Digital Designer

THIS OPPORTUNITY

If you have a passion for sustainability, human-centered design, and authentic impact stories, then this role is for you. As a change-making design professional, you’ll report directly to our founder and play a key role in enhancing Storyroot’s impact offerings. Day-to-day, you’ll do things like:

• Work closely with our Design Director and other members of the team to design and produce impact websites and digital impact reports that engage, inspire, and educate clients’ customers, employees, partners, suppliers, investors, and other key stakeholders on sustainability and social impact initiatives;
• Work directly with assigned clients to offer practical design and UX guidance, provide clear and objective critiques of existing creative work, and deliver customized, strategic design solutions for each client using iterative, human-centric methods;
• Build on clients’ distinctive branding and visual assets to implement enjoyable, interactive experiences for web and digital platforms that help communicate clients’ impact strategies and simplify complicated and nuanced systems;
• Collaboratively define clients’ digital design strategies, from research to ideation, focusing on intuitive user interaction, navigation, usability, and accessibility;
• Develop visually appealing, user-friendly websites, digital collateral, presentations, and reports for clients and other partners;
• Create innovative visual structures and designs that improve existing digital properties, features, and functionality; and
• Help maintain digital design assets for clients.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

We’re looking for a highly motivated, multidisciplinary designer who is passionate about applying UX principles, understands how copy and design support each other, and ready to bring curiosity, versatility, and energy to our small, scrappy (and quickly-growing) team. The ideal candidate will have the ability to:

• Employ UX principles and human-centered design concepts to sketch layouts and storyboards, and develop wireframes, mockups, and prototypes;
• Apply existing knowledge of information architecture, workflow design, information management, and governance for site usability to optimize clients’ digital impact collateral;
• Communicate complex design concepts, rationale, and insights to a wide variety of cross-functional audiences with empathy and patience – demonstrated experience guiding business partners through the design process is a plus;
• Understand sustainability and social impact concepts enough to actively participate in team and client discussions and help translate these complex concepts through visual design;
• Create intuitive user designs and workflows for web applications with minimal input or supervision – a keen understanding of responsive and interactive design is a must;
• Design persuasive and professional educational collateral and resources that are enjoyable, informative, and interactive, and backed by strong research, analytics, and keen insights on accessibility, user experience, and innovation;
• Deliver high-quality designs that demonstrate a strong grasp of proper application of visual design skills, including color theory, line, typography, photography, illustration and graphic elements, data visualization, layout, information hierarchy, as well as file formatting and asset organization;
• Stay current on web design trends, technology advancements (especially in UX/UI), and evolving web standards to ensure designs are both modern and effective, as well as advise our team and clients on the aforementioned topics and practices;
• Work closely with external developers to implement designs into web applications, test designs for usability, and fix any user experience issues before launch;
• Communicate persuasively and professionally, verbally and in writing, in English;
• Independently manage various projects concurrently and effectively prioritize deliverables, resulting in high-quality work product and on-time delivery, especially while working remotely;
• Work well with cross-functional teams by maintaining flexibility, patience, and collaboration;
• Incorporate feedback from various stakeholders, including clients, peers, and leadership, with a keen eye for detail and nuance;
• Learn quickly and apply learnings in a fast-paced environment;
• Push and challenge our team, clients, and partners, to think in new and different ways especially by nature of identity or lived experience.

Technical qualifications also include:

• Proficiency in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, XD, Sketch, Figma, Microsoft, etc.
• Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• **Academic, professional, or life experience from outside the design field that enriches your perspective as a designer is highly encouraged.**

SOME MORE LOGISTICS

This is a full-time opportunity – we recognize that work-life balance often looks different for each of us, so working hours will be finalized once you’re on board. While this role can work from anywhere and is fully remote (not required to check-in at a specific office location), you must be authorized to work in the United States. The selected candidate is expected to have a safe and productive work-from-home environment and the ability to provide the materials for their own work setup (including a computer).

Benefits currently include health care, including medical, vision, and dental, life insurance, a work-from-home stipend, and unlimited vacation and sick time with a mandated annual minimum. We are in the process of formalizing additional benefits, including the potential for a professional development stipend, bonuses, and 401-K. The salary for this position ranges from $64,000 to $72,000, commensurate with experience.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Please submit your resume and portfolio demonstrating design work that is innovative, contemporary, and in alignment with human-centered digital design. We also ask that you please include a cover letter that highlights why you’re interested in this role and answers the question:

"Many businesses unintentionally default to stock imagery, greenwashing, and flat design when communicating sustainability. How can visual communication be used to help overcome these limitations and show a more comprehensive picture of a company’s impact?”

No need to write a novel here, we just want to get a sense of how you think about impact (please keep your cover letter to 500 words or less).

Please submit your application materials (resume, cover letter, and portfolio) using this form:

https://forms.gle/TqJtYv2HuQwjDx1JA

The Storyroot team will evaluate all candidates’ resumes and supplemental materials on a rolling basis, and follow up with next steps, beginning October 16, 2023.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

As an organization founded by a white, cis-gender woman, we are looking specifically for candidates with either demographic identities or life experiences that would add different perspectives to our work. We believe that for the sustainability field to remain relevant and effective, it is essential that we use equitable employment practices to actively recruit historically underrepresented and chronically underemployed groups. We encourage folks to apply who self-identify as black, indigenous, persons of color (BIPOC), women, working-class, or disabled. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard for race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Did you know that, according to research, men apply to jobs more often even if they only meet ~60% of listed qualifications, while women and members of historically marginalized groups tend to only apply when they think they meet every criterion? We think that’s bogus. If you’re interested in joining Storyroot and think this is the right job for you, please apply even if you can’t check every box. We’d still love to hear from you!

We recognize that flexibility comes in a variety of forms. Please talk to us about what flexibility and accommodations you need to do your job the best you can, whether that’s alternative working hours, particular means of communication, or anything else we haven’t thought of.