Graphic Designer

Handbuilt is the graphic design studio of NAC, an architectural firm specializing in design for education, healthcare, and other civic projects. NAC is a national firm with over 230 employees working in offices in Seattle, Spokane, Los Angeles, and Columbus. Handbuilt provides graphic design services within NAC and pursues its own educational, civic, cultural, and artistic projects. We collaborate with space-makers, educators, designers, and artists to enrich educational, civic, and cultural experiences.

Applicants should have entry-level to 5 years of experience with an academic background in graphic design. Professional experience in graphic design preferred.

Job Description

The hired designer will be part of a small team of graphic designers responsible for a diverse range of projects serving the practices of NAC and Handbuilt. Design areas include environmental, print, motion, screen-based, branding, and marketing.

Key Responsibilities

Collaborating

• Collaborating closely with graphic designers, architects, and project teams to enrich architectural concepts, spatial experiences for users, promote our projects, and contribute meaningfully to the development of the office.
• Ability to receive feedback and efficiently iterate.
• Ability to report progress throughout all phases of a project.

Creating Sophisticated Motion, Graphic, and Environmental Designs

• Translating architectural ideas and research into storytelling assets for presentations, marketing materials, award submittals, and community outreach.
• Creating sophisticated typographic systems across print, digital, and environmental applications. 
• Planning, designing, and refining motion graphics and animated content for digital and environmental design. Applications may include presentations, marketing materials, award submittals, community outreach, project promotion, social media, web-based environments, and exhibitions.

Managing Workflow

• For each project, developing distinct visual concepts and communicating their intent, value, and strategic alignment to the team through mockups, pitch materials, and presentation decks.      
• Analyzing projects’ scopes and translating them into manageable steps.
• Working across multiple projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines and maintaining high design quality.

Elevating the Office’s Design Culture

• Contributing to the development of the NAC and Handbuilt brands, visual identities, and graphic standards across projects.
• Staying current with design, typography, and motion trends to continuously elevate the studio’s creative output.
• Maintaining a form-making practice that enriches the visual style and culture of the studio.
• Maintaining visual precision and consistency across all deliverables.
• Preparing final artwork and motion assets for production and digital distribution across our offices.

Skills and Competencies

· Strong technical skills in Microsoft and Adobe suites, especially in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects

Application Process

Interested designers must provide:

· A letter of interest describing what resonates for them in our practice

· A résumé

· A portfolio of work samples demonstrating their design process, ability to iterate, motion and animation skills, typographic finesse, and presentation + organization skills.

Position Details

This is a full-time, in-person position. While Handbuilt is currently located in our Los Angeles office, Candidates may be based in our Los Angeles, Spokane, Seattle, or Columbus offices. Please indicate your preferred office location when applying.