art director
Member of Integrated Marketing Services (IMS)
Reports to:Creative DirectorStatus:Regular Full Time, Exempt
Love & Company
Love & Company, based in Frederick, Maryland, is a national leader in senior living marketing, research, branding, advertising, and sales management. We take pride in having a top-notch team of creative marketing professionals with extensive experience in their specific areas of expertise as well as senior living.We believe in providing an excellent employee and client experience by:
- Developing strong and lasting client relationships built on trust and mutual respect
- Being trusted advisors to our clients, bringing experience and knowledge they don’t have
- Doing what is right for our clients, for our partners, and for each other. Always.There is no other choice.
- Keeping a firm eye on the future as well as the present, providing our clients with innovative solutions and creative, critical thinking to address their challenges and opportunities
- Continually striving to be better tomorrow than we are today, developing our team members’ skills and knowledge, and sharing that knowledge with each other, with our clients, and with the senior living field
Position OverviewWorking within and fostering a team-based environment and collaborative culture, the Art Director leads the development of creative visual expressions for our clients as well as our agency’s self-promotion and new business pitch efforts. Collaborating with the client services, project management, creative, and digital teams, the art director develops, fine tunes and effectively implements brand identities, brand expression concepts, direct marketing campaigns and collateral materials, and plans and directs photo and video shoots.
Primary Responsibilities
- Leads the development of creative visual expressions for our clients as well as our agency’s self-promotion and new business pitch efforts
- Manages and inspires a talented team of designers
- Develops work that has a meaningful and measurable impact, achieves marketing/strategic goals, and satisfies client brand requirements.
- Plans and directs photo and video shoots
- Keeps up with the latest trends in design and technologies within the marketing design and senior living fields.
- As a member of Love & Company’s management team, ensure the company’s employee and client experience goals are upheld
- Must be able to step in should the Creative Director be unavailable
Detailed Responsibilities
- The Art Director will lead the development of creative visual expressions for our clients as well as our agency’s marketing and new business pitch efforts
- Has the ability to design and create visual solutions in a wide range of styles
- Generates clear ideas and a variety of conceptual approaches in tandem with the creative director/marketing copy director
- The Art Director will manage and inspire a talented team of designers
- Develop a team of in-house and freelance designers so that we have the flexibility to respond quickly to peaks and valleys in client work
- Oversee the work of the design team, reviewing their work, and providing ongoing coaching, training, and developmental support to in-house and freelance team members
- Directs the design or development of creative materials, leading the design and direction of work from concept to execution.
- Manage and supervise multiple projects
- Ensure resources are allocated according to project needs.
- Ensure brand identity across channels.
- Meet client objectives, values, budgets, and deadlines.
- Lead and participate in brainstorming sessions.
- Ensure brand identity and message consistency across channels
- Top-notch video editing skills are a major plus
- Conceptualize and art-direct cross-channel campaign assets, including websites, collateral, print, video, digital, social media, and email.
- Plan, manage and direct photo and video shoots on location
- Develop detailed shot lists with locations, times, models, props, etc. to be incorporated into each scene/shot variation and present to clients for approval
- Identifies model needs and makes selections of models from model agency talent sourced by project management team
- Ensures final model mix in marketing materials meets EHO guidelines based on the demographic makeup of each client’s region
- Travels to client locations and art directs photography and videography partners
- The Art Director will keep up with the latest trends in design and technologies within the marketing, design, and senior living fields.
- Have regular check-ins with the design team to discuss advancements in design software and design trends
- Share insights with the design team on what our client’s competitors might be exploring in their campaigns
- As a member of Love & Company’s management team, ensure the company’s employee and client experience goals are upheld
- Be a contributing and positive member of the Love & Company creative team
- Develop a collaborative partnership with IMS colleagues by demonstrating trust, mutual respect and open communication, and by owning responsibility for deliverables and outcomes
- Through leadership by example, demonstrate a positive, supportive company culture and work experience for all team members, treating each other as equals, valuing and respecting the contributions each person brings, working to bring out the best in all team members, and building strong, supportive and collaborative relationships with team members
- Engage in direct, honest, and triangle-free communication
- Take full responsibility for following agreed-upon processes and meeting commitments
- Occasionally fill in for the Creative Director in a limited capacity. These duties might include.
- Internal presentations to Love and Company staff
- Creative presentations of work to clients
- General workshops/presentations with branding clients
qualifications
This is a mid-level position in integrated media services on the creative team. The individual should have the following experience and capabilities:
- Five or more years of relevant art direction experience
- Significant hands-on experience with logo design, typography, color usage, image selection and creation, information graphics, illustration, design layout, and print production (video production and web design experience are a plus)
- Strong knowledge of printing and production methods
- Demonstrable branding, campaign development, and design skills with a strong portfolio
- Strong understanding of brand strategy and how it connects to brand expression and brand identity
- Strong ability to present creative solutions to clients and internal teams in a persuasive way
- Proficient use of Adobe Creative Cloud software in a Mac environment
- Proficient use of Microsoft Office software in a Mac environment
- (redundant)
- Openness to taking and giving direction well, and incorporating feedback
- Team player with strong verbal communication and presentation skills
- BA/BS degree in creative design or related field
