Design Jobs Board

FOREST RESEARCH

Senior Designer

Salary: £39,135 – £42,133 A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Contract type: Permanent

Location

This role can be based in the Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9SY or Alice Holt, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH with blended working which gives you the option to work some of the week from home, and some of the week from the workplace. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

About the job

Want to work at the cutting edge of environmental science?  Passionate about making a difference and playing your part in tackling the climate and nature crisis?  Forest Research (FR) is all about giving top quality evidence and advice to policymakers and practitioners to make a positive impact on the ground. Internationally recognised, we need people who have the skills and passion to work on excellent science and provide practical solutions for nature.

The Senior Designer role sits within the Publishing team, part of the wider Forest Research Communications team. Forest Research’s publications are an essential component of what we do. They present our scientists’ research in a creative, recognisable, authoritative, accurate and accessible way. They include everything from long-form research reports on forests and trees to shorter guides on sustainable forest management. At a time when we are reconsidering elements of the visual language that underpins our brand, the Senior Designer will play a key role in developing our brand communication across digital and printed material.

In this role, you will work closely with the Publishing Manager and Publishing Coordinator to produce a range of digital and print publications. You will lead on the creative graphic design and artwork of our official research publications, as well as our corporate documents, ensuring that all of our publicly available documents are presented consistently and professionally, following existing Forest Research brand guidelines. You will find ways to creatively communicate our research findings to different audiences, through the creation of digital and printed materials including posters, infographics and illustrations, while also creating display materials and signage for both internal and external audiences.

You’ll do this working together with colleagues in the wider Communications team, and with researchers from our Science Groups and others. There will be the opportunity to work on development of the FR brand visual language, and an interest in animation would also be a benefit. You will liaise with external contractors such as freelance creatives and printers to aid the production of publications and other materials. You will also manage the Forest Research Photo Library, an important resource for both the Communications team and wider business, which will include uploading photographs and ensuring accurate metadata.

Job description

Key Work Areas:
Reporting to the Publishing Manager, the Senior Designer will:

•    Working with the Publishing Manager and Publishing Coordinator, design, typeset, and artwork a wide range of accessible technical and research reports, guidance documents, research posters, and other official publications, following existing brand guidelines.
•    Design diagrams, infographics, and technical illustrations across multiple digital and print platforms.
•    Working with the Head of Communications, develop and extend the Forest Research brand guidelines and visual language as it’s applied to digital and print outputs.
•    Working with the Science Communication team and the Publishing Manager, provide graphic design to the science groups and other colleagues, delivering product branding, flyers, posters, display, signage, and livery, working directly with colleagues as required.
•    Design promotional material for a number of internal communications campaigns each year.
•    Working with the Digital Manager, provide graphic design support for websites, digital dashboards, and Forest Research’s social media channels.
•    Manage the selection, upload, and metadata of images for the Forest Research Photo Library.
•    Brief and manage external production contracts with printers and freelance designers.
•    Conduct occasional photography

Essential Criteria:

•    High level of proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (specifically InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat) to create publications and illustrations
•    Significant graphic design experience in an agency or in-house design team environment, with demonstrable creativity, typographic skills and experience of building large pagination documents
•    Good understanding of accessibility and confident in creating accessible documents
•    Demonstrable experience of brand development and visual language creation
•    Ability to work at pace and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines
•    Ability to communicate clearly and work collaboratively
•    Experience of print management
•    Excellent attention to detail.

Closing date: 11:55 pm on Sunday 8th June 2025

For more detail and to apply please click the apply link.