Art Director - PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL INC

Perry Ellis International, Inc. represents a diverse portfolio of lifestyle apparel brands. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries owns and licenses nationally and internationally recognized brands including: Perry Ellis®, Original Penguin® by Munsingwear®, Laundry by Shelli Segal®, Rafaella®, Cubavera®, Ben Hogan®, Savane®, Grand Slam®, John Henry®, Manhattan®, Axist®,  and Farah®. The Company enhances its roster of brands by licensing trademarks from third parties, including: Nike®  for swimwear, and Callaway®, PGA TOUR®, and Jack Nicklaus® for golf apparel.

The Perry Ellis International NYC based Art Director plays a critical role in driving the messaging of the brands managed out of our New York City offices, specifically Perry Ellis, Perry Ellis America, Original Penguin by Munsingwear, Savane, Gotcha and Axist, and what they stand for across all consumer and trade touchpoints.  

This role is responsible for design, development and execution of a wide range of creative projects for the brands, ranging from brand identity work to product marketing & packaging, advertising, photography, video, sales collateral, social media, in store visual merchandising, ecommerce, digital advertising, presentation material, and more. This person will partner across teams from Brand Marketing, Creative, Licensing, Sales, Direct to Consumer, and Product Design and Merchandising.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Under the direction of the SVP of marketing & communications, develop brand and campaign concepts (seasonal and supplementary photoshoots).  Partner in the development of concepts for major brand initiatives. 
• Design, develop and execute innovative design solutions for marketing/branding materials.
• Lead the development of product marketing & packaging elements to effectively communicate brand positioning and product features and benefits.
• Concept and plan asset development proactively to ensure that we capture imagery and video to support key messages and delivery mechanisms (advertising, social, video, signage, etc.).
• Create assets that support ongoing messaging priorities for the brand (new product launches, holidays, partnerships/events and more).
• Partner with external partners  to extend brand campaign creative concepts across all platforms, creating new interpretations to fit messaging needs.
• As a part of the marketing group, responsible for partnering with Licensing, DTC/Ecomm, Sales, Merchandisers and Designers to develop appropriate creative strategies and concepts. 
• Create brand specific electronic and printed materials for catalogs, sales meeting graphics, websites, newsletters, trim packages and other departmental materials as needed.
• Collaborate with copywriters, photographers, production, other designers and marketing managers to ensure projects are produced to meet standards for quality and accuracy.
• Coordinate and lead the work of junior and entry level graphic designers
• Stay abreast of developments in creative and graphic design fields to promote creativity and share with team members
• Think creatively to produce new ideas and innovate to meet constraints of cost, time and marketing or sales needs

SKILLS

• Strong design aesthetic and good understanding of photoshoot operation, photography image manipulation, website design, digital media, video editing, typography, packaging design, and page layout
• Robust understanding of brand positioning and communication
• Ability to communicate ideas both verbally and in writing
• Able to handle a number of projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities
• Responsible for following the workload calendar, and delivering work on time.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with others
• Willing to learn, excited by new challenges

REQUIREMENTS:

• BA/BS/BFA in Graphic Design 
• Minimum  8+ years experience in graphic design & art direction with impressive portfolio
• Proficient and well-versed on Photoshop, InDesign and Adobe Illustrator/Adobe CS
• Experience working with Video editing software such as Adobe Premier, Final Cut and After Effects 
• Experience managing others and/or a creative team
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Ability to prioritize, multi-task and meet concurrent deadlines in a fast-paced environment