Junior Creative Designer & Visual Researcher

Critical Playground LLC; Brighton; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Central Brighton studio close to the海

28 days' paid annual leave

Pension contributions

Cultural allowance for inspiration

Cycle-to-work scheme

Team lunches & socials

Loyalty bonus after 3 years

Salary review

Job summary

Hollywood Secret Service in Brighton is recruiting a Junior Creative Designer & Visual Researcher. You’ll join a small, fast-moving studio, researching exceptional visual references and turning ideas into beautifully designed pitch presentations for international clients.

Ideal candidates are at the start of their career, possibly a recent graduate or with 1–2 years in the industry, with strong taste, curiosity and attention to detail. You’ll learn quickly in a hands-on environment.

Qualifications

• Recent graphic design graduate or 1–2 years’ industry experience.
• Strong visual instincts and design fundamentals.
• Ability to learn quickly and take feedback well.

Responsibilities

• Interpret briefs and develop visual references for treatments.
• Create visually compelling pitch presentations and treatments.
• Build and refine presentations using typography, layout and imagery.
• Edit imagery in Photoshop and assemble sequences for long-form documents.
• Maintain high visual standards and organised working files.

Skills

Visual research

Layout & typography

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Photoshop

Education

Graphic design degree

Tools

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Photoshop

Job description

Brighton | Full-time, 9am-6pm | Studio-based | £26,000–£28,000 | Graduate / Junior Hollywood Secret Service is looking for a talented Junior Creative Designer & Visual Researcher to join our growing creative studio in central Brighton. We create treatments and pitch presentations for directors and production companies working across international advertising, film and entertainment. Our projects have included work for brands such as Apple, Adidas, Meta, Samsung, Mercedes-Benz, Nintendo, Coca-Cola, Netflix, Canva, Fortnite, Tinder, YouTube and Logitech. We're looking for someone at the beginning of their career with great visual instincts, strong design fundamentals and bags of potential. You might be a recent graphic design graduate, or have already spent a year or two working in the industry. Either way, we don't expect you to arrive knowing everything. We're much more interested in your taste, ideas, curiosity, attention to detail and ability to learn quickly.

About Hollywood Secret Service

Hollywood Secret Service is a specialist creative studio working in the pre-production space of the TV commercial production industry. We work with directors and production companies around the world, helping transform ideas, scripts and creative briefs into beautifully designed visual treatments that help them communicate their vision when pitching for work. That means combining graphic design, visual research, photography, film, typography, storytelling and world-building—often delivering a finished presentation within just a few days. We're a small, busy team, so this isn't a role where you'll spend your first year sitting on the sidelines. You'll work alongside experienced creatives, contribute to real projects and see how work develops from the first conversation through to final delivery. You'll get unusually close to the creative process early in your career and see a huge variety of briefs, directors, visual styles and ideas.

The role

At the heart of this role are two things: finding exceptional visual references and ideas, and presenting them effectively. You'll work closely with our creative team to interpret briefs, discover brilliant visual references and turn ideas into compelling, beautifully designed presentations. One day you might be researching cinematic night photography for a car commercial; the next you could be exploring authentic casting references in New York, extraordinary rainforest locations, a specific camera technique, or the visual world for a comedy, fashion or technology film. You'll then help bring those ideas together through typography, layout and imagery. It's varied, creative and often fast-moving.

What you'll be doing

Visual research

• Interpret scripts, briefs and creative conversations.
• Find high-quality stills, video, GIFs and other visual references.
• Explore references for casting, locations, lighting, styling, composition, cinematography and camera language.
• Develop visual worlds that communicate a director's ideas.
• Recognise the difference between an image that's simply relevant and one that's genuinely brilliant.
• Curate large volumes of imagery into clear, considered selections.
• Keep sources and project assets organised.

Treatment design

• Design visually compelling pitch presentations and treatments.
• Work confidently with typography, layout, imagery and visual hierarchy.
• Build and refine presentations primarily in Adobe InDesign.
• Edit and prepare imagery in Photoshop.
• Think about pacing and image sequencing across long-form documents.
• Use design and layout to strengthen the director's ideas rather than simply decorate them.
• Respond quickly and accurately to creative feedback.
• Maintain a consistently high visual standard across detailed presentations.
• Quality-check copy, imagery, layouts, links and exports before delivery.
• Maintain exceptionally organised working files.

