Title: Creative Director – One position
Company: The Caravan
Location: New Delhi, India
Job Category: Print magazine and web
Job Type: Full time
Education: A bachelor’s degree or diploma in any allied art subjects
Experience: 5 years of experience working in print publication. Must include photo editing experience and knowledge of publication design. Newsroom experience is valued.
Deadline: 9 September 2022
Company Description: The Caravan occupies a unique position among Indian magazines. Its stories present a combination of in-depth reportage and vivid writing, with a strong commitment to the art of storytelling, whether the subject is politics, culture or art.
The Caravan is published by the Delhi Press Group, one of India’s leading publishers. Started in 1939, Delhi Press today publishes 33 magazines in ten languages.
Role description:
The Creative Director is responsible for leading the photo and design departments for magazine and web. Role includes, but is not limited to, photo research and licensing, assigning photographers and illustrators, conceptualising artworks and overseeing the visual language of The Caravan’s editorial content.
Responsibilities:
· Work with the respective story editors and photo department on photo research, editing and licensing of images to accompany the stories in the monthly magazine as well as The Caravan’s web exclusive platform, Vantage.
· Identify if a story needs photo or illustration treatment and work with the respective departments of photo and design to develop a visual structure for the piece.
· Assign photographers and commission original photography as may be required for some long-form stories for the magazine.
· Conceptualise monthly cover design and conduct photo-research, assign photographers or illustrators as may be the requirement of the story.
· Research, pitch and edit photo essays for the magazine and web. Work with designers to develop innovative layouts for longform photo narratives. Work with editors and photographers to draft original text to accompany the essay. Maintain an evolving bank of stories and solicit pitches for this section.
· Prepare photos, captions, and credits for images to be published in the magazine, web and social media.
· Oversee budgets for image use from independent photographers, agencies, archives and process invoices in a timely manner.
· Commission and guide illustrators to produce new artworks to accompany long-form stories in the magazine, in a manner that is aligned with The Caravan’s journalistic output.
· Maintain The Caravan’s image archive for sourced, commissioned and in-house images.
· Stay up to date with image copyright laws and industry practices of image use and photography commissions.
· Build photographer and illustrator databases and keep them up-to-date.
· Oversee and provide research support for design related tasks for magazine and web stories, as well as the website front-end and social media.
· Handle the production process for the magazine from overseeing the layout design with designers and image use with editors and photo team, preparing files for print and web use, colour correcting and conducting image proofs of images for the print magazine and ensuring quality check of the actual print product.
· Work with social media team to curate official social-media feed on Instagram and build design templates for social media rollouts of all visual material on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, accompanying The Caravan stories. Constantly ideate on ways to increase social media engagement, particularly through The Caravan’s visual content.
· Work with design team to ideate on templates for new additions to the website for eg. subscription campaign, newsletters etc and any other graphic design or illustration requirements for video animation and multimedia team.
· Maintain an overall visual identity of The Caravan that is cohesive, comprehensive and contemporary, across all its platforms.
· Most importantly, to develop an interest or have knowledge of topics covered in The Caravan, particularly in the areas of politics, culture and society.
Key Skills required:
1. Knowledge of photography, awareness of industry practices related to photo rights including copyright and intellectual property.
2. Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and any Adobe archiving software like Lightroom or Bridge.
3. Knowledge of design principles particularly with respect to print layout design and social media content. Familiarity with Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator is valued, but not necessary.
4. Experience in art direction and conceptualizing written stories in visual form.
5. Ability to work on multiple projects together, with an attention to detail and capacity to work with fast timelines of a newsroom.
6. Willingness to work with people across different departments of the organization including editors, designers, photographers and multimedia team.
The Delhi office is a small shop, with the environment of a start-up, and requires team players with a willingness to be flexible. This is a full-time position. Night, holiday, and weekend work may be required.
Candidates from marginalised social groups are encouraged to apply.
Additional skills sought:
Experience and expertise with User Experience Design and User Interface Design.
To Apply: Please send across your resumé, a brief cover letter and a portfolio of your work, as well as examples of typography, illustration and magazine spreads that inspire you. Emails should be sent to Dr. Vinod K. Jose, Executive Editor, at [email protected] with the subject line: Creative Director - 2022.