Passionate About People, Place and Visual Storytelling?
Join Us as an Interpretation & Graphic Designer
Wander West Ardnamurchan Heritage Trail
About us
Design by Community
We are a socially engaged organisation that champions design by community. Over the past 16 years, we have worked in many fields simultaneously, including community strategies, interpretation, capacity building, regeneration, service design, software development, graphic design and public art.
We are an enthusiastic, multi-disciplinary group of designers, storytellers, trainers, architects, engagement specialists and developers. Our workplace is friendly and open-minded, encouraging colleagues to share ideas and learn new skills beyond their specific background. We work across Scotland, the UK and Ireland.
About you
You are up for the challenge
We are seeking an advocate of community-centred design and development. Someone who is used to working with multidisciplinary teams to develop design solutions across multiple organisations and groups.
You will have a proven track record in using design and/or research insights to inspire and instigate on-the-ground solutions. You are confident at leading projects and dealing with challenges that may be unfamiliar, drawing on your experience to find a way forward. An effective communicator, you are happy presenting and sharing ideas with a variety of audiences in clear and simple formats.
You will have worked with internal, client and third-party teams and ideally, have some experience working within, or with one or more of the following; design disciplines, heritage and arts, planning, public bodies, enterprise and most importantly community groups.
It is expected that you are confident working across multiple projects and inspired by working with creative minds in a collaborative environment.
About the role
What you will do
Manage and support interpretation, public engagement and place-based projects, with a focus on visualising and storytelling.
Curating and copywriting content in partnership with community members into narratives, themes and stories that promote local identity through social, environmental and built heritage.
Strategising, designing and implementing interpretation tools including:
Traditional interpretation methods including mapboards, wayfinding, maps, publications
Digital tools, including websites, apps, photo and videography, VR/AR, QR codes
Comms/PR, including posters, leaflets, social media, interviews, video editing.
Additional skills and tools that a candidate may bring to the team.
Managing detailed design, specification and procurement of physical and digital interpretation or public art infrastructure, including installation and permissions
Lead or support projects and see them through to conclusion
Undertake stakeholder and user research including face-to-face community engagement
Take research insights and turn them into design recommendations
Lead communications across traditional and digital media
Direct, design and facilitate creative workshops
Develop Action/Project plans for future projects
Keep up to date on industry best practices and trends
Help clients and team to set and measure success criteria and KPI’s
Actively manage clients and stakeholders, reporting back on progress and new opportunities
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to manage project scope, budget and risks
Secure future clients and contracts through developing leads, applications and tenders.
The Visitor Journey, designed as part of Forres Interpretation Masterplan, which we are developing into outcomes during 2026.
Experience Desired
You have a minimum of 3 years of experience working within an organisation or self-employed within a relevant design, graphic or storytelling field.
You can demonstrate experience of leading projects, managing stakeholders and can show a strong understanding of leadership in both curation and design.
Evidence of self-initiated projects would support your application, though it is not essential.
You must show a strong capacity for the presentation of ideas in both written and visual formats; preferably design skills working with Adobe Creative Suite, mapping software eg mapbox or GIS, 3D modelling and shared documents.
Experience working on National Lottery Heritage Fund or similar place-based, funded projects
Experience of securing funding would be beneficial but more importantly, you will want to learn and grow with the organisation.
You are willing to travel to projects throughout Scotland, Ireland and the UK. A Driving License is preferable as some projects are not accessible by public transport.
We are always interested to hear what unique interests you have that could bring new dimensions to our varied, community-centred projects, so please feel free to outline any additional skills and experience that may be relevant in your CV, portfolio or cover letter, even if this isn’t referenced in the job description.
Some of the projects you may be working on as part of the role
- Development and design of town centre heritage interpretation in the Highlands of Scotland as part of a National Lottery Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland funded scheme..
- Strategic, concept and detailed design of digital and physical interpretation and public art for a landscape partnership project on the east coast of Scotland, connecting to new active travel routes.
- Activities-based community engagement interpreting local stories in creative ways (publications, artworks etc) on the west coast of Ireland.
- Creative engagement activities and communications as part of a Local Development Plan in the south-west of Scotland.
- Developing brand and communications for a programme of Human Library activities to integrate new and long-standing residents from diverse backgrounds across Sligo, Ireland.
- Graphic Design of SMART Community Strategies for rural communities in Ireland as part of www.turningthesod.ie
- Active travel mapping including design of digital platform development and route infrastructure like mapboards and trail routes for www.makeyourwaylanarkshire.com
Contract
Initial 6-month contract, with potential to increase to a permanent contract.
Contracted working hours of between 22.5 hours – 30 hours per week.
Salary
Dependent on experience and in the region of £28k - £35k p/a FTE.
Annual Leave
30 days per year (pro-rata)
Location
Glasgow, Scotland. We have a flexible working policy to accommodate a mixture of in-office and some remote working. Projects involve travel across Scotland, the UK and Ireland, including overnight stays.
Icecream architecture is a Disability Confident Committed employer. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, require any adjustments or alternative arrangements to support your application, interview or the job itself, please get in touch via the email address below.
How to apply
Please send your CV and (a link to your) portfolio of experience to opportunities@icecreamarchitecture.com with a short cover note (maximum one side of A4) telling us why icecream architecture sounds like the kind of place you’d like to join and highlighting the unique skills that make you the right candidate for this role.
