Senior Picture Book Designer

At Wonderbly, we make personalised books that inspire boundless self-belief in children and celebrate love in all kinds of relationships. Our books have allowed over ten million readers to see themselves as the hero of their own stories – we’re getting to be pretty good at this. The Story Studio is the heart of our creation of picture books for children and families. We generate all of our concepts within a core team of Producers, Designers, Writers, Illustrators, Art Directors and Coordinators, and we commission the best Artists and Writers from across the world to bring our stories to life. We have an opportunity for a Senior Picture Book Designer to join our team, working on all of the design aspects of our books from the broad conceptual underpinnings of a narrative through to storyboarding, composition and layout and on to the finer details of typography of character design for personalisation. This is a hybrid role, with three days in our bright and bustling studios in Bloomsbury. The salary for the role is £37,000 pa. The work is varied and active – we are a small team, and we like to work closely with our writers and artists and with a sense of momentum. No two books of ours are the same but in a typical week you can expect to: Present Design Updates for a book at a weekly Creative Review Speak with one or more Artists to deliver feedback on storyboards Receive feedback on your own work from Producers and Art Directors Write a Character Design Brief for a new Artist Create a range of cover propositions for a book in development Lay a new manuscript to page Brief a Designer on test approaches to name presentation Brief an Artworker on the personalisation requirements for a multi-character book Brief an Engineer on the intricacies of typesetting names of different lengths using image-based lettering Brief a Lettering Artist on a custom typeface Share your new favourite picture book with the Art Department Run an in-house Design Workshop Participate in a Creative Sprint for Concept in Development Speak with an Agent about future commissions We are looking for someone who: Is a Mid to Senior level Picture Book Designer with 3-5 years experience Is experienced in leading Design projects and Mentoring Junior Designers Has a deep understanding of Visual Storytelling principles Has a portfolio that demonstrates innovative design and typography on covers and layouts across a variety of illustrated book formats. Is a great contextual communicator with an adaptive approach Is happy to deliver and to receive feedback Is confident working with different collaborators across a number of projects at once. Is ambitious with their design work and can lead others Is happy to work as a part of a team, of course, as well as working independently to deadlines Is ahead of the curve in using new technology in their approach to book design To apply: Send a covering letter telling us why you’d like to work with us to artdepartment@wonderbly.com Include a link to a portfolio of picture book design that shows us your best work. Feel free to share work in progress – we are curious about how you do things. We welcome applicants without a degree qualification. Due to the volume of submissions received, we will not be able to respond individually to applications received – please take a lack of response after eight weeks as a decline, with our grateful thanks for the opportunity to consider your candidacy. Benefits: £500 annual budget for training on Learnably Mental Health support with Spill Discounted gym membership with Nuffield Health Free breakfast daily (and a very well stocked fridge) One fully paid charity day every month Regular company socials, team outings and ‘pot luck’ lunches Monthly all-company Lunch-and-Learns #J-18808-Ljbffr