Brand & Digital Designer - Freelance

Masterstart; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 446,000 - 781,000; Full time

Job summary

MasterStart seeks a Freelance Brand & Digital Designer to support brand delivery across digital, print, campaigns and web. You’ll translate briefs into professional design while upholding established visual systems.

Initially, work under our Senior Freelance Designer and Brand Manager, gradually taking more ownership of projects and contributing to campaign concepts and brand evolution.

Qualifications

• Approximately five or more years of professional design experience.

Responsibilities

• Apply MasterStart brands consistently across all design work.

Skills

Brand design

Digital design

Presentation design

Design systems

Production & QA

Team collaboration

Typography & layout

Campaign concepts

Tools

Figma

Job description

The engagement will operate on a freelance / retainer basis, with the required availability, capacity and working arrangements to be agreed.

Role Overview

The Freelance Brand & Digital Designer will support the ongoing delivery, application and development of the MasterStart and MasterStart Institute brands, creating high-quality, engaging and commercially effective creative across digital, print, presentations, campaigns and web.

The role will work across a broad range of creative requirements, translating marketing and business briefs into professionally executed design while ensuring consistency across MasterStart's established visual systems and brand identities.

Initially, the designer will focus on learning and applying MasterStart's established visual systems under the creative guidance of our existing Senior Freelance Designer. As familiarity with the brands, business and creative environment develops, the successful candidate will progressively take greater ownership of projects and contribute more actively to creative concepts, campaign development and the continued evolution of the brands.

Day-to-day creative direction and initial quality review will be provided by MasterStart's existing Senior Freelance Designer, while overall priorities, briefs and final approvals will be managed by the Brand Manager. The designer will collaborate closely with the Senior Designer, Marketing Team and other internal stakeholders as required.

This is a role requiring the ability to balance creative thinking with brand consistency and commercial practicality, moving confidently between conceptual creative work and detailed production while delivering consistently high-quality work across multiple projects, audiences and channels.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

The responsibilities outlined below are indicative of the role and may evolve in accordance with business needs.

Brand Application & Creative Development

• Apply the MasterStart and MasterStart Institute brands consistently across all design work;
• Translate marketing and business briefs into clear, engaging and professionally executed creative;
• Work confidently within established brand systems while contributing thoughtful creative recommendations;
• Develop campaign concepts and scalable visual systems that can be applied consistently across multiple channels;
• Maintain a high standard of typography, layout, visual hierarchy and attention to detail;
• Exercise sound creative judgement regarding when to follow an established visual system and when to recommend an improved creative solution;
• Respect and build upon the creative work and brand foundations already established within the business; and
• Support the continued development and documentation of the brands' visual language.

Digital Design

• Design creative assets across social media, paid media and other digital campaigns;
• Create email banners, campaign headers and supporting digital artwork;
• Design landing pages, website sections and other digital experiences;
• Adapt designs appropriately for different platforms, audiences, formats and screen sizes;
• Support basic page-building and content updates using existing drag-and-drop tools or page builders;
• Apply basic responsive web-design principles to digital creative;
• Prepare appropriately sized and optimised assets for web and digital use; and
• Support the creation of editable digital templates where required.

Presentation Design

• Design and format internal, client-facing and event presentations;
• Translate complex information into clear, engaging and compelling visual stories;
• Develop slide layouts, diagrams, infographics and reusable presentation systems;
• Work confidently within MasterStart, MasterStart Institute, client and partner-branded presentation templates;
• Maintain strong visual consistency across large or complex presentation decks; and
• Prepare polished presentations that can be handed over for internal use or further refinement.
• Develop visual assets for integrated campaigns across email, social media, web, paid media and sales enablement;
• Design course and programme brochures, learner recruitment materials, reports, guides, infographics and one-pagers;
• Create event materials, posters, pull-up banners, certificates, graduation materials and other print collateral;
• Develop client- and partner-specific campaign assets;
• Produce visual concepts and mock-ups to help stakeholders understand and evaluate proposed creative directions;
• Manage campaign adaptations, resizing and versioning across different formats and channels;
• Undertake basic image retouching and artwork preparation where required; and
• Ensure creative work supports the intended marketing, learner, client or commercial objective.

Partner & Co-Branded Work

• Apply partner and client branding accurately alongside the MasterStart and MasterStart Institute brands;
• Work effectively across a range of corporate identities without compromising visual consistency or clarity;
• Interpret and accurately apply third-party brand guidelines;
• Develop co-branded client, partner and campaign assets;
• Prepare adaptable collateral for enterprise clients and learning partners; and
• Ensure appropriate brand hierarchy and representation across co-branded creative.

Design Systems & File Management

• Work confidently within established Figma libraries, components and templates;
• Maintain organised, editable and clearly labelled design and source files;
• Build reusable components, templates and design assets where appropriate;
• Maintain consistency across recurring creative assets and campaign materials;
• Support the ongoing organisation and maintenance of design libraries and creative resources; and
• Ensure appropriate source files are available for future adaptation and internal use.

Production & Quality Assurance

• Prepare artwork correctly for digital and print production;
• Check dimensions, resolution, colour profiles, bleed and export settings before final submission;
• Proof designs carefully and maintain a consistently high standard of quality;
• Ensure creative accurately reflects approved briefs, content and brand requirements;
• Respond constructively to creative feedback and manage revisions efficiently;
• Deliver work within agreed timelines and communicate proactively where deadlines or capacity may be affected; and
• Take ownership of the quality and completeness of creative work before final submission.

Requirements

• Approximately five or more years of professional design experience, or a portfolio demonstrating an equivalent level of capability;
• Strong experience across brand, marketing and digital design;
• Demonstrated experience working with established brand guidelines and design systems;
• Experience developing creative for both business and consumer audiences;
• Experience designing across digital, web and print environments;
• Experience producing professional digital and print-ready artwork;
• A strong portfolio demonstrating excellent typography, layout, visual hierarchy, attention to detail and conceptual thinking;
• Experience operating in a fast-moving environment across multiple projects, priorities and stakeholders;

Brand & Digital Designer - Freelance Cape Town, WC, za