Multimedia Design Director in London

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the GW visual identity across all touchpoints — print, digital, social, motion and experiential.
• Define and maintain the brand design system: typography, colour, iconography, grid and motion principles.
• Set and document the guardrails that let the wider team produce on-brand work independently and at pace, acting as the final checkpoint on consistency.
• Build and manage a library of templates, components and reusable assets in Figma, InDesign and After Effects, designed to speed up turnaround without sacrificing quality.
• Champion intelligent reuse of the GW archive — photography, illustration, typography and footage — with workflows to surface and adapt it for new contexts.
• Keep asset infrastructure well-organised, version-controlled and accessible to the team.
• Lead the design of Gardeners' World Magazine and brand marketing collateral, working closely with the editorial team.
• Direct visual output across GW digital platforms — website, newsletter and app.
• Ensure design reflects audience segmentation, adapting the visual register for Established Gardeners, New Gardeners and Hobbyists.
• Bring genuine fluency in social formats — knowing what lands on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Apple News versus what belongs in a print spread — and translate editorial and seasonal moments into social-first creative that feels native, not repurposed.
• Oversee motion graphics, animated social content and short-form video in After Effects.
• Work with the social and editorial teams on visual content calendars, deploying design resource where it has most impact.
• Line manage a team of designers and motion artists, providing creative direction, mentoring and performance support.
• Brief and quality-control work from freelance designers and retouchers.
• Foster a culture of creative ambition, craft pride and brand coherence.
• Represent design in cross-disciplinary planning and contribute to the wider creative strategy.

Requirements

• Expert-level proficiency across the full Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects.
• Strong working knowledge of Figma, including component libraries, design tokens and collaborative workflows.
• Demonstrable experience leading design output across both print and digital channels.
• A track record of building and maintaining design systems or brand guardianship frameworks.
• Experience managing or mentoring junior designers and briefing freelancers.
• Deep understanding of social media platforms and their distinct visual grammars.
• Highly organised with a systematic approach to file management, asset libraries and production pipelines.
• Excellent eye for typographic detail and image quality.

Desirable

• Experience working on a media brand with a strong heritage identity.
• Familiarity with video editing tools (Premiere Pro or similar).
• Experience with DAM (Digital Asset Management) systems.
• Understanding of accessibility standards in digital design.
• A personal interest in gardening, horticulture or the natural world.