Senior Art Director

Publicis Groupe · Johannesburg, Gauteng

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Overview

The Senior Art Director is a senior hands-on creative responsible for developing distinctive, effective and beautifully crafted ideas across the client business.
The role translates strategy and creative direction into strong concepts, visual systems and executions that work across channels, platforms and experiences.
Working as part of an integrated creative team, the Senior Art Director combines high standards of art direction and design craft with digital-first thinking, culture, technology and emerging AI-enabled creative methods.
The role is accountable for conceptual quality, visual craft, proactive contribution, reliable delivery and strong collaboration.

Responsibilities

CREATIVE THINKING & ART DIRECTION

Develop strong, platform-neutral creative concepts in response to briefs and strategic direction.
Define or apply the visual language, aesthetic and art direction of campaigns and content.
Lead the craft and design of ideas from early concept through execution.
Create convincing mock-ups, references and presentation material that bring ideas to life.
Stay current with South African culture, design, social platforms, media behaviour and visual trends.

CLIENT & BUSINESS UNDERSTANDING

Interrogate briefs and understand the client's business requirements, brand priorities and customer context.
Provide clear rationale for creative choices and be prepared to present work to clients.
Develop ideas that solve the business problem rather than simply answering the deliverables list.

INTEGRATED CREATIVE PRODUCT

Design across multiple channels including brand, retail, digital, social, content, out-of-home and emerging formats.
Work closely with Copywriters to ensure the idea and execution operate as one.
Consistently produce creative elements against agreed deliverables and deadlines.
Participate actively in brainstorms, conceptualisation and campaign development.
Contribute to pitches and proactive creative opportunities.

INTEGRATION & COLLABORATION

Work with Strategy, Media, Accounts, Developers, Production and other disciplines to ensure integrated and coherent solutions.
Collaborate early rather than handing work between disciplines sequentially.
Be a team player who can also work independently and take ownership of assigned projects.

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT CREATIVITY

Use relevant AI and emerging creative tools to expand visual exploration, prototyping and production efficiency.
Maintain working knowledge of major social and digital platforms and how creative needs to behave within them.
Apply appropriate human judgement, brand safety and craft standards to AI-assisted work.
Stay curious about emerging design, production and experience technologies.

PRODUCTION & EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE

Attend shoots, recordings and production sessions where required and protect the visual idea through execution.
Partner with Production to ensure work is delivered to the required quality, timing and specification.
Maintain high attention to detail across final artwork, adaptations and rollout.

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT

Manage your own creative process and deadlines without needing to be chased.
Be proactive, accountable, solution-driven and willing to go the extra mile.
Share references, inspiration and new approaches that raise the standard of the wider creative team.
Support and guide more junior creatives where appropriate.

Qualifications

Tertiary qualification in Art Direction / Graphic Design
Must have a minimum of 5-6 years' experience
Conceptual and design skills
Proficient in MS Office i.e. Word / PowerPoint etc.
Knowledge of and experience in Adobe Creative Suite applications
Good communication & presentation skills
Good multi-tasking skills ability to work on more than one brief at any given time
Great time management
Ability to work under pressure & meet tight deadlines
Adept problem-solving skills
Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made
Working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms
A strong understanding of best practice interaction and visual design principles
Able to work with team members
Be comfortable with AI being a part of the everyday activities of the role.

BUSINESS KPI'S

Demonstrate innovative ideas to the team to improve how we communicate our proposition
Must be able to work on one sizable and two small size projects at any one time with oversight
Have the ability to attend every review on a project with 3 new ideas

THE PERSON

Team player with the ability to work independently
Ability to work well in a highly pressurised, fast-paced environment
Curious, imaginative creative mind with a passion for advertising and modern brand experiences
Meticulous with attention to detail
Proactive — a can-do attitude and willing to go the extra mile
Accountable
Solution and deadline driven
Flexible to work beyond normal office hours if and when required

WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THESE TOOLS