Overview: The Creative Director reports to the Editor-in-Chief and oversees all visual identities for Mustang News, including Mustang News on KCPR. With the design team, the Creative Director helps journalists convey their stories in unique ways that also maintains a cohesive and identifiable Mustang News brand. They help present news to different types of audience members and continuously update the social, web, and news platforms.
Responsibilities:
- Execute the reporter’s visions as well as come up with their own ideas for laying out content in a way that is visually appealing and easy to read
- Follow Mustang News style guides, while pushing the boundaries of design in everything created
- Go above and beyond traditional layouts and create original graphics, art and more to add unique elements to a story
- Communicate with platform managers to design and create visuals across platforms for stories from all Mustang News sections (News, Arts & Student Life, Sports and Opinion)
- Use industry-standard software including Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator
- Attend weekly Sunday print production and editorial staff meetings either in-person or via Zoom
- Oversee brand identity between all platforms
- Connect stories with creative personal in order to create more multimedia coverage
- Collaborate with creative personnel to ensure that all creative ideas are presented properly
- Constantly survey professional media landscape to find the most successful and engaging practices
- Teach and oversee the design team
- Create and maintain layouts for MN website pages
- Create special sections (i.e. COVID-19 and voting) on the MN website
- Communicate with section heads, journalists, photographers and designers to create the ladder for every print edition
- Promote team cohesion. Run relevant training.
- Plan and coordinate essential coverage and training over the summer and be physically in the newsroom at least two weeks before fall term.
- Collaborate with Social Manager to collect and interpret analytics using Google Analytics and social media analytics tools. Strategize accordingly.
- Take the lead in planning and coordinating large-scale multimedia coverage, such as rivalry games and on-campus concerts.
- Tailor stories to the web as often as possible, adding subheads, pull quotes, photo galleries, interactivity, polls, etc. and SEO-oriented headlines.
- Further the goal of having all Mustang News staff members be multimedia journalists.
- Understand the “big picture” when it comes to multimedia coverage at Cal Poly and add context to story assignments.
- Be enrolled/attend J455 weekly
Stipend: $400 month