Innovation Product Designer

Innovation Artist:

• Creative problem solving with the instinctual ability to hunt for new solutions, methods and materials—balancing broad solutions with time and finance constraints—and the capacity to educate on findings and best practices.
• Attention to detail: Having the detailed understanding and technical expertise to assure quality through every stage of a project. Strong attention to detail in all deliverables. Establishing and maintaining high levels of trust with the team and partners.
• Curiosity to expand knowledge and expertise into multiple areas such as Print, Digital publishing, Photography, Environmental design, Interactive, AI, AR/VR and Motion design.

 Responsibilities:

• Work with projects from ideation through iterative development and delivery
• Managing the workflow in the design studio
• Executing production requests by working closely with the Innovation team 
• Building and designing layouts, prototypes, templates, and brand extensions
• Image optimizing, retouching, manipulation
• Experience with designing and installing large scale environmental displays
• Procuring external production resources when necessary
• Managing and procuring supplies and materials
• Recommending equipment and technology solutions
• Prepping files for pre-press and print vendors
• Demonstrate AARP values in all work and interactions.

 Idea Conceptualization

• Support teams as they develop innovations to move their ideas forward leading to tangible solutions
• Help teams tell the right “story” through visual elements to conceptualize their ideas in communicating them to stakeholders and potential customers
• Help teams design and develop early prototypes (e.g., basic wire framing) or 2d renderings of products in order to help teams better conceptualize their solutions

 Innovation Expert

• Help the teams move through the innovation journey by producing large and small scale materials and assets to visualize the phases of development (user journeys, etc )
• Be an acute listener and people person who can find ways to inspire and motivate teams in a manner that propels their solutions forward through design
• Serve as the enterprise consultant on innovation design including the use of all physical and virtual tools
• This position will require the ability to manage design and production for multiple innovation projects across the organization with varying degrees of oversight and guidance. This individual must possess a great deal of autonomy in decision-making and communications, know when to manage up and identify key areas of decision-making oversight.
• This individual’s responsibilities include identifying the design and production needs throughout the process to support the development and creation of ideas with varying levels of complexity and feasibility. This individual will need to be able to clearly identify the criteria for production and design and help bring the team’s solution to life through visualization. Additionally this individual will support the innovation lab team with production materials and design to ensure the day-to-day management of the lab continues smoothly.
• The diversity of this challenge is broad in application, as this role will involve various divisions, functions and levels of the organization. Strong leadership, coordination, communication, storytelling, and low-to-high-fidelity design and prototyping skills are required for this position.

Financial and budgetary responsibility

•  This position will be responsible for helping coordinate and track a budget for design and production development activities

 Direction and leadership given to others

• This position will have responsibility to support the work of innovation product managers and the innovation lab

 Regular requirement of directing, reviewing and assigning others work

• This position will not direct, review and assign work to direct reports but may direct work of external vendors

 The magnitude of member and/or volunteer interaction and responsibility

• This position will have limited interaction and no responsibility for member and/or volunteers
• This position involves engaging with stakeholders in a partnership capacity in order to bring their solutions to life.
• This level of engagement will require strong communication, listening, and information synthesis and storytelling skills. This individual will regularly interact with members of the EIG leadership team as well as innovation project teams in a consulting and informative capacity.
• This position will have a direct impact on AARP’s success in developing innovative solutions today and in the future. Responsible for helping teams and EIG tell their story through visualization and design, this individual will have high production responsibility.