Art Director- Kidsbooks Publishing

Work Structure: Hybrid; at least three days per week in office and up to two remote. In-office requirements may change with business needs.

Company Overview Kidsbooks Publishing creates innovative children’s books and educational products to spark curiosity, inspire learning, and support meaningful moments as children grow. Our mission is to foster a lifelong love of reading and learning, and each product is designed to support parent and child interactions. We develop products for libraries, schools, and for major U.S. retail and e-commerce channels, including Costco, Sam’s Club, Amazon, TJ Maxx, Ross, Burlington, Walmart, Target, and Cracker Barrel.

Position Summary Report to the Creative Director and lead day-to-day art direction and design execution for children’s books and novelty publishing products. The Art Director is the operational creative leader for the design team: translating the Creative Director’s vision into clear briefs, assigning and reviewing work, mentoring designers, maintaining visual continuity, and ensuring projects move efficiently from concept through production.

Key Responsibilities Day-to-day creative leadership

Translate the Creative Director’s approved vision, brand standards, and product priorities into actionable briefs, design direction, templates, and review criteria.

Direct and mentor Children’s Book Designers; assign work, establish priorities, review progress, and provide clear, constructive feedback.

Conduct routine design reviews and resolve day-to-day creative and technical decisions within established direction; elevate significant creative, brand, or product decisions to the Creative Director.

Maintain accountability for the quality, consistency, and timeliness of designer deliverables before they reach Creative Director review.

Series, brand, and design continuity

Develop series design systems and templates that establish consistent typography, composition, color, illustration style, covers, interiors, and packaging.

Review titles together to maintain continuity across covers, interiors, formats, and product extensions while preserving each title’s individual appeal.

Maintain practical brand guidelines, reference files, approved examples, and reusable design systems.

Art direction and product development

Develop detailed illustration briefs and guide illustrators from sketches through final artwork.

Collaborate with the Creative Director on new concepts, visual direction, illustrator selection, line reviews, and major design decisions.

Support development of novelty and specialty formats, ensuring design solutions work with mechanisms, materials, embellishments, packaging, and manufacturing requirements.

Cross-functional collaboration

Partner with Editorial on content, age appropriateness, storytelling, and design requirements.

Partner with Production on templates, dielines, materials, mechanisms, specialty finishes, proofs, manufacturing constraints, corrections, and schedules.

Partner with Sales and Marketing on channel requirements, product presentation, retailer needs, competitive positioning, and promotional assets.

Partner with Operations on priorities, timelines, workflow, approvals, and capacity.

Help prioritize design work and track milestones across a high-volume publishing program.

Production and quality

Review layouts, production files, prototypes, and proofs for design quality, consistency, and technical accuracy; coordinate corrections with Designers and Production.

Identify creative or production risks early and bring solutions or clear recommendations to the Creative Director and appropriate cross-functional partners.

Required Experience and Skills

10+ years of professional design experience in children’s publishing, including demonstrated art direction and leadership of designers or creative projects.

Outstanding portfolio showing children’s book covers, interior design, cohesive series, brand continuity, packaging, and novelty formats.

Expert proficiency in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat, with strong hands-on design and production skills.

Strong command of typography, composition, color, illustration, visual storytelling, and age-appropriate design.

Experience developing art briefs, selecting illustration styles, and collaborating with illustrators and outside creative partners.

Strong knowledge of board books, picture books, activity books, sound books, tactile formats, lift-the-flap books, die-cuts, pop-ups, and specialty finishes.

Thorough understanding of prepress, printer templates, dielines, proofs, manufacturing constraints, and production-ready files.

Experience with novelty and specialty finishes including sound buttons/modul