Senior Studio Art Director

We’re the feel-good fashion brand making style accessible and fun for over 55 years, on our website, mobile app and over 300 stores in the UK.

By living our values - we play to win, customer obsessed, we are one and it starts with me - we deliver That New Look Feeling for our customers and each other.

Job Purpose

The Senior Art Director works closely with the Senior Styling Manager and the Creative & Design team to translate all New Look product into e-commerce product shoots while upholding and enhancing the New Look brand.

You will understand and support the vision of the Creative Director to ensure one creative vision across all New Look touch points. You will work closely with the Senior Styling Manager to evolve the art direction of the product pages each season in line with the look and feel of that season’s creative.

You will be an “easy to approach” outstanding people manager with the ability to motivate a team to do their very best for New Look. You will develop and maintain superb relationships with key stakeholders across New Look. You will enjoy working collaboratively with all members of the studio team as well as the NL creative and design teams. You are an excellent communicator at all levels.

The Senior Art Director will be on set daily (5 days per week) working with different teams across the week to enable all team members to understand the creative vision, develop their individual skills, and be able to produce imagery of a similar level in every studio.

Accountabilities & Responsibilities

1. Working closely with the Senior Styling Manager, you will be responsible for producing best-in-class product imagery that showcases all New Look products in the best way possible.
2. Art Direct daily e-com shoots across product categories including womenswear, menswear, and 915. This includes model and still life shoots. You will AD on shoots with different teams each day to ensure that all teams can produce a consistently high standard in every studio.
3. You will be responsible for ensuring consistent Art Direction across all daily e-com shoots and providing regular feedback where this has not been achieved, as well as acknowledging where people have done a great job.
4. You are responsible for ensuring that the daily target is met on your shoot (35 products per day for BAU / 20+ for focus shoots).
5. You will be responsible for the final image selections on your shoot – always ensuring that the product is shown in the best way possible for maximum conversion to sales.
6. You will work closely with the Photography Managers and the Senior Styling Manager to develop the Art Direction for the New Look product pages – this includes seasonal lighting refreshes for BAU e-com as well as lighting and background proposals for mini trends or special projects/categories.
7. Working closely with the Photography Managers, you will be responsible for producing a guide on best crops/poses for each product category. (This guide will also include crops and poses to avoid using.)
8. Responsible for concepting season lighting and art direction, collaborating with the Photography Managers and Senior Styling Manager.
9. You will clearly communicate creative direction at the beginning of each season using visual mood boards, references, and Art Direction Guides.
10. You are responsible for ensuring that all Art Direction/lighting/backgrounds/props have been approved in advance with the Creative Director.
11. Responsible for HMU direction for all models, working closely with the Senior Casting Manager and Senior Styling Manager.
12. You will work with the Senior Styling Manager, creative and design to create 4-5 personas that represent the wide range of NL customers and products and design the Art Direction to support each of these personas.
13. Work closely with the production team to build the roster of great freelancers including photographers, stylists, hair, and make-up artists.
14. Work with the Head of Studio to develop strategies to support the increasing requirement for additional creative assets from e-com product imagery.
15. You and the Senior Styling Manager (SSM) will attend all the Season Design presentations and work together to agree how you can best translate the presentation on the e-com product pages in a way that is in line with the in-store experience.
16. You will Art Direct special projects including Trend Launches, POS, and some store windows.
17. Ad Hoc projects for New Look as and when required.
18. Miscellaneous Senior Manager responsibilities including presenting at Department Meetings and mentoring junior team members.

Technical Knowledge & Experience

1. Experienced at Art Direction with a minimum of 5 years experience of working in an e-commerce studio for a fashion brand.
2. You will be calm under pressure, have a positive, “can do” attitude that thrives in a fast-paced environment.
3. Have a strong understanding of who the New Look customer is and be constantly customer-focused in all your decision making.
4. Passionate about fashion and the New Look brand.
5. Outstanding communication skills and experience at communicating at all levels from assistant to Director level. (This role will require you to be able to do this!)
6. Great people management skills with a desire to develop and mentor more junior members of the team.
7. Good at giving and receiving feedback.
8. Good understanding of studio lighting.
9. Experience of working with Capture and Photoshop.

Measures / Key Performance Indicators

1. Art Direction guide for each product category, updated as and when required.
2. Seasonal creative direction aligned to Brand creative direction.
3. All product imagery has a premium aesthetic, contributing to sales performance.
4. HMU direction aligned with Brand creative and high standard maintained across shoots.
5. Consistent high standard of imagery from all studios.
6. Retention of team above NL average rate.

Key Relationships

1. External Art Directors as required.

Why New Look?

We care about you and the planet and believe fashion should be a force for positive change. We celebrate inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We’re proud of our inclusive culture and our talented team members who embrace our shared purpose, behaviours, and values.

We prioritise development, offering training to support your progression, so you can be your absolute best and achieve your goals.

We pride ourselves on being a flexible employer; our colleagues work a range of patterns. If you have a specific pattern in mind, we're keen to discuss this with you in line with the output needed for the role.

Please ensure that your CV is in a simple format e.g. Microsoft Word when applying using your CV to ensure smooth application process.

• Job Family AMK308 - Photography/Videography