Position Summary: The Strong explores play and the ways in which it encourages learning, creativity, and discovery and illuminates cultural history. As a member of an award-winning marketing team, the graphic designer collaborates on projects with public programs, membership, institutional advancement, exhibits, and other professionals across the museum in support of The Strong’s mission, exhibitions, and programs. This position is responsible for ensuring the consistent use and application of the museum’s brand standards to maintain a strong graphic identity. The graphic designer plans, designs, and produces graphic elements for print, display, web, and event applications. This position requires a creative design professional who is an independent multi-tasker and strategic thinker with a great eye for detail and ability to meet deadlines. The graphic designer is required to expend such personal efforts as may be needed to keep up with advances in subject matter information related to this position. The employee must learn the constraints, with particular consideration of the budget, within which this job must be performed and work within those parameters. All museum staff are expected to cooperate with one another in furthering the museum’s general objectives and in completing museum projects. Similarly, all staff consistently maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude, act with integrity and in accordance with the highest ethical standards and demonstrate a loyalty to the museum in all public contacts. Guests and colleagues deserve our best efforts every day. Essential Duties: The specifications described here are representative of those that must be met by the employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Under the direction of the senior director of marketing, manage the design and production of a wide variety of graphic materials to meet the museum’s needs, including work on advertising, promotional materials, visitor materials, and event collateral.
Collaborate within an interdisciplinary team on all levels of a project to ensure work is aligned with objectives and deadlines are achieved.
Work with the marketing coordinator to develop high impact social media graphics and campaigns.
Collaborate with the exhibit's graphic designer on internal signage needs and cohesive brand materials.
Work with the museum’s creative agency to develop marketing and advertising assets.
Understand and uphold the museum’s brand messaging and identity standards and strategic objectives. Develop, utilize, and maintain well-defined processes to ensure consistency, quality, and operational efficiency across all projects.
Persuasively and clearly present design concepts to project leaders, marketing and communications staff, and others as appropriate.
Ensure efficient coordination, timely completion, and high quality of assigned projects.
Adhere to budget requirements. Write purchase requisitions for materials, as needed.
Maintain positive and cooperative communications and collaboration with all levels of staff, guests, and vendors. Follow up with individuals as appropriate.
Participate in the design of various museum publications, including the American Journal of Play.
Remain current on industry best practices, accessibility guidelines, tre nds, and technology related to the field of graphic design.
Train and supervise the activities of temporary staff, interns, and volunteers who assist in creating graphic elements.
Participate in the development and achievement of annual marketing and museum-wide goals and objectives.
Work closely with the senior director of marketing by participating in or leading projects as directed.
Participate in all required museum trainings.
Attend marketing and communications team and general staff meetings, and others, as needed.
Additional Responsibilities:
Participate on museum committees, project teams, and process teams as assigned.
Core Values :
These are embedded in all roles within the museum. Employees must have the ability to demonstrate, understand, and apply our workplace values.
Respect: We treat guests and each other with fairness and respect. We celebrate differences as well as similarities. Our behavior is marked by courtesy, patience, compassion, and tolerance. We serve with honesty and integrity, and we expect trust and loyalty in return.
Focus: We share a special sense of purpose based on the museum’s mission. We take pride in our dedication to common goals and commit all our talents and efforts to achieving them.
Excellence: We strive constantly for excellence and seek continual improvement in all that we do. Each of us takes responsibility for achieving outstanding quality and, in return, our accomplishments are recognized and rewarded.
Community: We foster community within and outside the museum through an atmosphere of collaboration, cooperation, and collegiality. Teamwork and flexibility lead to esprit de corps and effective public service.
Fun: We are friendly, enthusiastic, inquisitive, and creative. We strive to ensure that the museum is always welcoming, fresh, vibrant, and filled with engaging imagination and fun.
Diversity: The Strong is inclusive. It embraces and honors cultural diversity while highlighting common experiences. It engages people of many backgrounds and interests. The museum commits to making its facility, exhibits, and programs accessible to guests of all abilities, ages, classes, ethnicities, gender identities, national origins, races, religions, sexes, and sexual orientation.
Work Environment:
Work is performed primarily indoors in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, and printers. The noise level in the environment is usually low.