Creative Development

As your experience grows, you'll also have opportunities to:

• Contribute ideas and references to creative discussions.
• Explore new approaches to treatments and digital presentations.
• Experiment with emerging creative and AI tools.
• Contribute to HSS's website, portfolio, branding and creative output.
• Develop skills across areas such as motion, digital design and interactive work.
• As you develop, take ownership of sections and eventually entire projects.

What we’re looking for

We're interested in potential as much as experience. You may be finishing university, have recently graduated or already be working in your first creative role. We're looking for someone who is visually curious — someone who notices things, looks beyond the obvious and genuinely enjoys discovering brilliant creative work. We're looking for someone with:

• A strong portfolio showing excellent layout, typography and visual thinking.
• Strong visual judgement and an instinct for what makes an image interesting.
• Good working knowledge of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.
• The ability to work quickly without losing attention to detail.
• A genuine interest in design, photography, film, advertising and visual culture.
• Curiosity and a desire to keep discovering new references, ideas and creative approaches.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• An organised and methodical approach to files, assets and deadlines.
• The confidence to ask questions when something isn't clear.
• The ability to take feedback positively and apply it quickly.
• Reliability and a collaborative approach to working with others.
• Comfort working in an environment where deadlines, priorities and creative direction can sometimes change quickly.
• Full authorisation to work in the UK.

University, personal and self-initiated projects are absolutely welcome. We're interested in the quality of your thinking and creative potential, not simply how many commercial projects you've already worked on.

Useful but not essential

Experience with any of the following would be a bonus:

• Illustrator
• Figma
• After Effects or Premiere Pro
• Keynote or PowerPoint
• Motion design or video editing
• Web or interactive design
• Branding
• AI-assisted image generation
• You absolutely don't need to know everything on this list. Strong design fundamentals, visual taste and the ability to learn matter much more to us.What we offer£26,000–£28,000 salary, depending on experience.
• Hands‑on experience working across international advertising, film and production.
• The opportunity to contribute to major creative projects early in your career.
• Close support, mentoring and feedback from experienced creatives.
• Genuine opportunities to develop your skills and take on greater creative responsibility.
• Annual salary review.
• 28 days' paid annual leave, including UK bank holidays.
• Workplace pension contributions.
• Cultural allowance towards exhibitions, cinema, books, magazines, events or other creative inspiration.
• Cycle-to-work scheme.
• Team lunches, drinks and socials.
• £1,000 loyalty bonus after three years.
• A central Brighton studio close to the sea.

Working at Hollywood

We're a small studio and we work closely together. Our projects often move very quickly, so you'll need to enjoy working at pace, taking feedback and solving creative problems collaboratively. In return, you'll get unusually hands‑on experience early in your career, working on a high volume of exciting, high‑end international projects for some of the world's biggest brands. As part of a small, experienced creative team, you'll work closely with senior designers, receive regular feedback and quickly build your skills, taste and confidence — with opportunities to take on greater creative responsibility and increasingly lead your own projects as you progress. We’ll encourage you to stay creatively curious, with opportunities to explore new tools and disciplines alongside a cultural allowance for inspiration outside the studio. And you'll do it all from our central Brighton studio, close to the sea, as part of a close‑knit team where you'll have a voice and play a genuine part in where Hollywood Secret Service goes next.

Your portfolio matters most.

We're particularly interested in seeing: Ideas. Layout. Visual judgement. Typography. Image selection. Storytelling. We'd rather see a small amount of brilliant work that you're genuinely proud of than a huge portfolio. For collaborative projects, please tell us which elements you personally created. We're not looking for a particular portfolio style. We want to understand how you see, how you think and what excites you creatively. Shortlisted candidates will receive full details of our selection process before being asked to take part.

Inclusion

Hollywood Secret Service is committed to creating an inclusive workplace and welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds. We recruit based on creative ability, potential and suitability for the role. If you require reasonable adjustments during the application or selection process, please let us know.