Position: Junior Book Designer

Location: Princeton, NJ

Website: Princeton University Press

Job Description:
Princeton University Press (PUP) seeks a creative, collaborative, and self-driven Junior Book Designer. This is an entry level role and ideally suited for an individual with a strong typographic sense, excellent conceptual design skills, and an avid interest in books and ideas. The ability to learn on the job and to work with others toward creative solutions is essential to success in this position. The Junior Book Designer conceptualizes, develops, and implements design solutions for 35-50 book jackets a year. They are responsible for producing excellent design within an agreed upon timeframe and budget. The Press provides a comprehensive and affordable benefits package, and is located in a historic building on Princeton University’s campus that is walking distance from downtown Princeton with easy car access to Route 1.
Core Responsibilities:

  • Creates original jacket designs. Considers priorities of marketing, sales, publicity, acquisitions editors, and authors as conveyed at jacket design meetings
  • Prepares printer-ready jacket mechanicals, converts jacket files from jacket format to paperback format, and adapts jacket files for imports and co-pubs to PUP format. Reviews all proofs on time and with care
  • Exhibits business communication within a professional environment
  • Interacts with colleagues in a courteous manner and demonstrates a desire to be a contributing member of the team
Secondary Responsibilities:

  • Learns to complete original interior text designs
  • Learns to size/crop/prepare printer-ready interior text art
  • Learns to prepare binding die/manufacturing specifications for books
  • Produces collateral/ancillary products as needed
  • Completes all other duties as assigned or requested for the general support of the organization
Qualifications:

  • Undergraduate degree required. Major in graphic design or a closely-related field preferred
  • A portfolio that illustrates the candidate’s conceptual design ability and typographic sensitivity
  • Passion for publishing and design
  • Collaborative spirit, openness, flexibility, and desire to produce excellent work
  • Strong working knowledge of Adobe CC on a Mac platform, particularly InDesign
  • Excellent organizational skills with the ability to multitask and to pay attention to detail
  • Ability to communicate ideas clearly
  • An ongoing curiosity about trends in book design and in graphic design generally
  • Ability to work well both independently and with others and to synthesize feedback
  • Experience with video compositing, motion graphics design, animation (Adobe After Effects), Drawing, photography, videography, hand-lettering are a plus
Base Salary:
$35,000 but negotiable per relevant experience
To Apply:
Interested candidates should send a cover letter with salary requirements, resumé, and portfolio to: resumes@press.princeton.edu. Only finalists will be contacted. For more information on Princeton University Press, visit press.princeton.edu/.