Designer

Application closing date: Sunday 31st October 2021 (at midnight... scary)

Salary: £24–30k PAYE dependent on experience / skills

Start date: January 2021 or soon after

First round of interviews: 11/12th November by Zoom

Second round of interviews: TBC – in person

Location: Working in a studio near Broadway Market, London, E8

Link to apply: https://hoxton-mini-press.homerun.co/designer/en

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for a super-talented and enthusiastic designer to join our five-person, two-dog, multi-award-winning team in our office by London Fields (which overlooks Regent’s Canal from a rather nice balcony). We need someone with a number of years’ experience within the publishing industry who can understand our brand and apply it seamlessly across not only our books but also our website and other media. 

WHO ARE WE?

We are a young independent publisher. Our goal is to make photography, art and lifestyle books that are both beautiful AND accessible. One without the other is fairly easy, both at once is very hard. And doing so while maintaining a clear brand is like adopting a rescue puppy: challenging, but ultimately rewarding.

We are best known for our books about east London but we have now expanded to produce books about, well, the whole world and the many topics within it. However, we still want our book to have an ‘East London’ feel: urban, visually arresting, diverse and experimental. This means our designs have to fit within parameters – but boundaries encourage creative solutions.

We care about books. We care about font. We care about the environment. That sounds like total drivel, but it happens to be true. We pride ourselves on being a close-knit team that takes making good books, doing good and being generally good to each other fairly seriously.

WHAT IS THE ROLE?

There is some flexibility in the role depending on your experience. Because we are a small team the position ideally involves both book design as well as some artworking.  We need expert help in designing our books and keeping each title feeling on brand (i.e. working with font, page layout, sequencing of images, materials and paper stocks and dependent on your skills, working on cover designs from concept to final file) as well as preparing all files for print (managing digital assets, liaising with the production controller and repro houses, colour management, exporting PDFs for print). Visual flare should be supported by technical and organisational ability.

It is essential that you are passionate about paper, production and colour and highly experienced with InDesign and Photoshop.

You will work closely with our creative director, editorial manager and in-house production controller, and be in direct contact with photographers and repro houses. We also often work with freelance designers – we make too many books to design everything in house, close to 30 a year – so you must feel comfortable overseeing other designers, too.

WHAT SKILLS DO YOU NEED?

• An exceptional sense of design – a personal portfolio of work is essential
• Expert knowledge of InDesign
• Expert knowledge of Photoshop
• Expert knowledge of Acrobat
• An understanding of colour management
• A number of years’ experience within and/or a very good knowledge of print production

WHAT SORT OF PERSON DO WE WANT?

• Happy to work in a small team and willing to muck in
• Focused on detail and quality
• Able to work on a number of projects simultaneously
• Willing to learn fast and adapt to a changing environment
• Have a clear passion for books and other print media
• Be interested and knowledgeable about photography and the wider arts
• Understand and like our brand and be willing to work with its language
• Organised!

CLOSING DATE: MIDNIGHT 31st OCTOBER (whooOOhooOOohooo!)