Art Director, 3 magazine

Computek College • Toronto, ON

4d • CA$75,000 - CA$80,000

About The Position

3 is building the definitive digital platform for Third Culture Individuals (TCIs), and we are looking for an Art Director to own and shape how it looks. This is a build, not a maintenance job — the chance to define a publication’s entire visual world while it is still being formed. The visual standard is not packaging at 3; it is the proof of everything we claim — intelligence, taste, and a point of view that is genuinely global. Our readers are discerning and over-informed, and they recognise generic work instantly. 3 is choosing to operate differently — using technology and modern production systems internally so that one exceptional visual mind can do the work that used to take a department, without lowering the standard. We are not building an AI publication. We are building a human one, and using the best tools available to produce it at speed and at scale. This is a hands-on role for an art director who creates as well as directs. You are the internal visual lead for 3 across every format and channel — the print quarterly, the website, the newsletter, social, and brand campaigns. You will set the visual identity and then produce against it: art-directing and commissioning photography and illustration, designing layouts, creating platform-native work, and building the templates and systems that let 3 publish beautifully at digital speed. You will also conceive and lead campaigns — the launches, seasons, and brand moments that build the platform. You will decide how technology supports the work: generating and iterating visuals where it serves the standard, building production systems that remove repetitive work, and knowing exactly when a brief calls for a human photographer, an illustrator, or your own hand instead. The standard never moves. The tools help you reach it faster. Early in the engagement you should be ready to propose the visual system for 3 — the identity, the templates, the production workflow, and the campaign calendar you would build. This role will stretch you. You will be measured by what you ship and by whether it meets the eye of one of the most visually literate audiences in publishing. If you are passionate about third culture, about design and intelligence, about luxury defined by taste and quality rather than gloss — and you want to prove what a modern publication can look like — this is the challenge we are offering. You will report to the Executive Vice-President, 369 Publishing, and partner daily with the Digital Editor.

Requirements

• 5+ years in art direction or design, ideally at a quality publication, design studio, or brand (Monocle, Kinfolk, or similar design-led titles).
• A portfolio that demonstrates editorial-grade art direction across formats — print and digital — and ideally campaign work.
• Expert command of design tools (Adobe Creative Suite — InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator — and Figma).
• Demonstrable AI fluency in visual production. You can show generative work, prompt frameworks, custom models, or production systems you have built and used. Surface-level familiarity is not enough.
• Strong typographic skill and a refined eye for composition, colour, and image.
• Experience art-directing photography and illustration commissions, from brief to final.
• Motion and short-form video literacy, or the appetite to develop it quickly.
• Familiarity with how visuals perform across web and social, and with publishing CMS environments (WordPress, Webflow, or equivalent).
• Cross-cultural visual fluency: you understand that visual codes are not universal, and you can direct for a genuinely global audience.
• A degree in design, visual communication, fine art, or a related field — or equivalent demonstrated craft.

Nice To Haves

• Third culture fluency. You understand the Third Culture Individual because you recognise the experience, not because you have read the market research. You have moved between cultures, and you can art-direct for that reader without flattening them into a stereotype or a stock image.
• A defined visual point of view. You have a recognisable eye and the confidence to bring it into the work. You know what you think good looks like, and you can argue for it.
• A maker. You direct, but you also build — your hands stay on the work. You would rather make the thing than describe it in a meeting, and you keep your craft and your tools current so you always can.
• Discerning. You have real taste. You can tell the difference between good and nearly-good, and you care about the gap. Your standard holds under deadline pressure.
• Entrepreneurial. You operate like an owner. You see what needs doing and do it without waiting to be asked, you are measured by what ships, and you are comfortable with ambiguity, lean resources, and the pace of an organisation that is still being built.
• Builds for scale. You think in systems rather than one-offs. You build templates and workflows so the brand can produce beautifully at speed — the tenth time as well as the first — rather than becoming a heroic bottleneck.
• Independent. You can be handed an outcome and trusted to deliver it. You do not need close management, and you are comfortable being measured by results.
• Audacious and optimistic. You believe a small, well-equipped team can build something the industry has not seen, and you bring energy rather than cynicism to hard problems.

Responsibilities

• Own and steward 3’s visual identity across every format and channel — print, web, newsletter, social, and campaigns.
• Art-direct the quarterly print magazine, from the cover to feature layouts, holding the design standard set in 3’s brand guidelines.
• Define and document the visual system — typography, colour, composition, and image treatment — so it is consistent and repeatable across surfaces.
• Protect the standard: editorial imagery over stock, restraint over spectacle, taste over trend.
• Create hero imagery and feature visuals for digital stories, owning the work from concept to publish.
• Design and produce platform-native visuals for social, made for how each channel actually works.
• Design the newsletter and subscriber-platform visual experience.
• Translate print features into digital visual treatments using the established print-to-digital workflow.
• Work hands-on across photography direction, illustration, layout, and motion as the story requires.
• Conceive, design, and lead visual campaigns — launches, seasonal moments, subscriber drives, and partnership activations.
• Build campaign concepts that carry across channels, from a single idea to its full visual expression.
• Ensure every campaign is unmistakably 3 and advances the platform, not only the moment.
• Build templates and systems that let 3 produce beautifully at digital speed.
• Use technology to generate, iterate, and produce visuals where it serves the standard.
• Build and refine automations that remove repetitive production work and protect time for craft.
• Stay current on relevant tools and adopt selectively. The test is always visual quality, not novelty.
• Brief, commission, and direct photographers, illustrators, and other visual contributors.
• Coordinate with the Partnerships team to hold the visual standard in branded and sponsored work.
• Brief the EVP regularly on the visual system, output, and campaign performance.

Benefits

• Workplace accommodation policy in place. Accommodations are available, upon request, for the interview process and other selection stages for job applicants with accessibility needs.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree