Graphic Designer With Actual Judgment. Long-Term, Growing Role (Not a Canva Job) - Contract to Hire
First, I know how challenging it can be to find great companies to work for. We work hard to be one of those! :)
I own a digital marketing agency that works exclusively with HVAC companies across the United States.
We have a SMALL number of great, long-term clients, never more than about 15, and we're looking for a talented graphic designer who can become part of our team for years, not weeks.
What I am looking for:
We don't need someone who just knows Canva.
Canva is great. AI is great. We use both.
But spending a few hours learning Canva and ChatGPT doesn't automatically make someone a graphic designer. :)
We've hired several people recently who could technically "make graphics," but we spent more time going back and forth fixing their work than we would have spent making it ourselves.
That's exactly what we're trying to avoid.
We're looking for someone with good judgment, good taste, creativity AND actual design skills.
Someone who can look at a design and know:
"That's too busy."
"There are way too many words on this."
"That image looks like cheap AI."
"Nobody is going to read that."
"The headline needs to be better."
"There's probably a much simpler way to communicate this."
That judgment is what we're willing to pay for.
The bigger part of this job is THINKING.
Our clients aren't just account numbers.
We know their businesses.
We have folders full of their photos. We know their history. We know their employees. We have customer reviews, blog posts, company stories, promotions, accomplishments, anniversaries, for all of them.
Sometimes we'll absolutely give you an idea and ask you to execute it. Other times, we need to rely on you to come up with ideas based on what we know and have for that client.
Being able to take what we know about a client and THINKING is a big part of this job.
"They just published a great article about this. We could make something from it."
"This customer left an amazing review. Let's do something with that."
"Labor Day is coming up. We should create something for their page."
"They have a technician who's been with them for 15 years. There's a great post in that."
"These photos would make a cool slideshow."
"Their maintenance agreement has this benefit nobody talks about. We could make a useful post about it."
That's the person we're trying to find.
AI is absolutely welcome here. I WANT you to use AI when it helps you work faster or create something better.
But you need enough design judgment to recognize when AI gives you garbage.
If AI creates something generic, cheesy, obviously fake, or packed with unnecessary words and images, you need to be able to recognize that.
Fix it. Improve it. Or throw it away and try something else.
AI should make a talented designer better. It shouldn't replace the talented designer.
This job will start with creating Facebook content for our HVAC clients.
That could include any of these:
Helpful or educational graphics
Customer review posts
Holiday and seasonal content
Employee birthdays and anniversaries
Blog/article graphics
Promotions
Company milestones
Before-and-after content
Photo slideshows
Short videos
Interesting facts or tips
Funny or clever posts when appropriate
Content that shows the personality and people behind the company
We want the finished work to feel clean, professional, friendly, attractive, and human.
I've put together a document with examples of the type of work we're looking for. Please actually look through it before applying.
This role can become MUCH bigger.
We regularly need:
Billboards, flyers, postcards, sales materials, social media graphics, website graphics, Facebook/Google/YouTube headers, presentations, advertisements, print pieces and plenty of other creative work.
If you're talented, dependable, friendly, and enjoy working with us, there is plenty of opportunity for this position to grow.
We're starting at approximately 10–15 hours per week.
That can increase considerably for the right person.
I'm looking for someone who:
Has strong design fundamentals
Has a good eye for typography, spacing, hierarchy, and composition
Understands that simpler is often better
Can use professional design software when needed
Is comfortable using AI as a creative tool
Has enough judgment NOT to blindly trust AI
Can look at existing client information and come up with ideas
Can also take direction and execute someone else's idea
Pays attention to details
Communicates well
Is friendly and easy to work with
Takes pride in producing work you'd be comfortable showing the client yourself
Some writing ability is helpful too. You won't be our copywriter, but knowing when a headline, title, or CTA isn't very good is part of having good creative judgment.
I'd rather have you spend a little more time creating something we're genuinely proud to show a client than crank out piles of mediocre content.
Quality over quantity.
This is intended to be a long-term position.
I'd love to find someone who becomes an important part of our team and is still working with us several years from now.
If you're looking for a place where good work gets noticed, where you're encouraged to bring ideas to the table, and where being talented and helpful will lead to MORE opportunities rather than just more work for the same money, we may be a great fit.
If this sounds interesting to you, tell me briefly:
Why does this particular job sound interesting to you?
Tell me what tools you actually use: Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva, Figma, AI tools, video tools, etc.
Tell me how you use AI in your design process. I'm genuinely interested.
Look through the example document attached to this posting. Pick ONE example or type of post you particularly like and tell me why you think it works.
I want to see how you think.
If you're a genuinely talented designer who likes coming up with ideas instead of just being handed instructions all day, I'd love to hear from you.
