The Los Angeles Times is seeking an art director to join its news design team. The ideal candidate has experience working in digital media, commissioning and art-directing illustrations, with a portfolio that shows off high-level skills in design, typography and visual storytelling. This person will be comfortable working under the deadlines of a busy newsroom and be willing to roll up their sleeves when needed to build story layouts for our digital stories, design branding for newsletters or podcasts and create photo illustrations. We want to make the visual voice of the Los Angeles Times truly special – a creative reflection of Los Angeles – and are looking for an energetic collaborator to join our team.
In this role you will:
- Design, art-direct and coordinate projects and the digital builds of our stories using our CMS
- Collaborate with copy editors, assigning editors, reporters, website producers, graphics editors and photo/visual journalists to tell stories with impact
- Design and art-direct A1 as well as section covers and inside pages for the California, Business, Sports and Opinion sections, booking as necessary
- Commission and art-direct freelance illustrators
- Create photo illustrations for daily digital stories and social media
- Develop innovative design ideas and approaches to storytelling
- Organize and take the lead on digital design projects such as Instagram accounts or newsletters, as well as coach designers to do the same
- Create branding for new initiatives
- Seek out new illustrator portfolios to add to our inclusive database of illustrators, with an emphasis on L.A. artists
- Learn and follow style guidelines
- Work with design managers to ensure brand coherence
- Experiment with what we can do as digital designers
Requirements:
- A minimum of seven years of experience at a comparable digital-first journalistic publication or website
- Previous experience with CCI Newsgate or similar CMS
- Excellent time-management skills
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
- Strong editorial news judgment, impeccable journalistic instincts and an unimpeachable commitment to ethics
- Ability to work effectively in a team environment
- Demonstrated ability to design for daily digital stories and social media
- A portfolio of work that demonstrates excellence in photo editing, typography and art direction
- High energy and enthusiasm for journalism and visual storytelling
- A keen eye for current design trends and the ability to create designs in a variety of styles
- Ability to work on a tight deadline, especially in breaking news situations
- Strong working knowledge of design software such as InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator
- Positive self-starter capable of performing under pressure and making good decisions
- Experience with animation, motion graphics or After Effects a plus
The pay scale for this position is $82,347 to $110,074.
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