Art Director

Houstonia magazine seeks an experienced editorial Art Director with digital and print design skills to help produce an award-winning quarterly city magazine and daily online publication. We need a versatile, creative, and fast-paced team player to present the stories that define Houston with lively imagery and design.

You will collaborate with editors, photographers, and illustrators to tell visual stories focused on food and drink, regional travel, style, news, and the arts scene in the Houston area. The art director manages all creative aspects of stories from conception to completion while working within a dedicated budget. Deadlines matter, and precise page production is a must. Ability to produce photographs, illustrations, charts, graphs, maps for digital and print production a plus. You know the devil is in the details, but also which design rules are meant to be broken.

Our ideal candidate possesses either a working knowledge of the dynamic city of Houston, or an eagerness to get up to speed. You will work closely with the Creative Director in addition to the editorial staff, especially your counterpoint, the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. Our company’s broader team of award-winning designers has a history of offering strong mentorship. This is a full-time position.

Houstonia’s team is hybrid, reporting to an office one day a week, and candidates must be based in the Houston area, or willing to relocate for this job.

Responsibilities

• Establish and adhere to a consistent visual language for all aspects of the editorial product.
• Design engaging print covers, layouts, and digital feature images that attract and engage the reader.
• Collaborate and negotiate with freelance illustrators, photographers, and videographers.
• Create stunning multi-platform imagery and graphics for a variety of editorial projects that surprise and delight in print and engage on digital displays.
• Tell stories through graphics, maps, data visualization, and other creative formats.
• Evaluate editors’ stories and general ideas for visual presentation possibilities.
• Manage a dedicated budget and contracts for multiple freelance assignments monthly with precision.
• Contribute relevant, interesting ideas in team meetings and brainstorms.
• Manage your time while working on multiple projects, reprioritize work as needed based on deadlines.

Qualifications

• At least five years of experience in design for a magazine, newspaper, or online publication. A bachelor’s degree in design or a related field is preferred.
• Strong design experience with a good command of typography, illustration, print layout, and web design.
• Fluency in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop are essential.
• Experience building webpages in various CMSes including WordPress full-site editing.
• Knowledge and expertise in one or several of these: illustration, photography, infographics, animation, video editing, journalism, html, CSS, programming.
• Concrete and conceptual ideation skills coupled with a keen instinct for visual communication and storytelling.
• Experience working with freelance illustrators and photographers.
• Comfort working autonomously as well as on a team.
• Ability to balance short-term and long-term projects and deadlines.
• A sense of humor—not just in your work but in your workplace.
• Curiosity, a “growth mindset,” and a willingness to adapt and be audience focused.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• An interest in and understanding of current trends in design, technology, and media.
• Excellent communication skills

The base compensation range for this role is $68,000-$75,000. The annual/hourly pay range displayed serves as a good faith estimate of the minimum and maximum base pay range for this role. Compensation for the role will be based on a number of different factors such as a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, location, and experience.

Houstonia is an Equal Opportunity Employer and bases all hiring and employment decisions solely upon an individual’s qualifications relating to the requirements of the position for which they are being considered, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap or disability, genetic information, or any other status protected by law. All are encouraged to apply. Should you need a reasonable accommodation in order to apply for this position, please email [email protected] with the subject line “Accommodation Request – Houstonia – Art Editor”.

Houstonia Magazine