Brand Designer

Due to a string of new client wins, we’re looking for an exceptional mid-weight Brand Designer to join our team. Our designers work with our clients from concept through to delivery, designing trend-setting brand identities which stand the test of time.

At Notepad, we hire T-shaped people. By that we mean people who have one core strength, but are also happy turning their design skills to other client challenges, such as advertising creative, animation, illustration or website design (obvs we’re not expecting you to be able to do all these things, but versatility would give you an advantage).

Responsibilities will include:

• Brand identity design (from concept to guidelines)
• Presenting creative work to clients for feedback
• Writing creative briefs and managing external suppliers to deliver
• Designing beautiful and practical brand guidelines
• Artworking creative and brand assets
• Collaborating with strategists and other members of the team to solve client challenges
• Conducting brand research and moodboard design
• Supporting other members of the creative and wider team
• Creative campaign ideation and concept development
• Creating brand assets and devices
• Working with our Lead Designer and other designers to guide the development of the department, and wider agency as we grow

(Additional skills and experience / nice to haves)

• Art direction
• Typography design
• Motion design
• Front-end website design

Experience we’re looking for:

Ideally, you’ll be a trained designer with an absolutely undying passion for brand identity design. You will have at least 3 years experience in brand design in either an agency or freelance role.

We value experience over flashy client names. Please don’t just tell us the names of the brands you’ve worked with. Show us how you used unconventional design to change culture, or how you made something so visually evocative it would make angels weep.

You’ll need to be able to rationalise your ideas in ways clients understand, and present and sell your vision in ways which clients totally believe in.

You’ll also be a lifelong learner with a desire to keep growing and continually raising the bar for your own work. Supporting this, you’ll also be happy to be challenged, and in turn, happy to challenge others to push their work further creatively.

This is a full-time role based in our Birmingham studio, but we’ve been remote-first as an agency since way before the pandemic so if you’re from outside the area please do still consider applying. You will still need to attend meetings from time to time in Birmingham so please factor that in.

Our cultural values and behaviours:

To be the best studio, we need the best culture. Here are our founding values and the behaviours we expect all Notepad employees (Padders) to demonstrate day in, day out.

Over-communicate

• You are concise and articulate in speech and writing
• You listen well and seek to understand before reacting
• You maintain calm poise in stressful situations to draw out the clearest thinking
• You adapt your communication style to work well with people from different backgrounds
• You provide candid, timely feedback to colleagues

Learn together

• Together, we’re stronger. Share your learnings.
• Stop, collaborate, and listen
• Know you can always do better
• Share your ‘successes and failures and make them count
• Curiosity is key. Never stop learning inside and outside of the studio.
• Accept feedback and learn from it

Be radically optimistic

• Be fearless
• Anything is possible
• Enjoy the ride
• Celebrate, even when we fail
• Make our studio an awesome place to be
• Help make Sunday nights feel like Christmas Eve
• Provoke and embrace change

Be a do-er

• Don’t stand still
• Always push forwards
• Go beyond your comfort zone
• Be a work in progress
• Embrace relentless hustle
• Make people say, “I wish I thought of that”
• Embrace independence
• Fight for your ideas
• Check and double check your work (don’t let people fix your work for you)

Be a human being

• Be real
• Build trust and trust each other
• Speak your mind
• No politics. No games
• Actually care
• Lead by example
• Make people smile

Be selfless

• You seek what is best for Notepad, rather than what is best for yourself
• You are open-minded in search of the best ideas
• You make time to help colleagues
• You share information openly and proactively
• Fight for our purpose (building brands the world needs)
• Stay humble (always)

Notepad benefits

We do things differently at Notepad. Our aim is to give people the environment, support and resources to simply do the best work they’ve ever done. Here are some of the benefits you can expect:

• Flexible working hours and the option to work remotely
• Regular training and learning opportunities
• Every year 20% of our retained company profits are shared equally between full-time employees
• Financial and resource investment in your side hustle businesses (if we think it’s got legs)
• 25 days holiday per year (+ bank holidays)
• Bike to work scheme
• Professional HR support and personal development plans
• Annual company retreat
• An endless supply of beautiful notepads
• 1-month paid sabbatical after 5 years of employment

Successful applicants will be contacted mid-April to schedule an interview.

Deadline for applications: Sunday 11th April 2021 (5pm).