Design Jobs Board

We are a fast-growing charity that uses the journalistic expertise at The Economist newspaper to develop young people’s news literacy: the knowledge and skills needed to think for themselves about current affairs.

This is an exciting opportunity for a talented junior designer to help the next generation develop the critical thinking skills to thrive in the modern world. The designer will be be responsible for regularly creating a digital package of news resources for a school news club.

We’re looking for someone who is excited to play an essential role in engaging 9 to 14-year-olds with our core programme, The Burnet News Club.

EconomistFoundation.org

BurnetNewsClub.com

THE BURNET NEWS CLUB

The Burnet News Club (BNC) enables students to explore mind-stretching topics from Brexit to Black Lives Matter and hear a range of perspectives on each news story. Each half-term (six-times a year) we send teachers a package of learning resources on a current affairs topic (“The Issue”), which they use to deliver a weekly news club. The Issue includes step-by-step teaching guides, colourful activities and multimedia presentations for lively interactive activities, along with in-depth news content which covers the big issues of our time. The Issue is a collaboration between specialist teachers and The Economist’s journalists, fact-checkers and editors. It is contributed to by topic experts and people with lived experience of the issues.

BNC students also use the Hub, a dedicated online site to publish their work to a real audience. They discuss the Issue with other club members in different communities, and get feedback on their ideas from topic experts, from personalities like Stephen Fry, to astronauts and politicians.

THE BRIEF

You will be responsible for creating The Issue. Every half term you’ll work with the Educational Content Lead and Head of Design to bring the Issue to life by designing inspiring, accessible resources that will captivate young people and help them to access and break down complex global news stories.

We never talk down to our club members so we don’t design down to them either; the Issue never looks childish, there’s no Comic Sans and it’s a clip-art free zone.

Every Issue is different, and you’ll rise to the creative challenges for each new topic. One Issue might need an infographic that depicts the potential pathways for the future of the NHS, while the next Issue might require you to photoshop green scales and purple eyes onto a cat to help students understand the need to understand the bigger picture.

How will you contribute?

• Bringing the Issue to life by generating and sourcing on-topic imagery
• Creating simple and easy-to-follow session guides for teachers
• Designing vibrant activities that will engage students
• Build PowerPoints that break down complex subjects for the classroom
• Whipping up social media imagery so we can show off the Issue to our followers
• Producing MailChimp email assets to announce the new Issue to our teachers
• Create content on other multimedia platforms, such as Prezi or Biteable
• Work with a freelance filmmaker to translate the Issue concept into a film

The ideal skills for this role are:

• An understanding of the principles of design, including typography, colour, layout and illustration and the ability to make design accessible.
• A portfolio of work demonstrating the ability to respond to briefs creatively.
• An impeccable eye for detail.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills: you are used to working to tight deadlines and can prioritise appropriately.
• Ability to think critically and creatively to solve problems. You are able to work in a self-directed way and adapt to change.
• You take feedback constructively, and have the drive and positivity to overcome setbacks.
• Teamwork: you take ownership of your work and you enjoy working collaboratively and contributing to a supportive team.
• A minimum level 3 qualification in graphic design e.g. degree, diploma or apprenticeship OR previous experience of working in a design role, either in an in-house creative studio or as a freelancer.
• Proven experience in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator and PowerPoint
• Experience in Premiere Pro, After Effects and MailChimp would be ideal

Schedule

The Issue is published on six fixed dates over the course of an academic year (approximately every eight weeks). You will be scheduled to work four days in the week ahead of publication to design the Issue and make edits based on editorial feedback.

We will initially engage you for the December Issue cycle with the view to repeat for following Issue cycles.

You will need to be available to work for four days during the following weeks:

14–18 December 2020
15–19 February 2021
11–16 April 2021
31 May – 4 June 2021

Dates for 2021-22 will be scheduled according to the school calendar.