Midweight Graphic Designer Job Description & Person Specification

September 2018

2

We’re Makermet - a full-service creative agency based in the heart of Nottingham’s historic centre. We specialise in helping our clients navigate the process of researching, developing, launching and maintaining their brands, products and campaigns.

Our in-house team of five deliver an exceptionally broad range of services, including brand consultancy and strategic digital marketing, user experience design, print and digital design, web development and e-commerce.

Since launching as a partnership in 2011, Makermet has achieved the sustainable growth it aimed for. Now into our 8th-year, we’re working with globally recognised brands that help or improve lives and experiences. We’re keen on maintaining an efficient, modern approach to working that balances the well-being of our close-knit team with the demands of work and clients, leaving enough space for creative freedom and personal development.

The team at Makermet is currently working with a number of B2B and B2C organisations on their projects across sectors including sustainability and eco-friendly lifestyle publishing, public information campaigns, tourism, entertainment and hospitality, architecture, innovation, big-data, music publishing and luxury consumer goods.

We’re a research-heavy agency - there’s no design for design’s sake. We work with our clients to establish a foundation of knowledge that guarantees subsequent design and development decisions are well-informed and consistent in creative approach.

Perhaps you’d like to consider joining us...

3

Job description Midweight Designer

Salary £Negotiable (depending on experience)

Contract Permanent, full time - 37.5hrs/week

Direct Reports 0

In the role of midweight designer in the Makermet team, you will work closely with the Creative Director to research, develop and deliver creative projects for all clients of the agency. You will be given creative freedom within the projects you work on as part of the team, and have the initiative to lead on projects and tasks without continuous direction from the Creative Director. You must have some experience across a variety of print and digital design practices.

Items in italics are desireable, but not essential to the role.

Brand, Identity and Print Design

• Supporting the Creative Director with the development and prototyping of brand identity concepts, including original logo designs, typography and development of brand guidelines

• Creative layout of print design (business stationery, corporate and promotional literature, promotional items, basic packaging etc)

• Independently developing creative responses to briefs and project explorations

• Preparing presentations of creative concepts for delivery to client

• Undertaking print artworking and pre-press tasks as required, and contributing to creative print consultancy

4

Digital Design

• User interface (UI) design of responsive websites, web apps and native apps

• Design of client-branded digital presentation documents in PowerPoint, Keynote and PDF format and basic document templates in MS Word format

• Production of digital assets (Including vector/digital images, multimedia assets) for handover to technical developers

• Basic, interactive website and app prototyping

• Design of email marketing templates

• Design and output of vector-based motion graphics via Adobe Animate and AfterEffects in HTML5 and video formats

• Front-end coding of HTML email marketing templates and footers

Technology

• Maintain awareness of current industry best practices

• Investigate and experiment with new and emerging technologies

• Maintain filing systems on the studio network and cloud storage solutions to required standards

• Exploring and developing new design technologies and disciplines for the purposes of service innovation

Project Management

• Engage with existing workflow management practices, and assisting in the improvement and introduction of new workflow practices

5

• Contribute to the estimation of workload and project schedules

• Ensure that projects are kept within brief, budget and timelines

New Business & Marketing Makermet

• Contribute to development of content for the Makermet blog and social media channels

• Prepare print and digital outputs for internal and promotional uses, including the Makermet website

• Contribute to the development and delivery of professional and academic talks and workshops

• Promoting the team’s capabilities and take an active role in delivering pitches as and when appropriate

Communication

• Work collaboratively with subcontractors and ensure clear and efficient communications between the team

• Liaise with clients, where appropriate, for clarity, to assist in pitches and presentations, to troubleshoot technical issues and gather/respond to feedback

• Liaise with suppliers, where appropriate, for the specification and production management of print materials

• Attend meetings and conferences in the UK and Europe as and when required

In addition to these duties, you may be asked to take part in general administration or organisational tasks relating to the activities of Makermet Creative Limited.

