Deputy Art Director

Rupa Publications India; New Delhi; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Rupa Publications India is seeking an Art Director to lead the visual identity across our titles, overseeing cover design, interior layouts, illustration, typography and branding. You will collaborate with editors, authors and marketing teams to ensure each book is visually distinctive and reader-focused.

The role emphasizes blending traditional design expertise with AI-assisted tools, advancing concepts quickly while maintaining high artistic standards.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10–15 years of professional design experience, with senior leadership exposure.
• Strong portfolio in book cover and interior design, typography and visual storytelling.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and willingness to adopt AI-assisted tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead and evolve cover and interior designs from concept to final print production.
• Set the visual direction for the publishing list and maintain a strong brand identity.
• Collaborate with editors, marketing, sales and production to translate content into visuals.
• Manage and mentor the design team, providing clear direction and feedback.
• Oversee collaborations with external designers and ensure production standards.

Skills

Creative leadership

Art direction

Visual storytelling

Typography

Editorial collaboration

Tools

Adobe InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

AI tools

Job description

We’re looking for a visionary and experienced Art Director to lead and evolve the visual identity of our publications- someone with a strong design sensibility, an instinct for books, and the ability to translate ideas into bold, beautiful and memorable visual experiences.

As Art Director, you will shape the aesthetics of our titles across cover design, interior layouts, illustration, typography, visual storytelling and branding. You will work closely with editors, authors, marketing, sales and production teams to ensure that every book not only reads beautifully, but looks distinctive and unforgettable.

We are particularly interested in a creative leader who is excited by the changing possibilities of design- someone who combines traditional design expertise and human creative judgement with new digital and AI-assisted tools. We see technology not as a substitute for creativity, but as a way of extending it: enabling designers to explore more ideas, experiment more freely, develop concepts faster and devote greater attention to the creative decisions that ultimately make exceptional design.

This is a full-time position based in our New Delhi office.

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, develop and oversee cover and interior designs from the earliest creative idea through final print production.
• Lead the overall visual direction and design strategy for the publishing list, ensuring that individual titles are distinctive while contributing to a strong and recognizable publishing identity.
• Collaborate closely with editorial, marketing, sales and production teams to translate the content, positioning and intended readership of each book into compelling visual communication.
• Maintain, strengthen and continually evolve the visual identity of the publishing brand across books, digital platforms, marketing campaigns and promotional materials.
• Lead and mentor the design team, encouraging experimentation, curiosity and strong creative judgement while providing clear creative direction and constructive feedback.
• Commission and art-direct illustrators, photographers, typographers, designers and other creative professionals as required.
• Review and approve design concepts, artwork, typography, layouts, colour treatments and final production files, maintaining consistently high aesthetic and production standards.
• Explore multiple creative directions during the conceptual stage, using sketching, reference research, moodboards, visual experimentation and contemporary digital and AI-assisted tools wherever they can broaden creative possibilities.
• Encourage the intelligent use of emerging technologies to accelerate routine processes, generate and test visual possibilities, strengthen presentations and allow the design team to spend more time on higher-value creative thinking and refinement.
• Develop workflows in which human imagination, aesthetic judgement and publishing experience remain central, while technology supports research, experimentation, visualization and execution.
• Identify emerging design trends, publishing aesthetics, technologies and creative practices, and evaluate how they can be meaningfully incorporated into the company's design processes.
• Encourage the design team to continually expand its creative toolkit and experiment with new ways of working, while ensuring that technology serves the creative idea rather than determining it.
• Exercise strong editorial and artistic judgement when working with AI-assisted or generated material, with particular attention to originality, copyright, licensing, intellectual property and publishing standards.
• Work with external designers and creative agencies when required and ensure that their work meets the company's creative and production standards.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while ensuring that timelines, budgets and production deadlines are met.

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum 10-15 years of professional experience in graphic design, with at least 7 years in a senior design, creative leadership or Art Direction role, preferably within publishing.
• Strong experience in book cover design, interior book design, typography, illustration and visual storytelling.
• Proven ability to take creative projects from an initial idea or manuscript through concept development, design, refinement and final print production.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional book design, visual communication, creative direction, originality and design thinking.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, particularly InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, along with confidence in adopting new creative technologies and platforms.
• Strong understanding of printing processes, colour management, typography, paper, finishing and production requirements.
• Experience managing, mentoring and directing designers and external creative professionals.
• A strong curiosity about the future of design and an ability to combine established design practices with emerging digital and AI-assisted creative tools.
• Comfort using contemporary tools for research, ideation, visual exploration, moodboarding, image development, presentation and concept refinement. Familiarity with platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Canva and evolving image-generation and design technologies would be valuable.
• Ability to distinguish between merely generating visual options and exercising genuine creative judgement—the latter being essential to the role.
• An experimental mindset: willingness to test new tools, workflows and approaches and determine where they genuinely improve creativity, efficiency and quality.
• Sound understanding of originality, copyright, licensing and intellectual-property considerations in both traditional and AI-assisted creative work.

Above all, we are looking for a designer with a distinctive eye and a strong point of view—someone who understands that technology can generate possibilities, but that great art direction still depends on imagination, taste, judgement, cultural understanding and the ability to recognize the right idea.