Art Director, Harpers Bazaar

ITP Media Group; Dubai; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading publishing company is seeking a skilled Art Director to enhance the visual identity of Harper's Bazaar Arabia. This role involves managing design across print and digital platforms while ensuring high-quality standards in both English and Arabic. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in luxury fashion editorial environments and proficiency in relevant design tools. This position offers a unique opportunity to impact the publication's visual storytelling in the region.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of art direction experience in luxury fashion/editorial environments.
• Mastery of typography and grid; expert in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
• Proven prepress/print expertise with strong oversight.

Responsibilities

• Lead visual identity and execution of Harper's Bazaar Arabia and regional editions.
• Maintain the Harper’s Bazaar visual language ensuring cohesion across formats.
• Commission and direct professional photographers and stylists.

Skills

Art Direction

Typography

Visual Storytelling

Bilingual/RTL Experience

Cross-functional Communication

Education

8-10 years in art direction

Tools

InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

After Effects

Figma

Job description

ITP Media Group seeks a portfolio-level Art Director to lead the visual identity and execution of Harper s Bazaar Arabia plus the Saudi and Qatar editions across print digital social and video. You will set the
creative bar codify systems that scale across a monthly flagship and quarterly regional editions and partner closely with editorial photo/video and production to deliver world-class design in both English and Arabic.
The role demands deep print craft (typography grid prepress colour) and platform-native sensibility
and social with meticulous standards in bilingual/RTL applications and colour-managed workflows.
Requirements

1) Portfolio Visual Strategy & Brand Stewardship

• Maintain and evolve the Harper s Bazaar portfolio visual language (typography grid imagery palette illustration motion) ensuring cohesion with each edition s local nuance.
  
• Enforce brand style guides and cross-platform design systems for print/digital including bilingual/RTL specifications and component libraries.
  

2) Issue Design & Production (Monthly & Quarterly)

• Lead flatplans and pacing; art-direct covers features departments and special supplements; approve layouts from concept to press-ready files.
  
• Partner with the Managing Editor and Production teams on schedules and closes appropriate to a monthly (Arabia) and quarterly (Saudi/Qatar) cadence.
  
• Design and lay out all pages in line with our global standards.
  

3) Photography Direction & Commissioning

• Commission and direct photographers stylists set designers illustrators and retouchers across fashion portrait still-life architecture/interiors.
  
• Write treatments and shot lists; supervise on-set art direction and retouching standards; build and maintain a best-in-class regional contributor network.
  

4) Digital Motion & Social Packaging

• Translate print features into platform-native packages (.com templates social carousels Reels/Shorts graphic systems thumbnails); set motion/graphics rules for video lower-thirds and opens.
  
• Collaborate with social/video leads to ensure visual consistency and high engagement across channels.
  

5) Prepress Colour & Print Quality

• Own colour-accurate output across devices and presses: CMYK conversions profile selection proofing paper stock recommendations and press checks.
  
• Implement ICC-profiled colour management and preflight/QC practices to ensure predictable premium print reproduction.
  

6) Arabic/English Craft (RTL/LTR)

• Ensure excellent Arabic typography spacing ligatures and mirroring logic; set rules for mixed writing directions (numbers units dates) and bilingual hierarchy.
  
• Curate Arabic-compatible type families and oversee RTL adaptations of layouts and UI elements for digital.
  

7) Operations Assets & Rights

• Maintain file architecture versioning and DAM hygiene (naming metadata reuse).
  
• Oversee image rights credits licenses and clearances in partnership with Legal/Editorial; manage third-party fonts/artwork usage.
  

8) Collaboration and Commercial

• Partner with editorial leaders to shape visual storytelling; collaborate with commercial/branded content teams on premium executions while protecting editorial integrity.
  

Qualifications

• 8 10 years art direction in luxury fashion/editorial environments with a portfolio of landmark covers/features and cross-platform systems.
  
• Mastery of typography and grid; expert in InDesign/Photoshop/Illustrator; working knowledge of Lightroom/Capture One; motion basics (After Effects/Premiere) and Figma for digital systems.
  
• Proven prepress/print expertise (proofing press checks colour pipelines/ICC); strong retouching oversight.
  
• Bilingual/RTL experience strongly preferred; Arabic/English fluency is a plus with sensitivity to regional cultural context and luxury aesthetics.
  
• Calm under pressure deadline-reliable and excellent at cross-functional communication with editorial production and commercial teams.
  

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Visual excellence & consistency across editions/platforms; external recognition/benchmarks.
  
• On-time delivery for monthly and quarterly closes; reduced rounds and rework.
  
• Colour/print quality (proof-to-press fidelity ICC adherence).
  
• Digital/social performance of visual packaging (CTR saves/shares completion/retention where applicable).
  
• Contributor network strength and development of regional talent; internal stakeholder satisfaction.