The job description is a guide - changes may occur as the business grows and new technologies or processes are explored.

6

Ideal experience & characterisitcs

• At least 2 years design experience in an in-house design team or design and marketing agency, or 3+ years experience as a freelance designer

• Educated to at least HND level - study to degree level in a related subject an advantage

• Mac literate, and high-level of familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, XD

• Experience with Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premier, Sketch and InVision an advantage

• Understanding of technical factors and limitations relating to production of designs for digital and print contexts

• An understanding of HTML, CSS, other web technologies and web development processes a bonus

• Experience with as many as possible of the following web platforms an advantage - CraftCMS, Shopify, Mailchimp, Wistia, Trello, Wrike

• High standard of written English

• Valid UK driving licence a bonus

Ideal Characteristics

• Creative thinker, able to generate and develop your own ideas without guidance, but in response to detailed briefs

• A perfectionist with a keen eye for detail - watch that kerning!

• Ability to work to tight-deadlines, under pressure, whilst remaining calm and without affecting quality of output - but also ready to re-balance with a walk in the park, or an early finish on a Friday

• Team-player with excellent communication skills, keen to engage clients and team members in professional discussion and casual chat

• A flexible approach to working and able to manage time and workload independently

Our work

HEADER LINE 1

8

Pebble magazine Sustainable lifestyle magazine and community

Whether it’s design, ethical fashion, slow food or eco-travel, pebble magazine features brands and individuals pulling together in the direction of positive change.

Makermet helped founder Georgina Wilson-Powell’s vision for pebble magazine become a reality in 2016. Following brand exploration and marketing strategy, a user experience that supported the publications values was tested with the target audience before launch with a bespoke Craft content management system.

We now work in close partnership with pebble magazine, as creative directors and brand guardians across all outputs.

• Exploration and research

• Responsive website design and development

• Print design

• Digital marketing strategy

• Email marketing design

• Brand and creative consultancy

pebblemag.com pebblemag.com

HEADER LINE 1

9

pebble.guide Sustainable city guide web application

Keen to bring a product to market, pebble’s sustainable city guide platform is live, and has a roll-out plan of cities already confirmed well into 2019. Brands including Pukka Teas (Unilever) are already on-board as advertisers.

Makermet produced interactive prototypes before development of the product UI, a full technical specification and bespoke CMS structure. In-house developer David Coggins realised the build of the platform, which requires no intervention from developers for the launch of new city guides within the desktop and mobile accessible web-app.

• Interactive prototypes

• Technical specification

• UX & UI design

• Technical development and testing

• Print and digital marketing collateral design

HEADER LINE 1

10

Storysmash Nottingham City Library Service

Storysmash is a programme of computer game writing workshops and masterclasses featuring high-profile writers across five key gaming hotspots at Nottingham Libraries from June 2017.

During the build up to the launch of this project, aimed at engaging young people and young adults with reading and creative writing via text-based adventure games built on the Twine platform, Makermet have worked with the client to deliver a brand identity with a range of print outputs, a digital marketing strategy and support with their social media engagement.

• Brand identity development including output of brand guidelines and graphics asset kits

• Print-design including promotional booklets, flyers and large-format window graphics

• Social media templates and strategy

PLEASE NOTE The Storysmash website was delivered by the client’s internal team

HEADER LINE 1

11

Storysmash Nottingham City Library Service Continued - brand marque, window graphics and social media templates.

HEADER LINE 1

12

Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature

Nottingham is recognised as one of 25 cities in the worldwide UNESCO Creative Cities network. Their website and activities promote the vibrant literary community in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Securing our position as digital partner in 2016, a detailed exploration of the opportunity and target audience followed, which helped establish a fresh creative direction for the relaunch of Nottingham City of Literature’s online presence; their vibrant and exciting website features a powerful events calendar managed via CraftCMS, flexible publishing tools, and literary resources for all.

