Senior Designer

Job description

As a member of the design team at Exit, the Senior Designer plays a crucial role in leading the creative process for wayfinding and environmental graphic design projects. This position exists to develop and implement innovative, high-quality design solutions that enhance navigation, branding, and user experience in the built environment, including both 2D and 3D design solutions. The Senior Designer reports to the Experiential Design Director and works under the joint leadership of the Creative Director. As a senior member of the design pod, this role collaborates with a multidisciplinary team, including other designers, planners, strategists, and project managers at various levels of experience. They provide visual direction and expert design solutions that align with client goals.

As a senior member of the design team, we’re looking for a strong collaborator who instills confidence and builds strong relationships with teammates and clients, is detail-oriented, and is a clear communicator. This person should have strong ideation skills, be a critical thinker, and demonstrate strategic design thinking. The Senior Designer should have experience in EGD and be self-directed with the ability to operate without explicit instruction, balance multiple projects, and prioritize tasks. This role is a full-time, hybrid position that requires the candidate to work out of our Philadelphia office three days a week, with some travel to project sites for meetings, walking a project site, and production coordination.

What You’ll Accomplish —Lead the design from conceptualization through final production, ensuring adherence to the creative brief and project realities, with the goal of exceeding client expectations —Actively contribute innovative, forward-thinking ideas during brainstorming and creative meetings to continuously push the studio’s creative boundaries. —Iterate studies to evaluate design with the functional needs of the system. Collaborate on detailed studies and sketches as ideas evolve. —Develop the design to ensure alignment with the project’s wayfinding methodology and signage programming. —Deliver visualizations that effectively communicate the project concepts through hand sketching, photo rendering, and 3D modeling. —Create design intent documentation with fabrication and installation specifications. —Lead and participate in internal design sessions and critiques. —Present and clearly articulate design concepts and rationale to clients and internal stakeholders, demonstrating how the visual strategy aligns with project objectives, and collaborate with all project partners through reviews and work sessions. —Demonstrate studio and team leadership by establishing and upholding high creative standards, actively mentoring junior designers, and contributing to the refinement of internal design processes to elevate overall team quality and growth.

Who Should Apply —EGD Experience: You have experience in experiential graphic design with a proven passion for communications in the built environment. You are interested in working in the built environment and conceptualizing and ideating 3D and 2D solutions. You have experience conceptualizing and building design systems, specifically signage systems. —Design & Ideation: You are a strong conceptual thinker who can ideate and iterate through concepts based on a design brief, and you are skilled at leading a team through the design process. Your ideas get built. —Detail-Obsessed: You demonstrate a refined aesthetic for detailing, a deep appreciation for elegant design, an understanding of grids and proportions, and are a systems thinker. You are excited to work within the Exit process and amplify our expertise in wayfinding and environmental graphics. —Agile Teammate: You are highly detail-oriented, self-motivated, and maintain a strong work ethic. You thrive on managing a concurrent workload of multiple projects, prioritizing tasks efficiently, and consistently meeting deadlines. You are always seeking opportunities to better our practice and process as we evolve —Dependable Communicator: You use excellent written and verbal communication skills to develop trusting relationships with clients, partners, and colleagues. —Technical Proficiency: You are proficient in Google Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, and SketchUp. Figma, Revit, and BIM knowledge is a plus.