Production Designer

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Title: Production Designer at Hoxton Mini Press

• Application closing date: midnight on Sunday 4th August

• Salary: £26k - £30k dependent on experience / skills

• Start date: September 2024 or ASAP

• Interviews: At least two rounds, the first will be on Zoom

• Location: Tues/Thur from home, Mon/Wed/Fri in a studio by London Fields overlooking the canal. (Very occasionally we may need people in studio on Tue/Thur)

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for a super-talented and enthusiastic production designer to join our small but multi-award-winning team in our office by London Fields in east London. We need someone who has a great eye for visual detail, is extremely savvy with InDesign and Photoshop and knows how to prepare files for print and can understand our brand and apply it seamlessly across not only across our books but also our website and other media. Ideally, you'll have a number of years experience in the publishing industry but if you are highly skilled in artworking, file preparation and have a great portfolio of work then we'd be delighted to interview you. 

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 more difficult. And doing so while maintaining a clear brand is harder still.

We are best known for our books about east London but we have now expanded to produce books about subjects much further afield. 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, but it has a fundamental leaning toward artworking rather than full book design. It's important to be clear about that. Nevertheless, being a small team, the day-to-day experience will be varied and involve everything from deciding on cover directions with the creative director, discussing how to extend our brand across books, online assets and marketing materials, finessing internal layouts, preparing images for print, liaising with photographers, repro houses and printers and exporting final PDFs with all the correct settings. Primarily we need someone with a passion for books who has a very solid understanding of InDesign, font, layout and Photoshop and who can pay extremely close attention to detail. We manage a lot of files and you'll need to be ultra organised and fastidious about detail. You will have the ability to take an existing book design or one from an external designer and apply that design across an entire book from conception all the way to final exported files. Clear visual flare should therefore be supported by exceptional technical and organisational ability with a knowledge of colour management and production techniques.

You will work closely with our creative director, editors and in-house production controller, and be in direct contact with external photographers, repro houses and freelance designers.

WHAT SKILLS DO YOU NEED?

• An exceptional sense of design – a personal portfolio of work is useful

• Expert knowledge of InDesign

• Expert knowledge of Photoshop

• Expert knowledge of Acrobat

• A thorough understanding of colour management

• Ideally a number of years’ experience within publishing 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 and ULTRA organised

• 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

(Please note: there is a mini-schnauzers in the office!)

WHAT ARE THE JOB PERKS?

• Monday team lunch

• 31 days paid holiday (including bank holidays)

• Generous pension scheme

• Cycle-to-work scheme

• Life assurance

• Extra leave for significant life events

• Free and discounted books from our full list

• Gorgeous open plan office with view over canal right by Broadway Market

• New tree planted for each new joiner, new tree planted for each online order from any customer

• Mini schnauzer in office!