Product Design Assistant
Product Design Assistant
Reporting into Design Director / full time / permanent role / hybrid / based in our Putney design studio.
The Company
Based in South-West London, Caroline Gardner Publishing is a leading supplier of cards,
stationery, and stylish home and gifting products, catering to design-focused retailers
worldwide.
With a successful boutique on London’s Marylebone High Street and a vibrant
ecommerce platform, our unique blend of quirky and sophisticated designs is also
available directly to consumers. The brand enjoys a strong, loyal following and is both
instantly recognisable and highly sought after by a wide array of customers. We’re excited to continue expanding into new product areas with ambitious growth plans on the horizon.
Caroline Gardner is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for
employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability or age.
The Role
This is an exciting new opportunity for a Design Assistant/Product Development Assistant to join the product design team of this established boutique brand. Working as part of the design team, and closely with buying and merchandising, you will facilitate the timely development and delivery of ranges from sampling through to production, in line with the critical path across accessories, home ceramics, stationery, knitted accessories and loungewear.
The role exists to support the product team in all stages of the product lifecycle, from market research and concept generation to sample development and launch, while gradually stepping up to take ownership of specific product segments. You will act as a design assistant but also contribute design ideas, support the collection planning, and work more autonomously as you develop.
Responsibilities
• Stay abreast of design industry trends by organising market research trips,
competitive shopping, and trend research, to help support the delivery of
mood/trend research and delivery of innovative product design each season.
• Assist with the creation of product visuals, colour palettes, technical drawings,
print to product placements and prepare print-ready artwork.
• Work closely with the buying and merchandising teams to understand sales data
to assist in range building a product offering that supports the company strategy
and budgets.
• Ensure visual range plans are kept up to date throughout the season, through
range selection to final visuals, for use by the team, and as a presentation and
sales tool.
• Assist in taking creative design work from concept through to sampling, across all
product categories from design and briefing to sample comments and gold seals.
• Ensure specification briefs are kept up to date through sampling amendments so
that briefs are representative of production for use in future seasons.
• Assist with the production of product specification briefs to send to
international suppliers, to include clear and accurate measurements,
construction references, colour references, trim details and print placements.
• Manage the sample approval process, ensuring colour and quality comments are
sent in-line with the critical path, and samples are available for key events such
as customer meetings and trade shows, as well as bulk production schedules.
• Work closely with the Sales and Merchandising team to understand key customer
requirements and sampling requests.
• Produce barcodes, swing tags and packaging for all final product SKUs.
• Be responsible for registering all designs on ACID each season, for intellectual copyright protection.
• Assist the Design Director with Licensing projects, providing specification briefs, artwork and amending designs, in line with project critical paths.
• Assist the Design Director with retail only ranges as needed.
• Support the wider design team with design projects and administration as
required.
Skills & Experience
• 1-3 years’ experience as a Product Design Assistant or similar, with experience in
manufacturing or fashion/lifestyle retail, with a relevant design degree.
• Solid skills in Adobe Illustrator for creating mood boards, range building, technical
drawing and specification briefs.
• Good organisational skills, attention to detail and ability to follow project timelines/deadlines.
• Creative flair with an ability to generate original ideas, stay on-trend, but also
understand commercial viability.
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to liaise cross functionally (design,
buying, merchandising, sales and marketing).
• Ability to work in a small team with a flexible mindset and wear multiple “hats”,
from admin/support tasks to design development and specifications.
• Good presentation skills and the confidence to explain and sell ideas to
stakeholders, colleagues and international suppliers and manufacturers.
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to cope under pressure with
several projects at once.
• Accuracy and attention to detail, with a commitment to quality, particularly when creating and communicating product specifications, sample comments and
approvals.
• Being open to feedback with a willingness to make changes to work as directed.
personal attributes
• detail-oriented, proactive and solutions-driven.
• calm under pressure with a natural sense of ownership.
• collaborative, curious and passionate about beautiful, well-made products.
• motivated to develop the role and design abilities, always learning and improving.
• a team player with the ability to also work independently with some supervision.
• understands and represents the Caroline Gardner brand values.
• demonstrates respect and politeness and regularly exceeds expectations.
• always presents a professional image.
• prepared to go the extra mile to achieve targets.
Salary & Benefits
Competitive salary dependent on experience.
Benefits include hybrid working (3 days per week in the office and 2 days from home), a generous annual leave allowance with long service additional holiday days, plus discretionary day off for your birthday, staff discount of up to 65%, discretionary annual bonus scheme, pension and group life assurance policy, an Employee Assistance Programme, and much more.
Candidates must have existing right to work in UK (we are unable to offer visa sponsorship). This is a permanent, full-time role (five days per week, 9.00am–5.30pm, 37.5 hrs per week), based at our Head Office in Putney, London.
How to apply:
To apply, please submit your CV and relevant examples of your work to HR via
jobs@carolinegardner.com .
Please note we can only accept complete applications which include a current CV and a portfolio of relevant work that illustrates why you’re suitable for the role.
If your application is shortlisted, the interview process will consist of three stages, the first of which will be a remote interview via Teams/Zoom with the Design Director and HR. Successful candidates will then be asked to complete a design project for review by Caroline Gardner and
the Design Director, as an opportunity for you to show your understanding of the design aesthetic followed by a final stage interview and presentation at our Head Office in Putney with Caroline and the Design Director.
A little note: We’d love to hear from you, so please don’t wait too long to apply. If we receive a high
number of applications, we may need to close the vacancy early to ensure we can give each application
the attention it deserves. Once the role is closed, we won’t be able to accept any further applications.
Thank you for understanding.