Digital Designer

Description:

The University of Virginia’s Office of University Communications seeks a creative Digital Designer to assist in the production and layout of art for story pages, newsletters, emails and to support social media and digital marketing efforts. Working under the Director of Digital Content and through daily collaboration with the News and Content team, the Digital Designer is a graphic and digital media specialist creating visuals and engaging layouts. The Digital Designer ensures visuals have an accurate, compelling presentation and supporting information, reflecting the institution’s brand identity for editorial content, marketing campaigns, and collateral. This position supports the creation of the UVA Today Daily Report, including designing and building story pages.

The position requires a full understanding of graphic design tools, a proven ability to design compelling pages in a digital environment, proficiency with programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, and a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. Experience working in a deadline-driven environment is required. Preferred candidates have experience in an advertising or newsroom setting, and a demonstrated ability to support daily content products. This position requires occasional night and weekend work that can be done remotely, as determined by University events and office coverage requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Identify, select, edit, and size brand-appropriate graphics and photographs from University photographers, photo databases, stock image sources or other sources to accompany stories, for use in newsletters, on social media, and other platforms.
• Produce original collages, photo illustrations and other artwork for UVA Today stories.
• Collaborate with the Director of Digital Content and Digital team to design and implement responsive infographics and other design elements for UVA Today stories and other properties.
• Determine optimal page-layout for each story, including photo placements, pull-quotes, inline ads, and subscription forms.
• Attend daily story line-up meetings, make selections and recommendations for art to accompany each story.
• Review story pages to ensure art is sized and positioned correctly within stories.
• Proactively review University News & Content plans to identify opportunities for responsive infographics, photo essays, photo illustrations, social media embeds or other visual assets.
• Participate in photo-request process from writers to photographers and plan best ways to illustrate stories.
• Stay attuned to digital storytelling trends and techniques and help implement new technologies or approaches for products and platforms.
• Help ensure accessibility requirements are met, including appropriate tagging of images and illustrations.
• Coordinate with the social team regarding plans to share UVA Today content on social platforms and support the development of art for social content.
• Support the digital marketing team on monthly updates to campaign tactics.

Skills and Competencies:

Required

• Proficiency in digital graphic design, photo editing and basic news and feature design, and presentation concepts for mobile and desktop.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite programs.
• An eye for detail and accuracy, both in digital design and text.