Art Director - Brand Aesthetics & Visual Identity

Role Overview:

You'll be the guardian and architect of visual soul, defining how we look, feel, and show up across every brand touchpoint. Leading a team of 2 graphic designers and helping the studio team develop an aesthetic, you'll translate brand strategy into cohesive visual systems-owning everything from brand guidelines and design systems to campaign concepts and packaging aesthetics. This is a strategic design leadership role focused on establishing and maintaining the visual identity that makes Underneat unmistakable.

What You'll Own:

Brand Visual Systems & Identity:

- Own and evol complete visual identity-design language, color palettes, typography systems, iconography, patterns, and grid structures.

- Define visual standards for representing real bodies and diversity-establishing casting principles, styling guidelines, and compositional approaches.

Design Leadership & Team Management:

- Lead and mentor a team of 2 graphic designers and a studio team, providing creative direction, skill development, and career growth.

- Review and approve all design work before it goes live, ensuring brand consistency and execution excellence.

- Build a high-performance creative culture with clear quality standards and efficient workflows.

- Manage relationships with external design partners, photographers, illustrators, and print vendors.

Campaign Conceptualization & Static Design:

- Conceptualize visual campaigns across channels-translating marketing objectives into compelling design concepts.

- Design static assets for digital advertising, social media graphics, email campaigns, website visuals, and promotional materials.

- Create product packaging design, retail collateral, event materials, and offline brand touchpoints.

- Work with the studio team to art direct brand photoshoots-developing shot lists, mood boards, styling direction, and on-set creative oversight.

Cross-Functional Design Strategy:

- Partner with marketing team to align visual strategy with brand positioning and business goals.

- Collaborate with product and e-commerce teams on packaging, product photography, and website design.

- Work with retail teams to design in-store visual merchandising standards and experiential elements.

- Present design concepts and rationale to leadership, building buy-in around creative decisions.

Quality Control & Asset Management:

- Establish production standards for print and digital assets-ensuring technical specifications are met.

- Maintain organized asset libraries with clear naming conventions, version control, and file management systems.

- Create design templates and toolkits that empower other teams while maintaining brand integrity.