Senior Graphic Designer (Education & Publishing)

Lead the design and production of high-quality educational and commercial publishing materials, including textbooks, workbooks, teacher guides, covers, and digital learning assets. Combine expert Adobe InDesign publishing skills, strong visual design judgment, print-production knowledge, and responsible use of generative AI to improve creative quality, consistency, accuracy, and turnaround time. Own projects from concept through press-ready delivery and mentor designers on efficient, repeatable workflows.

Key Responsibilities

Publishing & Editorial Design

• Design and typeset multi-page textbooks, workbooks, teacher guides, assessments, and supporting educational assets for print and digital use.
• Build robust InDesign templates, parent pages, paragraph/character/object styles, grids, tables, anchored objects, cross-references, and consistent navigation systems.
• Apply strong typography, visual hierarchy, accessible color choices, diagrams, charts, illustrations, and age-appropriate layouts; maintain consistency across grades, subjects, and series.
• Coordinate with editorial, curriculum, illustration, and production teams; implement corrections without disrupting content or pagination.

Print Production & Quality Assurance

• Prepare press-ready PDF files with correct trim, bleed, safe margins, CMYK/spot colors where required, embedded fonts, and appropriate PDF/X settings.
• Perform preflight checks for overset text, missing or modified links, font issues, image effective PPI, transparency, overprints, and layout inconsistencies.
• Verify page counts, content completeness, tables, equations, captions, folios, covers, and printer specifications; maintain version control and proofing records.

AI-Assisted Creative Production

• Use AI tools such as Adobe Firefly, Freepik AI, Magnific, and ChatGPT (or equivalent approved tools) for ideation, illustration concepts, image enhancement, prompt development, and production support.
• Evaluate AI-generated content for anatomy, artifacts, cultural suitability, originality, visual consistency, resolution, and print readiness; retouch or rebuild assets as needed.
• Use AI and scripting responsibly to accelerate repetitive tasks, generate production checklists, support image workflows, and assist with InDesign automation while retaining human review.
• Respect licensing, confidentiality, copyright, client policies, and data protection; do not upload restricted content to unapproved AI services.

Project Leadership & Collaboration

• Plan schedules and milestones, prioritize multiple titles, manage revisions, and deliver accurate files on time.
• Review and mentor junior designers, maintain design-system documentation, and present design solutions to stakeholders.
• Develop reusable templates, naming conventions, asset libraries, and workflow improvements; track quality issues and corrective actions.

Technical Skills Required

• Adobe Creative Cloud: Advanced Adobe InDesign (parent pages, styles, books, tables, anchored objects, GREP, data merge); proficient Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat Pro; working knowledge of Bridge.
• Publishing & Typesetting: Multi-page textbook and workbook layout, typography, grids, pagination, indexes, tables of contents, cross-references, equations, diagrams, and reusable editorial templates.
• Prepress & Color Management: CMYK/RGB workflows, ICC profiles, spot colors, bleed, trim, safe areas, overprint, transparency, image effective PPI, font embedding, PDF/X export, and printer-ready preflight.
• AI Design & Image Production: Practical use of approved tools such as Adobe Firefly, Freepik AI, Magnific and ChatGPT for prompt development, concept generation, image enhancement, upscaling, retouching and visual consistency; ability to identify and correct AI artifacts.
• Automation & Production Efficiency: InDesign GREP and Find/Change, batch actions, Acrobat preflight profiles, structured asset naming, version control, and familiarity with ExtendScript/JavaScript or equivalent workflow automation.
• Digital Publishing & Accessibility: Preparation of optimized digital PDFs and interactive assets; working knowledge of EPUB, accessible reading order, alt text, contrast and document navigation.
• Quality Control & File Management: Checking overset text, missing links/fonts, image resolution, page numbering, content accuracy, proof corrections and organized packaging of editable source files.

Required Qualifications

• 4–8 years of professional graphic design experience, including substantial hands-on experience in book, textbook, educational, or long-form publishing.
• Bachelor’s degree or diploma in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Publishing, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Advanced Adobe InDesign proficiency; strong Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat Pro skills.
• Demonstrable portfolio of multi-page publications and press-ready work, plus examples of practical AI-assisted design workflows.
• Expertise in typography, grids, page composition, color management, image preparation, prepress, and production troubleshooting.
• Strong English communication, proofreading awareness, organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to handle concurrent deadlines.

Desirable Experience

• Educational publishing for K–12, including illustrated textbooks, worksheets, mathematics/science layouts, and accessible learning materials.
• InDesign GREP, data merge, ExtendScript/JavaScript, batch processing, and automated preflight/reporting.
• AI prompt libraries, image-generation pipelines, image upscaling, and consistent character/illustration workflows.
• Familiarity with EPUB, interactive PDFs, accessibility standards, and digital learning assets.

Key Deliverables & Success Measures

• Consistent, editorially accurate, visually polished page layouts and production-ready book files.
• Reusable publishing templates, documented styles, design guidelines, and organized source assets.
• Preflight and proofing reports with critical defects resolved before release.
• Responsible, measurable workflow improvements through AI assistance and automation without compromising quality.
• Reliable milestone delivery, clear stakeholder communication, and effective designer mentoring.