Overview
Art Director Jobs in New York, NY at Unreasonable Studios
We are UNR — an award winning, tech-forward, full service creative production company that supports agencies, brands and distributors alike across all media, genres, channels and formats globally at scale.
We are ambitious, growing and shaping the next era of integrated production. We bridge the gap between the entertainment and brand worlds, and are equally respected and acknowledged in both.
We’re seeking an Art Director / Designer to join UNR’s growing creative team and help develop visually compelling, culturally relevant and platform-native work across creator-led content, branded entertainment and integrated productions. This person will play a key role in shaping visual storytelling, developing creator-forward creative and helping bring ambitious content to life for modern audiences.
This is a role for someone who thrives in a creatively driven, hybrid environment: part visual storyteller, part designer, part maker and part culture-builder. We’re looking for someone with exceptional taste, strong conceptual instincts and a deep understanding of modern visual culture, creator ecosystems, audience behavior and emerging content formats.
ROLE OVERVIEW
Reporting into the Chief Creative Officer, the Art Director will lead and support visual creative development across creator-led storytelling, branded entertainment, social content, experiential and integrated productions. This role will partner closely with creative, production and strategy teams to help execute and elevate UNR’s creative vision across campaigns, content and entertainment properties.
You will help shape the visual direction of projects from concept through execution, ensuring a high level of craft, design quality and storytelling across all deliverables. This role requires someone who can move fluidly between conceptual thinking and hands-on execution, developing visual systems, campaign identities, treatments, presentations and platform-native creative designed for modern content consumption behaviors.
The ideal candidate understands what makes visual content resonate, not just aesthetically, but culturally, editorially and behaviorally. They should be deeply plugged into creators, internet culture, platform trends and evolving audience expectations, with the ability to create work that feels native to modern content ecosystems while still delivering strong creative and strategic value.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Art Direction & Visual Leadership
- Provide strong visual creative leadership across assigned projects, campaigns and accounts, ensuring exceptional craft, design quality and storytelling execution across all deliverables.
- Partner closely with the Creative Director and cross-functional teams to help bring creative concepts and visual systems to life.
- Help define the visual tone, aesthetic direction and design language across campaigns, presentations, branded content, social content and integrated productions.
- Demonstrate fluency across modern visual storytelling, design systems, typography, motion, social-first content and emerging creative technologies including AI-assisted design tools.
- Collaborate closely with Production, Editorial, Strategy and Client teams to align visual ambition with production realities and executional needs.
2. Creative Development & Execution
- Lead and execute visual development across multiple disciplines and formats, from concepting and moodboarding through production, post-production and final delivery.
- Design and develop pitch decks, presentations, visual identities, treatments, social assets, branded content graphics, experiential assets and integrated campaign materials.
- Partner closely with directors, editors, producers, strategists, photographers, animators and creators to shape compelling visual storytelling.
- Help ensure visual consistency, creative excellence and cultural relevance across assigned campaigns and projects.
- Contribute to brainstorming sessions, creative ideation and concept development across a wide range of creative initiatives.
- Champion experimentation, innovation and platform-native visual storytelling while ensuring the work remains strategically grounded and emotionally resonant.
3. Team Collaboration & Creative Culture
- Mentor and inspire junior designers, freelancers and creative collaborators where appropriate.
- Foster a highly creative, collaborative, supportive and solutions-oriented environment that reflects UNR’s “maker” mentality and craft culture.
- Model strong partnership, collaboration and creative problem solving across internal teams and productions.
- Help cultivate an environment where experimentation, curiosity and innovation thrive without compromising quality or execution.
4. Innovation & Creative Expansion
- Help identify emerging visual trends, creators, technologies, storytelling formats and design approaches that strengthen the quality and relevance of the work.
- Stay ahead of evolving platform behaviors, internet aesthetics and shifts across entertainment, social and creator ecosystems.
- Experiment with emerging creative workflows, AI-assisted tools and modern design technologies to support creative innovation and efficiency.
- Support pitches, creative presentations and new business opportunities as needed.
WHO YOU ARE
- A seasoned Art Director / Designer with 6–10 years of experience across integrated campaigns, live action, branded entertainment, social, design systems, post-production and emerging creative technologies.
- Experience including production companies, entertainment, creator ecosystems, media brands or in-house creative environments.
- A strong visual creative partner who balances conceptual thinking with high-level craft and execution.
- Equally strong in taste and execution, able to create visually compelling work while clearly articulating why it matters culturally, creatively and commercially.
- Deep understanding of modern content ecosystems, visual storytelling and platform-native creative across entertainment, social and creator environments.
- Strong portfolio demonstrating excellence across art direction, design systems, typography, visual identity, presentation design, campaign development and integrated creative execution.
- Highly proficient in Adobe Creative Suite and comfortable working across evolving creative tools and technologies. Motion, AI-assisted creative workflows and experiential design experience are a plus.
- Comfortable balancing craft, commerce, creativity and culture.
- Hands on vs hands off. Rolls sleeves up and actively creates, designs and solves alongside the team.
- Entrepreneurial, resourceful and excited to help grow a modern creative business.
- A collaborative creative partner who people genuinely enjoy working with.
- Deeply curious about storytelling, entertainment, technology, design, internet culture and emerging visual behaviors.
- Calm under pressure; detail-oriented; collaborative and endlessly solutions-oriented.
- Must be based in New York or Los Angeles.
Title: Art Director
Company: Unreasonable Studios
Location: New York, NY
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