Assistant Art Director

Job Description:

 Assistant Art Director

The Wall Street Journal is looking for an experienced and creative Assistant Art Director to join our award-winning team of editorial designers. You will provide design and art direction across all of our features sections composed of a team of other AADs. You will help provide focus and shape to pages and stories alongside multiple stakeholders, including other visual journalists, reporters and editors. 

The AAD will report to the Deputy Design Chief for features and work very closely on assignments provided by section Art Directors to produce visually compelling layouts that reflect WSJ’s journalistic integrity.

This job is based in New York

You will:

• Work across all feature sections as required, with flexibility to adjust across different tones and styles.

• Conceive new ideas and plan layouts for weekly and future sections in meetings with  top section editors.

• Receive assignments from section Art Directors and develop ideas that best prioritize the display of stories in a variety of print layouts while taking advertising needs into account.

• Finalize any edits provided by the Art Director.

• Lead the section when the Art Director is absent, including signing off on designs and making assignments.

• Work within brand layout and font guidelines of the section, with flexibility for some original design recommendations.

• Coordinate with other editors from text, graphics, the color lab, and photos to ensure that delivery of text and visuals is timely.

• Decide how visual elements for the digital version of the story will be placed and complete the digital production within our CMS.

• Source, vet and select freelance illustrators to hire for assignments based on the tone and style that is appropriate for the story. 

• Ensure that the illustration assignment is within budget range, with some flexibility for budget negotiation with sign-off from the head of the department.

• Assign and direct the illustrator, bringing in stakeholders as needed to finalize the illustrations.

• Onboard any new illustrators that you have sourced into our accounts payable system, including finalizing contracts. 

• Work directly with the standards department to resolve any questions or issues arising around illustrations.

• Train newly assigned employees on the idiosyncrasies of each print section, and document applicable page styles, workflow and templates.

Skills and Qualifications

• At least three to five years experience in feature design

• A strong portfolio reflecting experience in fashion, travel, lifestyle, autos and real estate

• A passion for journalism and excellent news judgment

• Must have excellent and demonstrable design and typography skills

• Flexibility to work with both Macintosh and PC operating systems.

• A good understanding of CSS and XML.

• Able to help reporters and editors understand best practices for visual storytelling.

• The initiative to take on and learn new tasks in a fast-moving environment.

• Excellent communication skills.

• Good knowledge of responsive design and best practices for building stories for mobile devices is a bonus.

• Software Requirements: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, G Suite, Microsoft Word and Excel. Experience with EidosMedia’s Methode publishing system is a plus.

* Normal work days will be Monday-Friday. 

Reasonable accommodation: Dow Jones, Making Careers Newsworthy - We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.EEO/AA/M/F/Disabled/Vets. Dow Jones is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities, in our job application and/or interview process. If you need assistance or accommodation in completing your application, due to a disability, email us at [email protected]. Please put "Reasonable Accommodation" in the subject line and provide a brief description of the type of assistance you need. This inbox will not be monitored for application status updates.

Business Area:

Dow Jones - News - WSJ

Job Category:

Editorial/Journalism

Union Status:

Non-Union role

Pay Range: $95,000 - $110,00

We recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. The quoted salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process.

Pay-for-performance is a key element in our strategy to attract, engage, and motivate talented people to do their best work. Similarly to salary, for bonus eligible roles, targets are set based on a variety of factors including competitive market practice.

For benefits eligible roles, in addition to cash compensation, the company provides a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package, with a variety of physical health, retirement and savings, caregiving, emotional wellbeing, transportation, and other benefits, including "elective" benefits employees may select to best fit the needs and personal situations of our diverse workforce..