Art Director

Job Description

Noggin is a leading learning service for families with preschoolers. We deliver streaming and interactive learning content that helps young kids develop skills, knowledge and passions through play with the characters they love. We also help parents help their kids thrive. A direct-to-consumer offering available on 10+ platforms, Noggin reaches families in the domestic market through standalone mobile apps, connected TV apps, and add-on channels. We are forming a team of highly motivated individuals who are eager to work in a start-up-like environment within a large media company. We need innovators and self-starters who are passionate about playful learning and comfortable working in a fast-paced, creative-led organization.
Overview:

The Art Director will be responsible for managing an internal team of visual designers crafting original learning content for young children ages 2-6, including streaming video, mobile games, and other interactive experiences. They will oversee designs created by external vendor partners. They will also act as a cross departmental creative leader in the development of art for preschool focused entertainment, educational videos, interactive animations, and visual design in the Noggin App and across platforms.

Responsibilities:
• Collaborate as a creative leader with the Creative Director, CG Director, Producers, and other department directors to craft effective visuals used in educational narratives for the preschool audience of kids 2-6 years old.
• Establish efficient practices for design in productions for both interactive mobile gaming and short form preschool animation and motion graphics.
• Review and approve design work within their team as well as present work-in-progress designs to cross disciplinary teams.
• Conduct critical analysis of Noggin's content design and review with Creative Director, Producers, and teams of designers.
• Communicate effectively with both 3D and 2D animators and understand animation's impact on gaming and interactive production.
• Managing the schedule, budget, and creative output of visual designers' art development & production art used in original animated and interactive content.
• Assigning direct reports to projects and schedules as well as collaborating with external vendors to ensure Noggin's design standards and project deliverables are met.
• Lead all aspects of art hiring, development and resourcing both on internal teams and in partnership with external vendors.
• Coordinate Noggin's content art production in collaboration with team leads so that the work is formatted for various animation production processes.
• Oversee the organization and archiving of the design team's source files on a shared server and cloud-based file sharing system.
• Have enthusiasm for kid's storytelling and early childhood education.
• Attend production check-ins & creative weeklies.
• Define the visual style of Noggin originals through the establishment of new style guides and look development for 3D and 2D animated characters, environments, props, logos, graphic design, key art, tile art, and interactive elements such as navigational buttons, menus, loading screens, and reward systems.
• Formulate concepts and participate in brainstorms based on creative briefs.
• Help translate learning goals into visuals for mobile gaming interactive interfaces used in nonlinear storytelling.

Basic Qualifications:
• Experience working with 3D Animation Directors, CG modeling and Lighting Artists and understand the techniques and production pipelines associated with both short form animation and interactive mobile gaming.
• 4 year degree in computer arts, graphic design, production design, game design or animation production.
• 10+ years working as a design or motion graphics artist on movies, video or mobile games, commercials, promotional content, at a network, brand, studio or agency.
• Program Knowledge: Adobe Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat. Layout, illustration, character design, environmental design, props, gaming menu and system design, along with a great sense of color, composition, graphic design and a knowledge of animation techniques and pipelines.

Additional Qualifications:
• Successful candidates will be organized, detailed, and able to refine work to a high degree of polish, as well as encourage their design reports to do the same.
• Communicate creative concepts through verbal, written, and artistic means.
• Candidates should have a strong eye for composition, color theory, graphic design, environment, prop and character design.
• Understanding of children's media and interest in working in early learning, as well as short form storytelling.
• Ability to work on-site at our NY offices.
• Excellent communication skills and a professional demeanor.
• Be able to adjust and be open to innovation and change.
• Ability to complete tasks on tight deadlines.
• Experience in Designing Production art for animation.
• Ability to give direction and implement feedback from multiple collaborators.
• Ability to mentor junior and mid-level designers and provide feedback on most effective practices.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Strong work ethic and self-motivation!
• Passion for design and animation!

Paramount is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) including disability/vet.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rz60xn-52-15-59-163-42 in your application.