Description
Chicago Visual Communication Design Lead
In a nutshell:
We are looking for a Visual Communication Design Lead who can guide teams and clients through complex design challenges, setting the visual direction and elevating storytelling across engagements.
You’ll work collaboratively to bring our voices, stories, and concepts to life through exceptional visual craft. The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in graphic design and experience applying practical and conceptual design across brand systems, interaction and digital product design, motion, and environments. We’re looking for designers who bring a distinctive visual voice, raise the bar for quality, and help others do the same.
In this role, you will…
As a Design Lead, you’ll own the visual direction of engagements and lead multidisciplinary teams through all phases of the design process from early research and exploration through prototyping, refinement, and client-facing storytelling.
You’ll contribute across a diverse portfolio of work spanning brand, experience, interaction, digital product, and service design. Your work may take many forms, including brand strategy and expression, storytelling systems, interaction and digital product design, data visualization, packaging, and environmental design.
Once here you will:
- Lead project teams and collaborate with multidisciplinary designers
- Collaborate closely with clients, using storytelling and design to make complex ideas clear and actionable
- Turn research and open-ended questions into visual systems and stories that build empathy for people and bring their experiences to life for both teams and clients
- Create and guide looks-like/works-like prototypes at different levels of fidelity to explore ideas and align teams
- Support and grow other designers through thoughtful critique, collaboration, and hands-on craft leadership
- Hold a high bar for visual quality while staying open to exploration, iteration, and learning
- Champion visual communication as a powerful way to make ideas tangible and meaningful
Some previous projects to check out:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology Brand
- Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
- The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley
- Cities United Rebrand
Design Craft:
- Relevant experience and/or educational background required in visual communication, brand expression, interaction, and digital product design
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in graphic design, interaction design or an equivalent degree
- Strong, versatile portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft, visual storytelling, and leadership across complex work
- Fluency in tools such as Adobe Creative Suite and Figma, with experience using motion and design prototyping tools
- Comfort shaping and delivering client-facing narratives using tools like Google Slides and FigJam/Figma Slides
- Ability to balance hands-on making with direction-setting and mentorship
Diverse Experience:
- Experience establishing and expressing brand identity—from strategy through execution—across systems, touchpoints, and mediums
- Experience leading visual work across interaction and digital product experiences, not just static artifacts
- Experience leading client work and multidisciplinary teams through complex, often ambiguous design challenges
- Experience working across industries and project types, adapting craft to context and audience
Key Mindsets:
- Confident and collaborative—able to lead teams and clients while remaining open, curious, and human
- Comfortable with ambiguity—able to push work forward without having all the answers
- Growth-oriented—embraces critique, experimentation, and learning through making
- Proactive and accountable—takes ownership, follows through, and supports the success of the whole team
What does IDEO offer you?
IDEO is a place where you can solve diverse, complex challenges for our clients and their organizations, alongside thoughtful, intelligent individuals who lead with curiosity, empathy, and humility. We intentionally craft moments that allow our community to pause, create, and connect. We encourage our community to bring their whole selves to work, respect the need for work-life balance, and allow for autonomy in the design process and your career.
Payscale & Benefits
IDEO is committed to paying its employees, contractors & vendors equitably, regardless of gender identity or race/ethnicity/cultural identity.
The salary range for this role is $100,000–$120,000 USD. Final offers may vary based on candidate experience, location, and other factors. As a full-time position, this role is eligible for employee benefits.
Similar jobs
Est. 90,000 USD
Senior Visual Communication Designer In a nutshell: Visual Communication Designers at IDEO make the biggest impact through visual storytelling. They work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to bring ideas, resea…
Est. 90,000 USD
Senior Visual Communication Designer In a nutshell: Visual Communication Designers at IDEO make the biggest impact through visual storytelling. They work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to bring ideas, resea…
Est. 90,000 USD
Senior Visual Communication Designer In a nutshell: Visual Communication Designers at IDEO make the biggest impact through visual storytelling. They work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to bring ideas, resea…
Est. 90,000 USD
Senior Designer, Visual Interaction Design In a nutshell: We’re looking for a Senior Visual Interaction Designer to join our Cambridge Studio who is passionate about crafting elegant, thoughtful user experiences, and who…
Est. 110,000 USD
ChIDEO BxD Designer IDEO Chicago is in search of a Senior Business Designer who will frame complex business problems, translate insights into viable growth opportunities, and drive ideas toward real-world activation. The…
Senior Visual Communication Designer In a nutshell: IDEO Shanghai is in search of a Senior Visual Communication Designer who will inspire and move both teams and clients using the craft of visual communication. Why is th…
Est. 110,000 USD
SF IDEO Senior BxD Designer IDEO San Francisco is in search of a Senior Business Designer who will frame complex business problems, translate insights into viable growth opportunities, and drive ideas toward real-world a…
Est. 75,000 USD
Industrial Designer San Francisco, CA - Hybrid At IDEO, we use design to create new products, services, experiences; tangible strategies; and creative capabilities. IDEO San Francisco is in search of a new Industrial Des…
In a nutshell: IDEO Shanghai is in search of a Visual Communication Designer/Graphic Designer who will guide, inspire and move both teams and clients using the craft of Graphic Design. Why is this role important for IDEO…
Est. 95,000 GBP
Strategy and Organisational Design Director— IDEO London In a Nutshell IDEO London is looking for a Strategy and Organisational Design Director who understands that strategy without activation is just intention — and tha…
Est. 102,500 USD
At Code and Theory, Designers shape identity systems, campaigns, and digital product experiences that help brands feel distinct and relevant. We’re looking for a Senior Designer with strong visual instincts, sharp craft,…
Est. 102,500 USD
At Code and Theory, Designers shape identity systems, campaigns, and digital product experiences that help brands feel distinct and relevant. We’re looking for a Senior Designer with strong visual instincts, sharp craft,…
Est. 102,500 USD
As a Senior Experience Designer at Code and Theory, you are crucial to evolving how users interact with digital platforms. You'll lead the creation of not just compelling deliverables but impactful solutions that reshape…
Est. 154,500 USD
Who We Are: LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent in…
Est. 135,000 USD
About Interbrand Interbrand understands what it takes today to build the world’s most iconic brands. To support our clients in an ever more complex and fascinating world, we have renewed our commitment to both common glo…
In a nutshell: IDEO (Shanghai) is in search of a Senior Industrial Designer who will create product designs and experiences that have a genuine impact on people’s lives, can generate ideas quickly without a lot of parame…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: US or CanadaType: US Applicants - Full-Time; Canadian Applicants - Independent Contractor **A note before you read further** The world is changing fast, and so is this role. We can't fully tell you what this jo…
Est. 62,500 USD
Landor is looking for a Designer to join our Chicago studio. Could this be you? We are Landor, part of WPP. World-leading brand experts, underpinned by the most expansive strategic & creative capabilities in our cate…
Est. 115,000 USD
Business Overview We believe in the power of media to reshape our industry and orchestrate a brand’s entire consumer experience, by balancing both what unites people and what makes them different. When brands unite peopl…
Est. 115,000 USD
Business Overview We believe in the power of media to reshape our industry and orchestrate a brand’s entire consumer experience, by balancing both what unites people and what makes them different. When brands unite peopl…
Est. 115,000 USD
Business Overview We believe in the power of media to reshape our industry and orchestrate a brand’s entire consumer experience, by balancing both what unites people and what makes them different. When brands unite peopl…
Est. 132,500 USD
About the Company We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential o…