Art Director

Z SUPPLY is an established California lifestyle Women's apparel brand that is leading the space for casual, comfortable style. Located in the heart of Orange County, we are passionate about staying true to our roots and living a life of good vibes in and out of the office. We have an exciting new opportunity for an experienced Art Director to join our Creative & Marketing teams.

Position Title: ART DIRECTOR

Department: Creative / Marketing

Position Type: Full Time / Salary Exempt

Reporting To: VP of Brand & Digital

Location: Z SUPPLY Headquarters - Costa Mesa, CA

Job Type: Hybrid / 4 days in office / 1 day remote

JOB OVERVIEW

The Art Director at Z SUPPLY plays a pivotal role in shaping the brand's visual identity and storytelling across various platforms. With a focus on 360-degree campaign creative execution, the role involves leading a team in bringing to life compelling concepts and assets for both digital and physical channels, ensuring alignment with the brand's identity and maintaining typography excellence.

Guideline development is a key aspect, where the Art Director leads the creation of comprehensive design systems and style guides. They oversee cross-channel implementation, ensuring a seamless brand experience, and collaborate closely with marketing and design teams.

Strong managerial skills are essential, providing clear direction, fostering a collaborative environment, and identifying opportunities for skill development. Expect close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.

Our Art Director keeps abreast of industry trends, evolving the brand image accordingly, and ensures quality assurance throughout the production process. Additionally, they manage freelance relationships and provide supplemental production oversight when needed.

This role demands not only a strong artistic vision and hands-on creative skills but also exceptional leadership qualities to drive the team towards excellence, performance, and efficiency, while fostering individual career growth.

POSITION DUTIES / RESPONSIBILITIES

Creative Execution

• Hands-on leader for all graphic design members in the execution of the creative concept and creative assets across all brick-and-mortar and digital channels (360 marketing campaigns).
• Work alongside Creator Director to assist the development of creative storytelling concepts for campaigns
• Assist the development of creative storytelling concepts for seasonal campaigns, capsule collections, and collaborations across all touchpoints
• Ensure alignment with the brand's identity
• Image selection – campaign, studio, influencer
• Typography excellence and layout design across all channels (including digital & brick and mortar)
• Graphic design leadership and hands on work including by not limited to: email marketing, social, web assets, paid ads, video, marketing collateral, retail POP, and packaging Print ready file oversight and execution is critical
• Asset execution may include photography & video across all channels, including lofi video and UGC Photography work may include art direction, making selects (studio and location shoots), retouching direction, retouching work, and cropping when needed.

Guideline Development

• Lead the creation of comprehensive guidelines and design systems, encompassing annual and seasonal style guides, copy and voice guidelines, digital and social guidelines, brick and mortar guidelines, email templates, and header/footer guidelines for consumer-facing assets.

Cross-Channel Implementation

• Oversee the practical iteration of creative content across various channels, ensuring a seamless and consistent brand experience in both physical and digital spaces.
• Collaborate closely with marketing and design teams to integrate creative concepts into tangible and effective messaging.
• Maintain brand consistency/brand thread across all channels from web to TikTok

Team Management

• Manage and lead a graphic design team, providing clear direction, priorities and fostering a collaborative environment.
• Guide team members in the execution of creative projects, ensuring high-quality deliverables across all channels.
• Identify individual strengths within the team and provide mentorship and opportunities for skill development.
• Foster a culture of excellence, encouraging continuous improvement, and helping team members develop their careers.

Collaboration and Relationship Building

• Work in close harmony with CMO, VP of Brand + Digital, and Creative Director(s) to lead the design process and realize the creative vision.
• Collaborate with external collaborators, agencies, and internal departments to build successful creative and practical partnerships
• Establish and communicate guidelines for collaboration, ensuring consistency in brand messaging and creative assets.
• Attend and lead weekly meetings with other departments to ensure the quality of messaging and identify opportunities for the creative team.
• Actively participate in creative briefings and partner with the E-Commerce team to understand the needs of digital 360 campaigns, including aspects of social, website, email design, and paid ads.
• Engage in collaborative brainstorming with the creative, social, e-commerce, UX, and technology teams to ensure your designs not only meet but surpass expectations.

Brand Evolution and Trend Awareness

• Evolve our brand image in alignment with brand book, brand ideas as well as market trends through continuous research and adaptation.
• Lead the team in staying abreast of design, digital and social media trends and incorporating relevant elements into creative concepts.

Quality Assurance

• Oversee the production of high-quality content for email marketing, our website, social media, and paid advertising campaigns.
• Ensure that all creative work meets deadlines and maintains the highest quality standards.
• Implement efficient workflows and processes to optimize the creative production pipeline.
• Utilize project management tool Asana to manage/maintain timely assets and collaborate on deliverables

Freelancer Management

• Vet, hire, and set expectations for outside freelancers and creators to align with brand messaging and deliver on-brand assets.

Supplemental Production Oversight

• Assist in the production of emails, retouching images, creating marketing collateral, seasonal catalogs, and conducting research when needed.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This is a supervisory position and will lead and support 2 direct reports and support 8 non direct report team members within the Creative teams.

QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE / SKILLS / COMPETENCIES

• 10+ year’s experience including graphic design (both digital and print) retouching, location photography, studio photography, retouching.
• 5+ years managerial experience – proven track record of leadership and support of a team
• In Design, Adobe, Figma, Photoshop, Capture One, editing software (e.g. Lightroom) video editing software, and digital / web software experience media manager, with the ability to plan content and write and post to communities with the right brand “voice” and in a brand responsible tone.
• Hands on experience in all parts of content creation from concept to workback to production to creative to final execution
• Creative thinker, creative student, and overall enthusiasm for women’s contemporary product, photography and content.
• Experience with 360 campaign building
• Experience with social media video and platform content execution.

TYPICAL WORKING CONDITIONS / EQUIPTMENT USED / PHYSICAL TASKS

• Office / Desk Workstation
• Air Conditioned
• Computer / Laptop / Standard Office Equipment
• Continual sitting, standing, walking, hand and finger dexterity, computer use
• Occasional lifting 20-30 lbs of equipment

Z SUPPLY PERKS

At Z SUPPLY, departments work cross-functionally enabling everyone to further their knowledge and expertise in an inclusive, supportive environment that is committed to healthy work/life balance, peer mentorship, and community outreach. In addition to a collaborative and supportive culture, here are a few additional perks that are enjoyed by the Z SUPPLY team:

• Half-Day Fridays year-round
• Generous clothing discount
• New chic and modern offices located near top restaurants and shopping in Costa Mesa, CA
• Comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage
• 401K with discretionary employer match of up to $2500
• Paid Time Off, Paid Holidays, Paid Preventative Health Care Time Off, Paid Birthdays and various other company perks and benefits.
• Paid Maternity & Paid Parental Leave following 1-2 years of service.
• Collaborative, cohesive team environment focused on a thriving, progressive, inclusive & dynamic company culture

EEO Statement

Z SUPPLY is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please email Careers@zsupplyllc.com.