Creative Director

Role overview

Hyphen is looking for an imaginative, well-organized Creative Director who cares deeply about Asian American arts and culture. In this role, you will guide the creative team — including an Art Director, Photo Director, photo editor, and designers — and partner with the editorial team to shape and preserve the visual direction of Hyphen’s new online edition. You will also contribute to the Hyphen leadership group, which is made up of team leads and long-time staff members working collaboratively.

What you’ll handle

• Lead and support the artists, production staff, and other assigned team members so creative work stays aligned with strategy, budget, and timelines.
• Oversee the visual side of the online publication, including deadline tracking, story layout assignments, workflow coordination, and art placement with illustrators and photographers in collaboration with the Art Director and Director of Photography.
• Coordinate design work for marketing and communication materials.
• Protect and evolve the organization’s overall brand identity.
• Keep the publication’s design standards consistent and strong.
• Develop new ideas that help deepen reader engagement.
• Manage the creative design team by organizing meetings and arranging team-building activities.
• Act as a bridge between the creative and editorial groups, as well as between the creative and business sides of the organization.
• Support front-end website development.
• Coach and mentor junior designers.

What the role calls for

• A strong eye for visual design and composition.
• Excellent organization, attention to detail, and strong spoken and written communication.
• Genuine interest in Hyphen’s editorial mission, its magazine identity, and its place in the Asian American media landscape.
• The ability to communicate concepts visually while working within tight budgets.
• Comfort working across a broader team and supervising editors, the director of photography, the art director, and designers through every stage of content creation.
• The ability to juggle several responsibilities at once and keep both immediate and long-range deadlines on track.
• Reliable, responsive communication and availability.
• Availability to attend monthly business/editorial meetings lasting 1.5 hours.
• Availability to attend monthly leadership meetings lasting 1.5 hours.

Tools and working knowledge

• Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
• Google Docs and online file organization.
• Dropbox.
• Comfort learning and using project-management and publishing tools such as Drupal, Trello, and Slack.

How to apply

Applicants should email a resume, cover letter, and a portfolio with 10–20 layout or spread samples. The application should also include a description of any prior leadership experience that involved supervising team members.