Staff Designer – Civic Engagement

Staff Designer – Civic Engagement

THE AGENCY The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the future of New York City, working to create thriving and dynamic neighborhoods with access to housing and jobs, resilient infrastructure, and a vibrant public realm. The Department engages communities to develop inclusive plans, expands housing access and economic opportunity, and plans for long-term sustainability.

DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of hundreds of land use applications. The Department also advises on citywide strategic and capital planning, analyzes data, conducts policy analysis, and creates open data and civic engagement tools. DCP is also the custodian of the official City Map, which designates streets, parks and other public places.

Department of City Planning offers staff meaningful opportunities to help shape the future of New York City and address some of its most pressing challenges. The Department values public service, collaboration, and creativity, and supports professional development. Learn more about DCP and view current job openings at www.nyc.gov/planning.

THE DIVISION The Community Planning and Engagement division serves as the center for DCP’s coordinated community planning work. The Team is charged with fostering innovation and continuous improvement in the way we develop neighborhood and citywide planning initiatives among DCP divisions, in collaboration with partner agencies and New Yorkers.

THE ROLE The Community Planning and Engagement division seeks a highly motivated, entrepreneurial Staff Designer who shares our passion for making urban planning processes accessible, inclusive, and fun. The Staff Designer will work with divisions across the Department of City Planning, our agency partners and New Yorkers to increase understanding of city planning topics, internal and public processes as well as ways to shape local and citywide planning initiatives. They have three main areas of work:

• Supports the development and implementation of community engagement plans for neighborhood and citywide initiatives.
• Develops materials that increase understanding of DCP tools and processes, expand opportunities to participate in neighborhood planning and citywide policy development and align with agency messaging and branding.
• Builds the capacity of DCP staff to create legible, attractive, and visually engaging materials that strengthen our civic engagement practice. We seek a candidate with a design background (graphic design, urban design, architecture, etc.) who is skilled at creating illustrations and tools for engagement, as well as facilitating meaningful, inclusive processes to increase participation in community planning and policy development. While most illustrations and tools will be used for print materials such as reports, posters, display boards, and graphic organizers for activities, experience creating motion graphics, or other animations as well as digital design is welcome.

The candidate should be a creative problem solver with excellent interpersonal, project management and communication skills as well as a demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision. They should have experience engaging and facilitating communities in design processes as well proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supports the development and implementation of visual design strategies within engagement plans for neighborhood and citywide initiatives:

• o Work with teams from across DCP, coordinating with Communications when materials are externally facing, to identify design goals and strategies for initiatives and support the development of projects’ visual identity

• o Creates key materials including illustrations, maps, display boards, graphic organizers, tools, and activities.

• o Recommend new approaches to civic engagement and collaborate with Agency staff to advance civic engagement principles with an equity lens

• Develops materials to increase understanding of DCP’s planning tools and processes, as well as opportunities to participate in neighborhood planning and citywide policy development.

• o Facilitates user research, prototyping, and usability testing to ensure that materials are responsive to the needs of end-users.

• o Creates explainer materials such as illustrations, infographics, presentations, and/or short videos in coordination with the Communications team for web and social channels.

• o Works with teams from across DCP to create reports, brochures, and one-pagers primarily for engagement settings.

• Builds the capacity of DCP staff to create legible, attractive, and visually engaging public materials that strengthen civic engagement practice.

• o Facilitates professional development workshops and trainings for DCP staff about design principles and best practices

• o Creates and maintains templates for standard materials such as presentations and reports aligned with DCP standards.

• o Provides design guidance and feedback to project teams to support continuous improvement

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in video editing software (Adobe Premier, After Effects)
• Experience with teaching, curriculum, and/or workshop development

Qualifications

• 1. A master’s degree, with a major in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, computer science, or digital media from an accredited college and two years of acceptable full-time paid experience as a designer, commercial artist, or graphic artist, 18 months of which must have been in supervision and planning of artwork done by a staff; or
• 2. A baccalaureate degree, with a major in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, computer science, or digital media from an accredited college and four years of acceptable full-time paid experience as described in “1” above, 18 months of which must have been in supervision and planning of artwork done by a staff; or
• 3. An associate degree in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, computer science, or digital media from an accredited college, and six years of acceptable full-time paid experience as described in “1” above, 18 months of which must have been in supervision and planning of artwork done by a staff; or
• 4. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent plus two years at an approved trade or technical school in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, or digital media plus six years of acceptable full-time paid experience as described in “1” above, 18 months of which must have been in supervision and direction of artwork done by a staff; or
• 5. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent plus eight years of acceptable full-time paid experience as described in “1” above, 18 months of which must have been in supervision and direction of artwork done by a staff; or
• 6. A combination of education and/or experience equivalent to "1", “2” “3”,”4” or “5” above. College education in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, computer science, or digital media from an accredited college may be substituted for experience as described above at the rate of 30 semester credits for one year of experience. Trade or technical school education in design, graphic arts, the visual arts, marketing, or digital media may be substituted for experience as described in “4” above at the rate of one year of full-time education for one year of experience. However, all candidates must have the 18 months of supervisory experience as described above.

• Additional Information

• The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.