance of the Vice President of University Marketing & Communications, the Director of Design will lead Trine’s graphic design team and directly impact and elevate the university’s brand. The Director of Design will provide vision and creative direction from concept development to storyboarding and creative briefs, to maintaining project goals and standards, to successfully launch and publishing, to measuring success and gathering insights. The design director must connect the creative vision to every step of a project for everyone involved in the project.

The Director of Design will advise graphic/web designers, photographers, and videographers and work closely with copywriters and other communicators. The successful candidate must ensure that the design team meets deadlines consistently. As a professional, the Director of Design knows how to balance excellence and timelines and will motivate the creative team to exceed expectations from partners across the university.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Serve as a strong brand and creative ambassador to the university community, speaking, writing, engaging with campus partners, and creating ongoing reference materials on how to best leverage the strength of the Trine University brand with thought-leadership, training, tips, and best practices.
Lead as the authority and steward of the university’s visual brand identity and brand guidelines, ensuring they are consistently applied and integrated into myriad use cases, applications, projects, and campaigns across the institution.
Oversee the review process for materials created both internally and externally.
Develop effective strategies to educate and inform internal and external stakeholders on brand standards, promoting visual and identity guidelines, and ensuring guidelines are up-to-date and responsive to university needs including but not limited to: signage/wayfinding; Athletics; official groups and affiliate organizations; environmental graphics; retail/licensed products.
Develop and manage a system of internal approvals and feedback to ensure each designer’s work is vetted at the appropriate levels.
Assign and direct work of the Trine design team to ensure that the team is producing superior creative work, including providing creative direction, training, and coaching, and following up on work results.
Lead the creative development process with creative briefs and marketing strategies.
Direct creative workflow process.
Attend creative presentations with university partners to explain the creative angle and rationale for each project or campaign.
Collaborate with the design team and other University Communications & Marketing areas to ensure that all creative ideas are appropriately vetted.
Foster a climate of creativity and collaboration where great ideas can flourish.
Provide creative strategies that will integrate with marketing plans.
Moderate brainstorming sessions.
Act as chief art director.

Education and/or Experience

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree (BFA, multimedia, graphic design) or a similar discipline
At least five (5) years of experience in a design or creative field
Fluency in the Adobe Creative Suite and other computer applications.
Brand management experience.
A portfolio of creative work across multiple media (print, web, digital, traditional).

Preferred Qualifications:

Master’s degree in design or a related field.
Two (2) years or more of supervisory experience
Experience in an advertising agency
Ability to interpret analytics and apply data to design work.
Comprehensive knowledge of integrated marketing communications

Outstanding Benefits

Trine University offers a comprehensive benefit package designed to provide a variety of choices to best fit your needs and the needs of your family. Benefits offered include:

Health – medical, dental, vision, prescription drugs, flex spending or HSA accounts
Retirement – after one year of full-time service you are eligible for employer contribution of 5% and up to an additional 5% employer match
Life Insurance – a variety of voluntary life options are available along with employee life insurance (1½ times annual salary)
Education – after 6 months of full-time service education benefits are available for employee, spouse, and dependent children
Vacation and Sick Pay – in accordance with Trine's policy

See plan documents for benefit details.

Salary

The salary is competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Review of applicants begins immediately.

Trine University is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, genetic information, citizenship status, military status, or any other basis prohibited by law, unless such basis constitutes a bona fide occupational qualification. Trine will comply with its legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and for religious beliefs.