Assistant Art Director

Virginia Living Seeks an Assistant Art Director

Help shape the visual identity of Virginia's premier lifestyle magazine! We're looking for a creative force to assist the design process across our print magazine and digital platforms. 

You'll help shape the vision for our award-winning features and departments on food, culture, people, destinations, homes, gardens, and more. This is a hands-on role perfect for a curious assistant art director who thrives on variety—from conceptual layouts, to photography and illustration direction, to typography and marketing materials.

The ideal candidate brings:

• 1-3 years of experience in luxury lifestyle media/editorial design.
• Strong ability to assist in photography research, photo direction and typography skills.
• Outstanding collaboration abilities to work directly with our publisher, editors, and art director.
• An eye for translating our brand across print, digital, and marketing materials.
• Strong knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign and Photoshop.

This is a chance to make your mark on Virginia's most widely read magazine. You'll have creative voice while working with a close-knit team passionate about showcasing Virginia’s finest.

Standard Operating Procedure

• Contribute along with the art director and discuss feasibility of story ideas. Vet story ideas for relevance and past coverage in  Virginia Living .
• Consider with the art director, which photographer, illustrator, and/or stylist (artist) is the best match for the story.
• Collaborate with Virginia Living Team as required.
• Meet with Publisher and Editorial team regularly to review story ideas, and art ideas for stories.
• Assign photographers, illustrators, and stylists, and negotiate fees for hire.
• Locate photoshoot locations and supervise photoshoots.
• Assist in the art direction of photo shoots for maximum quality.
• Build strong relationships with editorial subjects and community.
• Design and produce front of book stories, department layouts and other stories: gather images/provided art for stories and color correct. Advance layouts through production cycle with Publishing and Editorial departments.
• Follow workflow organization on company server.
• Help prepare and organize Purchase Orders for accounting office. 
• Complete and send Purchase Orders, and follow up to ensure that we have fully executed agreements.

Administrative

• Generate purchase orders based on art budget; send to artists. Ensure that the payment amounts on the forms correspond to the payment amounts on the budget. Resolve any discrepancies with the Accountant. Send W9 and direct deposit forms to artists the first time they work for Cape Fear Publishing. 
• Update comp list for each issue.
• Manage Art Interns.

Qualifications

• At least 1-3 years of high-level design experience at a magazine, ad agency or other communications organization.
• Superior design and art direction skills, coupled with the ability to explain rationale.
• Experience working with and assisting photographers, illustrators and stylists; sourcing archival material; and scouting locations for photo shoots.
• B. A. in Graphic Design or similar degree.
• Strong understanding of typography, photography, and illustration.
• Strong project management experience and organizational skills.
• Strong knowledge in Adobe Creative Suite: particularly InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
• Skilled in Macintosh environment, Google Office products.
• Familiarity with the state of Virginia a plus.
• Strong communication and organizational skills.
• Knowledge of branding and marketing.
• Ability to tailor some magazine print layouts to the website.
• Knowledge of offset printing and willingness to learn and execute preflight tasks and press checks.
• Ability to assist in managing the magazine's art budget.
• Ability to brainstorm and collaborate effectively with the art director.
• Personable, collegial, and collaborative working style.

Reports to the Art Director, Sylvia Silver

Hours : 8:30 to 5:30, M-F and more as needed. 

Pay : Competitive

Vacation :

• 2 weeks paid vacation per year
• 8 paid holidays per year

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE
Location: Richmond, full-time on site
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Do NOT contact us with unsolicited services or offers.

TO APPLY
Please submit a cover letter, resumé (including links to your art portfolio or website), and identify where you saw the job posting, to Sylvia Silver at View email address on click.appcast.io. 

To learn more about the magazine, visit VirginiaLiving.com , or pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble.