YVRG Seeking a Website and Graphic Designer

Website and Graphic Designer: Position Summary

Youth Voices Research Group is seeking a resourceful, hard-working and innovative individual who understands our mission and recognizes the critical, supporting role of graphic (primarily web) design in promoting our vision and projects to both professional and lay audiences. The designer will be asked to re-imagine the Youth Voices Research Group brand identity, which involves transforming the current brand appearance -- Youth Voices logo, website www.youthvoices.ca, business cards and supporting promotional materials -- into a cohesive and inspiring look and feel to project to the public, academics, funders and potential clients. Priority will be placed on immediate logo and website redesign, with an expectation that the new brand will extend into all Youth Voices communications and platforms including email, Twitter and Facebook. The designer will work with Youth Voices team members to craft a vision for the new identity.

About Youth Voices Research Group
The Youth Voices Research Group (YVRG) is a self-supported research and social innovation unit affiliated with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. We focus on creating accessible, responsive, and health promoting systems for youth and young adults. Our research team combines nearly 15 years of experience working in youth engagement with leading-edge action research and systems-informed methods to enable young people to have a greater voice and opportunities to lead social change efforts for a healthier society. This approach relies on the use of social media technologies to connect, illuminate, and communicate ideas and people across geographic, social, educational and cultural boundaries to establish effective collaborative partnerships for health. The YVRG has more than 16 years experience working with youth and youth-serving communities as instigators of community-based research projects and generators of knowledge on health promotion.

Work Experience and Competencies
• Web designer with knowledge of CSS
• Proficient in graphic design for various online platforms (e.g., Wordpress, Drupal)
• A strong understanding of how these platforms function and the ability to set them up for the client’s use
• Experience designing for the web from start to finish: From concept development to application of the final graphic designs and hand off to client.
• Experience working collaboratively in teams and alongside clients on website and graphic design
• Understanding and interest in crafting an end-to-end brand strategy for a client with established roots in the community and seeking to move into new territory.

Additional skills desired
• Work or volunteer experience in the field of public health
• Freehand illustration skills (e.g., comics, cartoons, people, objects, icons)

Compensation
The successful candidate will receive an honorarium for their work. This position is open to both students and seasoned designers interested in building their portfolio and developing a brand identity that will be utilized by YVRG immediately. Opportunities for engagement on future projects and brands associated with the YVRG and affiliated projects may emerge from this original call and the successful candidate will be considered for future projects upon performance.

To Apply
Interested candidates should send a brief cover email and design portfolio to Andrea Yip at andrea.yip @ utoronto.ca