Visual Designer

Bates College; Lewiston (ME); On-site; USD 50,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Holidays

Dependent care subsidy

Free parking

Library & athletic facilities

Job summary

Bates College, located in Lewiston, Maine, seeks a Visual Designer to advance the college’s brand across print and digital channels. The role focuses on creating cohesive visuals for brochures, programs, signage, social media, emails, and web pages.

You will work with editorial, marketing, photography, video, and campus partners to translate complex concepts into engaging designs while maintaining Bates’ editorial style. A strong portfolio and collaboration skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in the arts, graphic design, visual communications, or a related field.
• 2–3 years professional design experience; agency or client-facing preferred.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud apps: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop; After Effects a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design multi-page print layouts and high-impact digital assets.
• Collaborate with editorial, marketing, photo, video, and social teams to convey messages.
• Coordinate with external printers and on-campus printshop for proper bleed, margins, CMYK.
• Manage multiple projects from concept to delivery using Asana; collaborate with Senior Creative Director.
• Translate complex concepts into clear visualizations for colleagues and campus partners.

Skills

InDesign

Illustrator

Photoshop

After Effects

Education

Bachelor’s degree in arts/graphic design/visual communications

Tools

WordPress

HTML

CSS

Job description

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates is internationally recognized asa leading liberal arts college. We are proud to offer a highlypersonalized education that centers on deep and sustainedinteractions among students, faculty, and community. We areengaging the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, andtechnology — that are transforming higher education and the worldinto which our students graduate.

Visual Designer

Position Purpose

The Visual Designer will support college-wide storytelling byproducing creative, fully integrated visual communications fordigital platforms and traditional print media with a goal ofmaintaining and elevating our institutional brand identity. Thisrole offers an excellent opportunity for a designer looking to growtheir skills and experience within a collaborative, fast-pacedhigher education environment.

Job Duties

• Design multi-page print layouts (brochures, event programs,campus signage, and more) and high-impact digital assets (socialmedia graphics, email layouts, and web pages).
• Work alongside our internal team — which includes editorial,marketing, photo, video, and social media — and other campuspartners to brainstorm messages and convey them effectively throughdesign.
• Partner with external printing vendors and the on-campus printshop to ensure high-quality, proper bleed setups, margins, and CMYKcolor profiles.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously from concept to finaldelivery using our project management system, Asana. Coordinateclosely with the Senior Creative Director and design team to managepriorities and deadlines.
• Serve as a creative design resource to BCM colleagues andcampus partners, helping translate complex concepts and data intoclear visualizations.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Bachelor’s degree in the arts, graphic design, visualcommunications, or a related field required.

Experience

• A minimum of 2-3 years’ of professional design experience ispreferred (creative agency experience or a client-facing role is aplus).
• High proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically InDesign(multi-page layouts), Illustrator (vector assets/logos), andPhotoshop (image editing/optimization). Knowledge of After Effectsor digital animation is a strong plus.

Skills and Knowledge

• Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of aculturally and educationally diverse community.
• Possesses a strong baseline understanding of design principlesand knows the technical differences between designing for digitaland print projects.
• Demonstrated ability to work with clients, work independently,and guide projects toward effective design solutions.
• A strong desire to learn new technical tools, acceptconstructive feedback, and adapt to institutional workflows.Ability to pick up on Bates’ editorial style through continuedexposure to requested copy edits (for example, knowing when to use a hyphen, en-dash, or em-dash.)
• Devotion to detail with a meticulous eye for alignment,typography, and catching errors.
• Basic familiarity with ADA/WCAG color contrast and webreadability guidelines.
• Familiarity with WordPress and foundational knowledge ofresponsive design, HTML, CSS, and other web norms to ensuretop-tier user experiences across all devices.
• Clear understanding of resolution requirements (300 DPI vs. 72PPI), color spaces (CMYK vs. RGB, and the Pantone system),technical document setups, and digital file formats (SVG, PNG,WebP), and asset optimization for fast digital loading.

Benefits

Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits(health, dental, 9% retirement contribution with potential for anadditional 3% match, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personaldays, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking,access to library and athletic facilities & more), and asupportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-freeworkplace.

Hiring Range

The hiring range for this position is $50,000to $55,000. Placement within the range depends on experience andother factors.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Bates College is committed to the principle of equal opportunityand providing an educational and work environment free fromdiscrimination. The college prohibits discrimination on the basisof race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexualorientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability,genetic information or veteran status and other legally protectedstatuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in theadministration of its education policies and programs, or in therecruitment of its faculty and staff. Bates College adheres to allapplicable state and federal equal opportunity laws andregulations. All college faculty, staff, students, contractors,visitors, and volunteers are responsible for understanding andcomplying with the Non-Discrimination Policy. Inquiries concerning the college’s policies, compliance withapplicable laws, statutes, and regulations (such as Title VII,Title IX, and ADA/Section 504), and complaints may be directed to Gwen Lexow, Title IX Officer, 207-786-6445 or via email at [e-mail].

About Bates

Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal artscollege, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and aroundthe world.

Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole personthrough creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborativeresidential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence,Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race,religion, or national origin.

Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Batesprepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal forresponsible stewardship of the wider world. Bates engages theforces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology —that are transforming higher education and the world into which ourstudents graduate.

Bates has highly competitive admissions, graduates over 90 percentof its entering students, and more than half of its alumni earngraduate degrees. Bates employs 200 faculty members and 550staff.

The college is proud of deep roots in the Lewiston/Auburncommunity, Maine’s second-largest urban area with a population ofapproximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 133-acre,traditional New England campus in Lewiston, an emerging city withan entrepreneurial climate, a lively arts scene, and a dynamicbusiness community. Bates is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 milesnorth of Boston, and 350 miles north of New York City.