Commercial Designer

Time Out is a digital first brand and is experiencing a period of sustained growth. Central to this growth is Creative Solutions, a department which is responsible for all of Time Out’s large-scale commercial content and partnerships activity. We are searching for someone to take on a key role within our team.

Role Overview

The Commercial Designer will be responsible for the visual design and art direction for all of Time Out’s branded content campaigns. The position will involve working closely with the Project Management and Branded Content teams as well as our Design Director; producing commercial and client-facing collateral across our web, social and experiential offerings. In addition the role will require oversight and production of sales collateral such as one pagers and presentations.

A key role of the Commercial Designer will be the management of a roster of freelance designers, illustrators, photographers and picture researchers and so you will be responsible for briefing on design and art direction tasks and ensuring their work is delivered to standard and on time.

The Commercial Designer will play an integral part in bringing our campaigns to life; working from start-to-finish on projects, from designing the look of our socials, video idents and logos, micro sites, event signage, working with photographers and videographers on shoots and creating mockups and decks. They will collaborate daily with key members of various departments, principally, Project Management, Branded Content and Creative Strategists. The Commercial Designer will also work closely with Time Out’s design team to ensure that all collateral produced is on-brand, and an extension of the other design collateral produced for the company.

Key skills and responsibilities

• Have an in-depth knowledge of InDesign and other creative cloud software, including Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Expertise in working with the Ceros platform would be a huge plus.
• Experience working on Trello would be an advantage.
• Be used to maintaining a good file structure and housekeeping of work
• Designing on-brand creative solutions for a variety of uses, collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver designs that are creative, useful and align with our technical and brand standards
• Taking ideas from concept to execution to deliver a effective digital user experiences
• When outsourcing projects, provide research, quotes & recommendations to the Project Manager
• Tweaking outsourced design work & images to meet our requirements, whether for use onsite or with any advertising material
• Creating artwork & banners for social media activity (mainly Facebook, Instagram & TikTok) and for our channels.
• Generate lively, inspired visual solutions for digital and experiential design within Time Out brand guidelines.
• Designing a variety of commercial collateral for the Creative Solutions team (pitch decks, mockups, event collateral, and more).
• Embrace Time Out’s digital-first philosophy. A strong background in digital design is required.
• Working closely with other designers, photographers, picture editors, illustrators and writers; ensuring all work produced is up to the highest standards, on-brand, and consistent across our channels.
• Meet aggressive deadlines and ensure all work is completed on time and within budget.
• Work closely with the Design Director, and other key company stakeholders, to ensure that all artwork produced is up to the highest standards, and is consistent with the company’s direction globally.
• A personal roster of freelance designers, illustrators and photographers is a plus.

Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in design, with a focus on digital publishing and media
• Expert proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, AfterEffects, etc.), Ceros and G Suite.
• Advanced digital design skills, with experience in web design, dynamic ads, animation, responsive design, and social media.
• Experience in managing multiple projects from end to end utilising freelance designers.
• Must be willing to negotiate, present ideas in meetings, and be flexible to adjust ideas based on feedback, and willing to take on criticism accordingly.
• A thorough understanding of fundamental design principles, with a firm knowledge of photography, typography and illustration
• Excellent time management skills, able to work under pressure to tight deadlines on multiple projects simultaneously
• A firm understanding of the advertising industry, trends in the market, how it’s changing and how to be cutting-edge.
• Knowledge of design history, trends, and a current understanding of how the industry is regularly changing.
• A clear understanding of the financial and functional dynamics of a global media business.
• Ability to work in and contribute to a fun and dynamic team-based environment.
• Must be educated to degree level or equivalent industry qualification.
• Fluent in English is essential.

What we look for in a candidate

Time Out is a company filled with individuals as diverse as the cities we live in and cover. At the same time there are common characteristics and values we all share. To join our team, you’ll want to…

• Be commercially astute
• Either have experience at or want to dive headfirst into a fast-paced transformative company in pursuit of excellence
• Think globally
• Have excellent communication and relationship building skills
• Have a high sense of ownership, urgency and drive
• Be a team player

About our culture

At Time Out Group we believe in diversity and equal opportunity for all people. We do not discriminate against external or internal candidates on the basis of age; disability; gender, gender reassignment; race; religion or belief; sexual orientation; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity. We believe that diversity develops creativity and enables personal and professional growth where we all learn from each other. We believe in an open culture where ideas are shared candidly and where there is no fear of failure, but rather an understanding that we must experiment and have the freedom to succeed. We believe that everyone has the right to express themselves as they are as this enriches us all. We believe in an open world, social justice, and the pursuit of happiness, after all, we are in the happiness business.

About Time Out Group plc

Time Out Group is a global media and hospitality business that inspires and enables people to explore and enjoy the best of the city.

It all began in London in 1968 when Time Out helped people discover the exciting new urban cultures that had started up all over the capital. Since then, this iconic brand has consistently maintained its status as the go-to source of inspiration for both locals and visitors alike.

Time Out Group has been named one of the Most Innovative Companies for 2020 by Fast Company - this prestigious annual list honours the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. The Group comprises two highly synergistic business divisions: Time Out Media and Time Out Market.

Time Out Media’s digital and physical media proposition comprises websites, mobile, social media, print and live events. Across these platforms, Time Out distributes its high-quality content – written and curated by local expert journalists – around the best food, drinks, culture, art, music, theatre, travel and entertainment in 328 cities and 58 countries. The Company is monetising this global reach and its strong traffic from a desirable audience via digital and print advertising as well as e-commerce. Since its launch 50 years ago, Time Out has become a global brand that advertisers and consumers love and trust.

Time Out Market is a food and cultural market leveraging the Time Out brand to bring the best of the city under one roof: its best chefs, drinks and cultural experiences – based on the editorial curation Time Out has always been known for. The world’s first food and cultural market experience based wholly on editorial curation, Time Out Market captures decades of local knowledge, independent reviews and expert opinions. Everything that is being offered in Time Out Market must have been reviewed with four or five stars, and not one star less, by independent Time Out journalists.

The first Time Out Market opened in Lisbon in 2014 and is now Portugal’s most popular attraction with 4.1 million visitors in 2019. Following this success, four new Time Out Markets opened in North America in 2019 in New York, Boston, Montréal and Chicago, and we recently celebrated the opening of Time Out Market Dubai in April 2021. A further pipeline of other global locations includes Porto, Barcelona,Prague, Abu Dhabi, Cape Town and London.

Time Out is a dynamic, pioneering brand and so is our team. We want to work with the best and brightest talent because we work for the world’s greatest cities, the people enjoying them and the businesses in them. As a truly global team we get to collaborate with colleagues from New York to Paris, Tokyo and Sydney and beyond. It’s our integrity, passion, curiosity, creativity and openness that make us successful and a unique team.