Content Specialist - Design in PELLA, Iowa at Central College

Responsible to the Director of Marketing and Communications. Provides strategic creative leadership and leads the development of print, environmental, motion and digital design for the college.

· Serves as lead creative for the institution’s alumni magazine and supports integrated storytelling across admission, advancement, athletics, academics and executive leadership.

· Develops and executes visual conceptual solutions and multi-channel creative campaigns that translate institutional priorities into compelling marketing and communications for external constituencies, including prospective students, families, alumni, donors, corporations, foundations and friends of the college.

· Serves as a creative partner to institutional leadership, guiding brand expression, campaign strategy and visual communications across the college.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

· Execute creative strategy, concept development and visual storytelling for institution-wide marketing, enrollment, advancement, alumni, athletics and brand initiatives.

· Serve as a strategic creative partner to senior leadership, helping to visually develop institutional messaging, campaign assets and internal and external communications.

· Translate institutional priorities into integrated, multi-channel marketing campaigns across digital, web, social media, print, environmental and advertising platforms.

· Create and design digital materials and creative campaigns for enrollment growth, donor engagement, athletics and institutional goals by supporting the college’s strategic messages for admission, development, alumni, athletics, academics and other departments.

· Serve as brand steward for the institution’s brand identity and standards, ensuring consistency across all communications and channels internally and externally.

· Serve as lead creative for alumni magazine in both digital and print formats, leading concept development, visual storytelling, layout design and production from concept through publication. Collaborate with editor on content development and with advancement and senior leadership on editorial input and messaging direction. Collaborate with videographers, writers, photographers and creative partners on institutional storytelling. Capture content as videographer and photographer as needed.

• Help manage video and photo shoots, including concept development, shot planning, talent coordination and final image selection.

• Manage and curate institutional photography and visual asset libraries.

· Lead design and ongoing updates of digital donor recognition walls and collaborate with external vendors to produce and print static donor wall components, including preparing production files, reviewing proofs and ensuring accuracy and brand consistency.

· Develop on-brand advertising concepts and design for regional and national markets, including website popovers, toasters and conversion-driven digital assets.

· Collaborate with web and social media colleagues on integrated digital content strategy, cross-channel storytelling and institutional website creative.

· Assist with managing vendor relationships, including obtaining bids, evaluating proposals, making recommendations, and overseeing production budgets, timelines and quality control and oversee projects through final production, including press checks and final output approval.

· Help supervise, mentor and train student employees, providing creative direction, feedback and professional development and assisting management of project timelines and workflows.

· Research, evaluate and implement emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence tools, to enhance creative workflows, content development, design exploration and production efficiency; Maintain awareness of design trends and best practices in digital, motion, UX/UI and AI-enhanced creative spaces.

· Provide guidance on responsible and effective use of AI and design technologies within institutional communications.

· Assist with preparation of digital and all marketing and communications materials, ensuring accuracy, grammar, content quality and stylistic consistency.

· Maintain technical expertise in AI platforms, Adobe Creative Suite, Mac OS, Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and related platforms.

· Demonstrate strong time management skills and accountability for meeting deadlines across multiple concurrent projects.

· Demonstrate adaptability and openness to change in a fast-paced environment.

· Consistently demonstrate a positive attitude and represent the college professionally in all internal and external interactions.

· Work collaboratively and respectfully with colleagues across departments and disciplines.

· Willingly perform other duties as assigned in support of institutional needs.

· Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communications or related field required.

· Three or more years of professional experience in graphic design, visual communications, marketing, advertising, digital media, website design, content creation or related fields preferred. Experience developing creative assets across digital, motion and environmental platforms strongly preferred. Higher education, nonprofit, agency, journalism, photography and brand management experience preferred.

· Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to clearly present creative concepts and rationale.

· Strong organizational, project management, time management, multitasking and collaboration skills.

· Demonstrated ability to partner with senior leadership to develop and execute complex, multi-channel initiatives across multiple priorities and stakeholders.

· Strong understanding of design theory, visual communication principles and brand consistency.

· Demonstrated ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across cross-functional teams.

· Proficiency in Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and experience with project management systems such as Basecamp, Asana or equivalent tools.

· Experience with Mac OS and Adobe Creative Suite.

· Experience using and willingness to learn AI platforms and tools including Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, Claude and other emerging technologies in creative workflows.

Central College Brand Expectations:

· Demonstrate a network of caring relationships by showing respect for others, being dependable and promoting cooperation with others in the work environment.

· Be your best self by being accountable for responsibilities, adapting well to change and maintaining the highest standards of business ethics.

· Perform job responsibilities on campus to support the residential college environment.

· Strive to perform as effectively as possible while maintaining a high level of quality and promoting personal growth and development.

· Respect and comply with college rules and policies, including participation in required training courses; report any suspected violations of the Title IX policy to the Title IX Coordinator.