This position may require work outside of normal working hours, including evenings and weekends, as job duties demand.
Physical Demands:
While performing the duties of this job:
This position regularly requires full range of mobility in upper and lower body; the ability to reach overhead; the ability to work in various positions, including stooping, standing, walking, bending over, sitting, kneeling, and squatting for extended periods of time; the use or operation of objects, tools or controls; the ability to climb three flights of stairs; and the ability to talk and hear. This position frequently requires the ability to lift, pull, push, and carry weight up to 50 pounds to complete assigned job tasks.
This position requires frequent sitting in front of a computer using repetitive typing motions. Visual acuity to operate computer equipment is required. Specific vision abilities including close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus are important for this role.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
The candidate may have any combination of education and experience but should possess the required skills and knowledge for successful performance. Our general minimum requirements are:
Bachelor’s degree in graphic design or closely related field.
Minimum of 1-2 years of graphic/creative industry experience.
Demonstrable artistic, innovative work that solved business challenges and drove results.
Proficient in understanding brand guidelines for effective execution.
Active Learning: Understand the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making. Maintain subject matter expertise and apply new knowledge to the job.
Adaptable: Capacity to change. Ability to identify and correct problems quickly. Anticipates and responds to changes in a professional and courteous manner.
Communications and Media: Knowledge of media production, positioning, and messaging techniques and methods, including industry best practices in communications strategies. Understanding of the principles and practices of audience cultivation.
Creativity: Strong creative thinking and the ability to generate innovative ideas for a particular project. Must be able to take criticism well.
Critical Thinking: Skilled in using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Interpersonal Tact: F requent contact with individuals within the museum in situations where considerable tact and initiative are needed. Excellent listening skills, a high degree of diplomacy and maturity, and the ability to balance empathy and objectivity.
Originality : Ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. Ability to think outside of the box and clearly articulate ideas to management for approval.
Outcome-Oriented: Must possess a strong outcome-oriented work ethic and knowledge of principles and processes for customer needs assessments and meeting quality standards for services.
Time Management: Ability to manage one’s own time to meet deadlines and maintain schedules.
Collaboration: We work in a team-oriented environment, so it is vital that our employees maintain effective interpersonal relationships. Team members must be good at active listening, conflict management, cooperation, facilitation, negotiation, and be open to feedback.
Communication: Our employees should always communicate and act in a respectful manner when working with others, including those from outside the museum. The ability to process and handle confidential information with discretion and to handle difficult and stressful situations with professional composure is vital for this position. This job requires the ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written form using the English language.
Guest Service: All museum employees provide extraordinary service to our guests. People are filled with anticipation when they visit. When they leave, they feel enriched, are glad they came, and look forward to returning. The marketing team’s work should contribute to these sentiments every day.
Problem-Solving: Things don’t always go as planned. This job requires the ability to understand and follow instructions while recognizing, analyzing, and solving a variety of problems. The graphic designer should exercise sound judgment to make minor decisions in the absence of the senior director of marketing.
Project Management: The ability to work well under pressure and handle several projects at once in order to meet the varying needs of the museum is fundamental to this role. The employee must be self-motivated, well-organized, and flexible. A strong ability to multi-task and work with competing deadlines and varying priorities without compromising attention to detail or quality of work is essential.
Computer Proficiency: This position requires substantial work on a computer and with related equipment. A high degree of comfort and advanced proficiency with computer technology (Mac) and software is important. Must have robust skills in desktop publishing software, document and digital asset management software, and graphics and photo imaging software. Demonstrated mastery of graphic design programs within the Adobe Creative Suite. Must be able to learn new systems, as needed. Must submit an online portfolio with application.
These qualifications are considered a plus:
Photography and motion graphic skills.
Pre-Employment Requirements:
Must consent to and pass a drug screen and criminal background check as conditions of employment.
Disclaimer: The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Within reason, duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice. Employees are expected to accept reasonable assignments whether or not they are specifically included in this position description.Equal Opportunity Statement: The Strong is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of The Strong to provide equal employment opportunity to all persons without regard to gender, sexual preference, age, race, color, religion, genetic information, national origin, disability, military, or marital status. This policy of nondiscrimination applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including but not limited to: recruitment, selection, advancement, compensation, benefits, layoff, recall, transfer, and termination.
