Freelance Design Director

Complex; New York (NY); On-site; USD 125,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Complex is seeking a freelance Design Director to elevate the Branded Art and Design team. You will lead concepting, art direction, and execution across digital, print, and experiential campaigns, shaping visuals from ideation to finished products.

You will mentor designers, collaborate with cross-functional partners, and ensure brand integrity across all channels for ComplexCon and other major campaigns.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6-8 years of graphic design experience and art direction within the last 3-4 years at an agency, media publisher, or in-house brand.
• Fluent knowledge of current design trends across digital, print, experiential, and product.
• Strong understanding of pop culture, fashion, music, events and streetwear movements.

Responsibilities

• Craft thoughtful executions from forward-thinking video, photo, and social campaigns to immersive events.
• Lead and mentor design teams, guiding internal and external designers towards high-quality visuals.
• Translate brand guidelines into iconic visuals across digital and physical media.
• Present concepts to senior leaders and clients, securing buy-in and direction.
• Collaborate with product, experiential, and account teams to deliver end-to-end campaigns.
• Ensure on-brand tone, timing, and quality across all deliverables.

Skills

Graphic design

Art direction

Brand storytelling

Time management

Communication

Collaboration

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite

Photoshop

Illustrator

After Effects

Figma

SketchUp

ReadyMag

Google Slides

3D rendering

Job description

Company And Culture

Complex is the definitive platform for global youth culture and music lifestyle, seamlessly integrating cutting-edge content, commerce and live experiences with unparalleled scale. Through innovative content, Complex tells stories of music, streetwear and style, sports, art and beyond. Its content engages in a dynamic conversation with the audience, reflecting and shaping the zeitgeist of convergence culture. A powerful media juggernaut paired with a curated marketplace, Complex is redefining the way fans interact with their favorite brands and artists and reshaping the future of digital culture and commerce.

Why We're Hiring

Our team is growing and looking for a freelance Design Director to raise the bar within the Complex Brand Partnerships team. You’ll work within the Branded Art and Design team cross functionally with branded content (editorial and video), account management, product and experiential to ideate and execute deliverables. We offer a full range of products—from digital content to live events—to our clients and need someone with a strong technical skillset and ability to work from concept ideation to finished execution bringing a wide range of deliverables to life. We’re seeking a well rounded utility player with a multi-disciplinary approach and deep expertise within innovative graphic design, social design, display media, printed collateral, merch and experiential concepting. This role is ideal for a creative visionary who understands how to transform cultural insights and partner brand guidelines into iconic visual expressions across mediums—from digital to physical. This individual is self-motivated, highly collaborative, and relentlessly curious, consistently sparking new ideas, pushing boundaries, and elevating design and creative across a range of platforms.

What You'll Do

You’ll work cross-functionally with the Branded Production and Publishing teams, Experiential Producers, Product, Web Development and Account Managers to craft thoughtful executions from forward-thinking video, photo, and social campaigns to immersive events.

You’ll report into design and branded content leadership elevating content on a variety of platforms and you’re adept at being a player-coach who can both do the work and guide partnering designers towards better visual outputs.

You’ll demonstrate an ability to listen and receive internal and external creative feedback with a high level of urgency, professionalism, and attention to detail. You’ll consistently create engaging designs with a strong focus on Art Direction. An ability to composite in 2D is a must and a background in 3D rendering is a major plus.

You can execute within design and production workstreams in a fast paced environment and you have a strong understanding of the Complex brand, the different IP within our world, and how to maintain our tone of voice in branded work.

The Specifics

• Mentor and Lead: Concept and pitch work to internal and external teams. Work with designers bringing concepts and campaign objectives to life
• Collaborate: Working with design leaders, account managers, experiential and product to create a visual roadmap for a variety of deliverables
• Executing projects: Taking projects from concept to launch, creating within existing workflow systems while marrying brand guidelines and the Complex visual ID
• Presenting: You’ll pitch and sell your work in to senior leadership and brand clients as necessary
• Display and Social Design: Ability to translate larger campaign initiatives and creative into display and social deliverables
• Experiential and Event Design: Work with design leadership on conceptualizing and executing physical brand experiences—from bespoke pop-up activations to large-scale experiences like ComplexCon
• Apparel: Design of limited-edition merch drops, and collabs bringing fashion sensibility to product storytelling
• Researching: Conducting research to identify problems and validate designs
• Expert in latest Mac software: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects), Google Slides, Figma, ReadyMag, SketchUp or other experiential 3D render software
• Impressive, wide-ranging portfolio (brand, print, event, editorial and product is a plus)
• Working knowledge of current AI render platforms

Who You Are

• Minimum 6-8 years of graphic design experience and art direction experience within the last 3-4 years at an agency, culturally-adjacent media publisher, or in-house brand
• Passion for forward-thinking design across digital, print, experiential, and product
• Voracious consumer of pop culture and working knowledge of trends in music, events, streetwear, and fashion at large
• Well-organized, with strict attention to detail and a proactive approach to problem solving
• Excellent communication skills: written, verbal, interpersonal
• Able to support design decisions using industry insight, best practices, and tried and true execution approaches
• Obsess about the details and push the creative until its reached the best execution
• Highly responsible, self-motivated, and able to thrive in an energetic, fast-paced, high growth, entrepreneurial environment
• Must have strong time management skills and the ability to pivot from project to project juggling multiple at a time
• Passion for materials within tangible design for apparel, packaging, print, and experiential builds

$125,000 - $138,000 a year

The Pay Range, which consists of salary and commission, for this position is listed. Actual pay will vary based on factors including, but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Complex Total Rewards offerings for employees.

We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of the job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some incumbents assigned to the job to perform a different combination of duties.

Complexparticipates in E-Verify and willprovide the federal government with yourForm I-9 information to confirm that you areauthorized to work in the U.S.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for visa sponsorship.