Art Director - Photo

Job description

The Art Director is responsible for bringing our brand story and the assortment to life through compelling photography and trend right styling. They will participate in the concept, campaign development and marketing of the At Home brand across all vehicles and channels. Reporting to the Associate Creative Director, our Art Director will be a key cornerstone to developing and leading a world-class creative team.

Key Roles & Responsibilities:

• Lead the other designers (1-2 contractors) and provide art direction on photography in the studio providing the trend and customer insight, styling direction and brand voice.
• Lead out with the channel, marketing, strategy and trend team to create compelling campaigns.
• Provides direction on product and photography, rich content, video and other production as needed and ensures Producer, Stylist and Photographer are given accurate and timely creative direction.
• Push brand forward by keeping a pulse on what's new and what's next in the marketplace, and how At Home would approach a new trend.
• Create paid media assets including digital media, catalog, video, and social media advertisements.
• Own the look of the brand(s) and balance the need to maintain brand consistency and to push forward with new ideas to keep our look fresh
• Balance key looks and trends and find ways to make that palatable to the At Home customer.
• Delivers a consistent brand look and feel that represents the brand, assortment and trend in a way that is captivating and relevant to our customer and differentiates At Home versus the competition.
• Manage, Direct and coach a team of stylists, photographers and builds the team capabilities.
• Adapts on the fly and switches gears when provided new direction, assignments or tasks based on the needs of the business, business and timeline.
• Executes work within designated budgets, formats, timelines, and branding guidelines.
• Effectively manages and communicate projects in partnership with team.
• Gives constructive creative feedback and direction with grace and collaborates masterfully with an approach that makes everyone's work better.
• Directs the development of photography and design standards for internal and agency partners.
• Develops and presents unique, innovative and strategic concepts and communication solutions for a variety of projects.
• Manages change requests expediently and communicates to the necessary partners.
• Identifies processes that can be improved to be more efficient and manages the implementation of process improvements.
• Demonstrates a strong knowledge of brand and directs creative on the use of innovative and effective product communication and marketing techniques.
• Manages and directs full-time employees and freelance resources as needed.
• Works with creative partners and writers to complete projects as briefed by the ACD or Creative Director
• Own the project from briefing until delivery providing timely reviews and innovative solutions.
• Demonstrates a self-starter's work ethic in searching out needed inputs and ensuring flawless accuracy.
• Equally comfortable working within tight guardrails and open-ended creative problem solving.
• Integrate feedback and deadlines for multiple projects and deliver with precision and timeliness.
• Create and edit existing creative based on briefs and needs of the channel team.
• Delivers graphic design assignments for the CRM team in versioning & editing emails, SMS and digital couponing.
• Delivers graphic design projects for the social media team with post creative as needed.
• Delivers graphic design projects for the Media team with direct mail with layouts, copy changes, and other needs.
• Supports the studio and content teams for photography and video needs.
• Leads graphic design assignments for the website team in creating artwork for various pages and initiatives.
• Leads graphic design assignments for the loyalty team with program needs for all channels.
• Must be able to take a job from concept through final production.
• Communicate clearly within project teams.
• Self-motivated, flexible, reliable.

• 5-8 years of related experience as an Art Director in either an agency or corporate environment with on-set photo/art direction experience. Retail experience preferred.
• Home decor vertical passion or experience is a plus.
• BA or higher in art, design or similar area of study.
• Editorial print and digital design and photo/video production experience.
• Mastery of Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work well in a highly collaborative and virtual environment.
• Ability to adhere to brand standards and evolve the brand identity when appropriate
• Ability to meet hard deadlines and manage multiple projects while still producing high-quality work.
• Stamina to be on-set 5 days per week and to travel as needed.
• Strong communication skills at all levels.
• Ability to multitask and be extremely organized with attention to detail.
• Self-motivated with ability to make quick decisions in a very fast paced ever evolving environment.
• Computer proficiency and ability to work in a corporate environment.
• Key areas of expertise:
  • Print and digital design
  • On-set studio art direction
  • Video production and direction
  • Concept work for campaigns and marketing windows
  • Direct mail creative for monthly drops
  • FSI and shared mail creative
  • Social media creative
  • Paid media creative
  • Rich content and video creative
  • Celebrity photo and video shoots for partnerships