Chronicle Books Fellowships in Publishing, Children's, Marketing, and Industrial Design
Five six-month Design Fellowships for the Summer-Fall 2008 Session

The Chronicle Books Design Fellowship program offers five recent graduates a six-month, paid, hands-on education. There is a Design Fellow for each of our publishing groups, and they become an active member of the in-house design team, working on a range of projects while gaining professional skills and a portfolio of printed work. In addition, the Fellows collectively compose the Chronicle Books Design Lab: a think-tank charged with brainstorming the future of Chronicle's products.

About the Groups
The Publishing Design group is responsible for developing the likes of cookbooks, fiction/nonfiction, and titles in design, art, pop-culture, and photography. This group also develops both original and ancillary products in such forms as journals, kits, postcard sets, notecard sets, address books, decks, photo albums, stationery, calendars, and other specialty packages.

The Children's group acquires and develops board books, picture books, early readers, young adult chapter books, novelty formats and plush.

The Marketing Group creates collateral materials to promote a range of products for the Adult, Gift and Children's titles. Projects include advertising, signage, brochures, posters, displays, invitations, event kits, catalogs, promotional give-aways, sell-sheets, sales materials and corporate identity.

The Industrial/Product Design fellowship provides an opportunity for emerging designers to develop and design innovative packaging and products.

Job Description
Five six-month, full-time (40 hours/week) fellowships with a total stipend of $15,000.00 for each position. (Payments will be made biweekly throughout the six-month duration of work.) In addition, each position includes a monthly commuter check, redeemable towards a monthly mass transit pass.

START DATE: Monday, July 7, 2008
END DATE: Wednesday, December 23, 2008

Chronicle Books is a highly collaborative, team-oriented work environment that requires good interpersonal and communication skills, as well as an ability to multitask and take initiative. The position involves a wide range of responsibilities, of which the primary duties are to help support the in-house designers at various stages of the process, from research to design to production.

  • Tasks include, but are not limited to:

    DESIGN
  • design and produce sales materials
  • participate in designing book covers, jackets, book interiors, and gift products
  • design, develop, refine, and mock-up package and product design in preparation for presentation and production
  • present and discuss designs to fellow designers, and the book-cover critique group

    RESEARCH
  • take part in discussions with editorial, production, design, and sales and marketing departments during the book development process to realize a collective vision
  • help research creative talent such as illustrators, photographers, and designers
  • help scout images for specific book or gift projects
  • help research background information for individual book projects
  • help research materials, products and packaging in support of editorial projects

    PRODUCTION
  • maintenance of design area, including filing and archiving
  • maintain project dielines in our style guides
  • scanning, organizing, logging of artwork
  • editorial type corrections
  • typographic composition
  • checking over mechanicals
  • burning CDs
  • photocopying, laser printing
  • comping book jackets, covers, spreads
  • generating barcodes
  • working with production coordinators to color correct proofs
  • comping covers, spreads, and overall package for presentation and sales materials
  • coordinating deliveries
  • assist in photographing product shots for various projects

    DEPARTMENTAL
  • attend and participate in various department and company meetings
  • participate in discussions, critiques, and seminars with fellow designers
  • assist with organizing, and take part in our monthly portfolio reviews

    DESIGN LAB
    During the course of their residency, the Design Fellows will take part in Design Lab. This aspect of the Chronicle Design Fellowship program is an opportunity for the Fellows to take specifically designated time, separate from their daily responsibilities, to work as a team on self-initiated as well as assigned projects to explore innovative designs for new products. New materials, production processes, and forms will be encouraged.

    SOME ITEMS TO NOTE
  • work benefits offered to our full-time employees do not apply to fellows
  • relocation and housing costs are not covered by Chronicle Books

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