As a Freelance Senior Designer, you'd work closely with creative and technical disciplines to create considered and elegant design systems supporting the visual design of websites, marketing and event email communications, and select elements outside of Interactive. This hands-on design lead role balances creativity and logic, and helps ensure a holistic approach is thoughtfully applied across platform typography, iconography, motion, and interface elements.

The ideal candidate has strong communication and presentation skills, experience mentoring junior designers, and contributes to positive collaboration with multi-disciplinary team members; a strong understanding of branding principles, style guides, and product design; an elegant design aesthetic, with exceptional attention to detail.

You will:

• Audit current implementations and identify potential areas for simplification and improved consistency.
• Design with flexibility in mind, ensuring designs are accessible and adaptive to varying workflows, viewports, technologies, and locales.
• Stress test designs across all possible variations and refine as needed.
• Create prototypes to convey states, transitions, and/or behaviors.
• Prepare design files for final documentation.
• Ensure layout, typography, and specs are pixel perfect.
• Communicate flexibilities and/or limitations to both designers and development, as needed.
• Work closely with the Senior Art Director to understand design direction and help inform priorities.
• Collaborate with Art Directors and larger project teams to explore and iterate on design options.
• Consult with technical disciplines to ensure designs work within given limitations, and files are prepared with all necessary information to support the design intent.
• Promote thoughtful and purposeful design, rather than an enforcement of rules.
• Help define and/or improve how teams collaborate and leverage existing tools.
• Determine the best medium and optimize design files for creative review – be it print, onscreen visuals, prototype, or code.
• Create presentation flows that establish and build on a foundation of design rationale.

 You have:

• Experience with display banners
• Pixel-perfect digital design portfolio highlighting your storytelling and problem-solving capabilities from concept to completion.
• Keen interest in championing brand identity through a balance of consistency and flexibility.
• Proficiency in the formal elements of design, with a strong focus on typography, balance, and proportion.
• Systematic thinker; able to anticipate the impact of design decisions well in advance of their application.
• Excellent digital file structure and asset management skills.
• Passion for pixel-perfection and order. Unparalleled attention to detail.
• Ability to articulate ideas verbally and digitally; be clearly understood by creative, product management, and development staff.
• Ability to deliver strong design rationale and supporting files in a tight timeframe.
• Ability to thrive in a challenging, fast-paced, creative workplace.
• 5+ years’ experience in product design (especially for web), defining or extending design systems, and/or working within a brand’s strict style guidelines.
• Figma, Photoshop and Sketch expertise, including file organization, and preparation of pixel-perfect files for design team use.
• Clear communication and presentation skills that speak to both creative and technical audiences.
• Clearly articulate design rationale and any applicable limitations.
• Participate in healthy debates to ensure design systems are as robust and considered as possible.

We continually review ranges to address skills, experience and markets. Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a number of factors that include, but aren’t limited to, a candidate’s experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position. For current CM employees, tenure will also be a consideration.Salary Range$60—$65 CAD

Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. If you are an individual with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please reach out to accommodations@criticalmass.com.

We are committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within our pool of candidates, with a target of achieving at least 50% representation from underrepresented communities.

The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly.

If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoidIf Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.htmlIf U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rightsIf Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion_consumidor/consejos_practicos.aspx