• Initial research with key partners including The Arts Council, Nottingham University, Nottingham Library Service and The CQ

• Responsive website design and development

• Support with social media strategy and the promotion of new initiatives

• Digital partnership

nottinghamcityofliterature.com

The Creative Quarter Websites and place branding

Nottingham’s Creative Quarter and Sneinton Market Avenues needed fresh websites that would improve the way news stories, events and information was presented to the community and potential investors, whilst simultaneously reducing the cost of maintenance.

Following a detailed research phase including public consultation, we developed two highly-flexible websites, with a range of powerful publishing tools integrating with social media networks. We continue to support The Creative Quarter and their Sneinton Market and Big House projects with all aspects of their print and digital output.

• Research and public consultation

• Information architecture

• Content migration

• UX & UI design

• Responsive web development

• Multi-user level integrated CMS

• Print and digital design

• Email marketing

• Training, technical support & hosting

creativequarter.com

sneintonmarket.com

The Big House Exploration workshop

The Big House is an initiative formed by seven partners, which supports SME’s in the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire region with access to business advice, grants, professional workshops and networking.

Makermet invited all partners to attend an exploration workshop, where we worked through a series of exercises designed to get the partners sharing user-centric ideas with one-another and without prejudice.

Insights from this workshop guided the final website specification, training requirements and plans for initial and future development phases.

• 5hr exploration workshop with 10 stakeholders

• Insights report presented in person at ops meeting

• Final insights report and website specification

TROVE E-commerce website and social media management

TROVE Wallets are contemporary, low-waste handmade leather wallets produced in one of the last traditional leather goods factories in the UK.

Makermet worked with TROVE on the relaunch of their online store, including custom design and development of a new user interface and specialist ‘Build Your Own’ tool.

We continue to support TROVE with all aspects of their marketing online, including development of crowd-funding campaigns for new products, and creative concepts for new product launches.

• UX & UI design

• Responsive website development

• E-commerce design and development

• Social media campaign management

• Traffic analysis and optimisation

• Creative digital marketing concepts

• Print and packaging design

trove.cc

HEADER LINE 1

16

Hidden Experience Nottinghamshire / Nottingham BID

The Nottingham Independent Shopping Trail is a free map available from the tourist and information centre, and accompanying mobile application, designed by Makermet.

Following initial research (lots of discussions with business owners, the civic society and Nottingham City Council’s partners), Makermet put together a team including a photographer, script writer, illustrator alongside our in-house team to develop the trail’s print and digital content. Hidden Nottingham was funded and commissioned by Nottingham City Council and delivered in partnership with Visit Nottinghamshire, the Creative Quarter and the Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) under the “It’s in Nottingham” brand.

• Public consultancy

• Creative direction

• Illustration and print design

• Audio production

• Digital marketing strategy

Invest in Nottingham MIPIM 2018 Conference Materials

Invest in Nottingham and leader of Nottingham City Council, Jon Collins, presented development opportunities in Nottingham to global investors at the MIPIM Conference in Cannes.

Makermet were commissioned to produce a ‘Welcome to Nottingham’ brochure targeted at specific industrial sectors, including infographics of key stats and location information. The presentation was delivered via a slide deck designed by Makermet, and a short Nottingham documentary video introducing key sites for development in the city and brief interviews with Directors and CEOs of some of Nottingham’s largest and most successful companies including Alliance Boots and Experian.

• Print design

• Infographic design

• Powerpoint presentation decks

• Video production

Veriflyers

Local leaflet delivery and marketing services company aiming to disrupt the market with a bright, modern brand identity and website, delivered on a tight-budget.

• Brand name

• Exploration and research

• Brand identity development

• Website design and development

• Print design concepts

• Print management

NB Following delivery of the brand identity and website, the client chose to handle marketing and maintenance of branded outputs in-house.

Thank you.We hope you’ll consider joining our team.

If you have any questions please call the studio directly on 0115 9587 950 or e-mail studio@makermet.com

www.makermet.com