Visual Communicator

at  DS Smith

About DS Smith
DS Smith are a leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services in more than 30 different countries. It’s a very exciting time to join, as we have committed to investing in our future across our strategic growth enablers within Innovation (R&D), Sustainability and Digital & Data.
About the role
The role of Visualiser/Creative sits within the Group Innovation team, reporting into the Ideation & Solutions Specialist. This team was established in 2019 with the mandate to initiate and support the deployment of innovation projects and programmes that can deliver breakthrough value to customers and the company.
The main responsibility of this role will be creating the visual communication of the team’s ideas, concepts, processes and final solutions. These will be in various formats from high-quality sketches, to photo-realistic renders, packaging artwork, story-boards, animations, powerpoint presentations, process diagrams, user interfaces etc. The world (the group innovation world anyway) is your oyster!
Therefore, as the ideal candidate will need to possess a wide repertoire of visual communication tools and skills, but also be able to use your intuition and creative license to identify the suitable medium to convey ideas based on the project requirements and brief given.

Some of the key responsibilities and attributes of the role below

• Story telling – able to visually convey complex processes or details in a story-board format, or whatever style is appropriate to the audience
• Concept Renders – High quality visual representations of concepts / systems / machinery as final solutions, as well as conveying the evolution of those concepts throughout the development process
• Animations – to help convey complex processes, pieces of equipment or the functions of prototypes (currently the team uses Cinema 4D for this)
• Artwork – proficient in the Adobe Creative suite, able to create artwork for print, to apply to 3D models for rendering, create graphics and visuals for PowerPoint presentation material
• UX interfaces – able to create visual representations of platform interfaces in order to convey potential features / layouts
• CAD Design - creation of drawings and 3D models of packing concepts using ARTIOS CAD (training can be provided)
• Participating in creative workshops - contributing to the ideation pipeline as well as helping to form and develop solutions, before then taking on the responsibility of visually communicating them to the rest of the team and the wider business.

This role can be hybrid but ideally the candidate would be based within easy commuting distance of the Group Innovation Centre in Redditch Birmingham, in order to participate in frequent ideation and briefing sessions and to use prototyping equipment if required.

About you (don’t worry we are not expecting you to have all of below!)

• Displays a passion for Creative Design
• Excelling hand-rendering / sketching skills
• Has great attention to detail, takes a lot of care in their work
• Highly proficient in Adobe creative suite, specifically Illustrator, Photoshop and After Affects
• Independently able to use own initiative and creative license in their interpretation of briefs given without the need to be directed at every stage of development
• Sound knowledge and experience of Microsoft applications, PowerPoint, Word & Excel
• Experience of 3d modelling and rendering software (ideally Cinema 4D)
• Basic CAD knowledge (ideally Artios CAD but not essential)
• Self driven - thrives in an autonomous environment
• Degree qualification in Creative arts, Product design, Illustration, Graphic Design or similar.
• Able to share a portfolio of work to demonstrate skillset and examples of projects worked on previously
• Ability to deliver in a fast-paced creative environment
• Takes guidance, directions, and feedback well

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Company bonus
• Pension scheme
• Life assurance
• Income protection
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Electric / cycle to work schemes

• Story telling – able to visually convey complex processes or details in a story-board format, or whatever style is appropriate to the audience
• Concept Renders – High quality visual representations of concepts / systems / machinery as final solutions, as well as conveying the evolution of those concepts throughout the development process
• Animations – to help convey complex processes, pieces of equipment or the functions of prototypes (currently the team uses Cinema 4D for this)
• Artwork – proficient in the Adobe Creative suite, able to create artwork for print, to apply to 3D models for rendering, create graphics and visuals for PowerPoint presentation material
• UX interfaces – able to create visual representations of platform interfaces in order to convey potential features / layouts
• CAD Design - creation of drawings and 3D models of packing concepts using ARTIOS CAD (training can be provided)
• Participating in creative workshops - contributing to the ideation pipeline as well as helping to form and develop solutions, before then taking on the responsibility of visually communicating them to the rest of the team and the wider business