About the position
We are looking for a skilled graphic designer with a flair for educational illustration and layout. The successful candidate will work with subject matter experts to create visually engaging university-level textbooks for various disciplines, paying attention to cognitive load reduction. You will use design to teach, clarify, and guide comprehension, not simply to embellish. Your work will make the difference between passive skimming and active learning. You will report to the publisher.
Essential duties and responsibilities:
- Collaborate with authors, editors and publisher to conceptualise and create high-impact visual content that enhances student understanding.
- Lay out crisp, clean textbooks, observing cognitive load theory principles.
- Create infographics, diagrams, charts, illustrations, and educational cartoons that convey complex ideas simply and elegantly.
- Maintain visual identity and branding consistently across publications.
- Balance aesthetic appeal with functional readability across formats.
- Review and improve existing graphics and layouts to meet pedagogic standards.
- Stay updated on best practice in educational psychology, visual literacy, and accessibility.
Key skills:
- Able to translate academic content into clear visual explanations.
- Fluent in layout design, typography, and creation of infographics and other instructional visuals.
- Deep understanding of dual coding and cognitive load theory, visual hierarchy, chunking.
- Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop); experience with Kotobee or similar publishing platforms a bonus.
- Experience with multicolumn textbook formats, captioning, glossary integration, and responsive digital layout.
- Exceptional attention to detail and version control.
- Familiarity with cross-platform digital delivery.
- Basic understanding of XML tagging, LaTeX, or accessible PDF structure a plus
Requirements:
- Eye for detail.
- Tertiary qualification in graphic design or related field.
- At least three years’ experience in higher education publishing.
- Strategic thinker who values clarity over clutter.
- Comfortable receiving and integrating feedback from academics, editors, and students.
- Able to juggle multiple projects in face of tight timelines.
- Flexible where needed.
- Always willing to go the extra mile.
Desired Skills:
- Cross-platform digital delivery
- XML tagging
- LaTeX
- Adobe Creative Suite
