Principal Brand Designer

PRINCIPAL BRAND DESIGNER Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Employment Type: Full-time, salaried Work Environment: Primarily in-office Base Salary: $57,784–$65,000 annually Annual Performance Incentive: Up to $10,000, tied to defined revenue, profitability, quality, and performance goals The Creative Agency is a full-service marketing and advertising firm based in Fort Collins. We operate as an external in-house marketing department, bringing strategy, brand, design, digital, media, content, public relations, photography, and video together under one roof. Our clients span beauty, hospitality, professional services, theatre, public-sector organizations, home services, retail, and B2B industries. The work is varied, fast-moving, and highly visible. We are not a high-volume design shop built around templates and quick production. Our work is expected to be strategic, distinctive, polished, and strong enough to command attention. ABOUT THE ROLE The Creative Agency is seeking an accomplished, hands-on Principal Brand Designer to own the execution and visual quality of brand identities, campaigns, digital experiences, publications, presentations, and marketing materials across our client portfolio. The right person understands how strategy becomes a visual system and how that system should extend consistently across every brand touchpoint. Original illustration is required. The Principal Brand Designer must create custom artwork, patterns, motifs, icons, graphic elements, editorial illustrations, and campaign visuals that give a brand distinction. We are not looking for someone whose process depends heavily on stock artwork, purchased elements, generic templates, or whatever design trend happened to wander across TikTok that morning. This is a highly hands-on position. The Principal Brand Designer will personally concept, design, illustrate, refine, prepare, and complete client work while providing thoughtful creative guidance to developing designers. The role reports operationally to the Operations Manager and works closely with the CEO and Principal Strategist on brand strategy, campaign direction, and executive creative standards. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES Develop distinctive brand identities grounded in approved strategy and positioning. Translate strategy into cohesive visual systems using typography, color, composition, imagery, graphic language, and illustration. Create logo systems, brand marks, iconography, patterns, supporting assets, and practical brand standards. Extend visual identities across print, digital, environmental, social, editorial, and campaign applications. Evaluate existing brands and identify opportunities to modernize, clarify, or strengthen their presentation. Create original vector and raster illustrations, campaign artwork, icons, motifs, patterns, and graphic elements. Adapt illustration style to each client, audience, and strategy rather than applying one personal aesthetic to every account. Translate sketches and concepts into polished, production-ready artwork for print, digital, environmental, and motion applications. Concept and execute integrated campaigns across advertising, social, email, websites, presentations, sales materials, and collateral. Build campaign systems that remain consistent while providing enough variation to sustain attention. Collaborate with strategy and content teams to ensure creative supports the intended message, audience, and business objective. Translate campaign concepts into complete families of assets rather than isolated one-off designs. Create website concepts, page layouts, design systems, and supporting digital assets. Collaborate with developers to translate approved visual direction accurately into functioning websites. Design with a working understanding of responsive layouts, accessibility, usability, and digital hierarchy. Design publications, reports, brochures, signage, packaging, advertisements, direct mail, and marketing collateral. Create sophisticated editorial layouts and production-ready files for commercial printing and fabrication. Understand bleeds, crops, margins, color modes, resolution, finishing, binding, and vendor specifications. Review proofs carefully and maintain precision across high-visibility work. QUALITY, WORKFLOW, AND TEAM EXPECTATIONS Ensure work submitted for internal review is strategically aligned, complete, accurate, polished, and client-ready. Review typography, hierarchy, composition, spacing, color, imagery, illustration, copy placement, and production specifications. Apply feedback accurately without repeatedly reintroducing resolved issues. Identify weaknesses before work reaches the CEO, Operations Manager, or client. Maintain strong first-pass quality and reduce avoidable revisions. Communicate early when information, resources, scope, or timing could affect quality or delivery. Maintain complete, organized, and accessible files within company-controlled systems. Follow naming conventions, folder structures, version control, and archival standards. Ensure editable source files, linked assets, fonts, licenses, and final exports are properly stored. Track time accurately and work within established project budgets. Coordinate priorities, deadlines, and capacity with the Operations Manager. Protect confidential company and client information, intellectual property, and company-owned work. Guide developing designers and review delegated work before it advances. Share knowledge without creating unnecessary dependency. Receive feedback professionally and collaborate effectively across departments. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS Demonstrated professional experience in brand design, graphic design, campaign development, or a closely related discipline. A sophisticated portfolio showing complete brand systems, not only isolated logos or mockups. Strong original illustration capability demonstrated through professional or portfolio work. Advanced typography, layout, composition, color, and visual-hierarchy skills. Experience designing for print and digital environments. Strong working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Ability to move from concept through final production without losing quality or strategic alignment. Experience preparing accurate production files for print and digital use. Ability to work across multiple industries and visual styles. Strong attention to detail and the judgment to identify problems independently. Reliable organization of source files, working files, assets, and final deliverables. Ability to manage multiple priorities and communicate risks before deadlines are compromised. Professional communication skills and the ability to receive, interpret, and execute feedback accurately. Demonstrated respect for confidentiality, intellectual property, professional boundaries, and company-owned work. Ability to work primarily in our Fort Collins office. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Agency experience. Editorial, publication, packaging, environmental, or website design experience. Experience developing iconography, patterns, mascots, or illustration systems. Experience preparing design assets for animation or motion. Experience mentoring developing designers. Familiarity with Figma, Adobe After Effects, or complementary platforms. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE Success means brand and campaign work is distinctive and appropriate to each client; original illustration meaningfully strengthens the work; deliverables reach review complete and client-ready; deadlines and budgets are treated as part of the creative assignment; files remain organized and accessible; avoidable revisions and production errors remain low; developing designers improve through clear guidance; and the design function becomes more consistent, scalable, and dependable. PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS Applicants must submit a portfolio demonstrating complete brand identity systems, campaign design, strong typography and layout, print and digital applications, original illustration, work across more than one visual style or client category, and real-world implementation where available. Applicants must clearly identify their personal contribution to collaborative work, including what they personally concepted, designed, illustrated, art directed, adapted, produced, and prepared for final delivery. Portfolios composed primarily of logo mockups, speculative redesigns, purchased templates, stock illustration, AI-generated imagery, or unattributed collaborative work will not adequately demonstrate the qualifications required for this role. Finalists may be asked to complete a limited, role-relevant skills assessment and present their creative rationale. The Creative Agency evaluates candidates based on qualifications, experience, portfolio quality, professional judgment, and the requirements of the position. We provide equal employment opportunities in accordance with applicable law. #J-18808-Ljbffr