Associate Designer, Novelty Illustrations

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles. 

Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity

The Associate Designer (Novelty Illustrations) is responsible for creating illustrations and graphics for products across category, presenting Novelty artwork working and working closely with the design teams to meet deadlines.  The Associate Designer will be assisting Novelty team in all aspects of the design process and provide support as needed.

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency to...

• Understand the brand’s aesthetics and how to translate that into artworks while keeping the brand’s DNA.
• Assist in creating cross-category Novelty illustrations and artwork for both Mainline and Outlet channels.
• Have extremely high illustration skills. 
• Identify trends and stay on top of newness in market. Be able to present an up-to-date market research and competitor report.
• Create technical packages of artwork for production.
• Ensure assigned CAD work is presentable for key meetings and mill-ready for submission by calendar targets.
• Have basic understanding of all stages of design process, from concept through production and development.
• Be able to visualize and see how a concept or artwork becomes translated into a product.
• Create repeats and/or artwork/graphic placement on templates.
• Report to the Senior Manager, Novelty. Work in partnership with the Print and Color team.

The accomplished individual will possess...

• Excellent illustration and drawing skills, in different mediums. Textile or Graphic design knowledge are a plus.
• understanding of the kate spade brand aesthetic and being able to translate it into a visual, unique handwriting.
• Clear and strong communication skills.   
• Ability to work closely with multiple departments, under tight deadlines.
• Expert proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite, mainly Photoshop and Illustrator.

An outstanding professional will have...

• 3+ years of equivelent experience in design or Illustration and Graphics 
• Contemporary and engaging portfolio with strengths in illustration and graphics.
• Very strong art style and sensibilities across many mediums.
• Ability to be self-sufficient and juggle different types of projects with independent time-management skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills. Ability and experience presenting work in meetings to cross-functional partners.

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or employeerelations@tapestry.com

Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com. 

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Work Setup

BASE PAY RANGE $65,000.00 TO $75,000.00
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