Creative Director, Evo

About Evo:

For over 20 years, The Evolution Championship Series (Evo), has produced the largest and longest-running fighting game tournament conventions in the world. Our events are rallying points where fans, publishers, developers, and brands celebrate fighting games and the communities that love them. Beyond our established live events, Evo’s evolving mission is to create, celebrate, and renew fighting game fandom. Since 2021, Evo has been owned by a joint venture between Sony Interactive Entertainment and RTS Management, Inc.

About the Role:

As Evo’s Creative Director, you will play a crucial role in shaping the visual identity and creative direction of the brand. You will be at the forefront of determining and crafting the best ways to visually represent Evo’s events, broadcasts, and communications in the market. Your responsibilities will involve leading the development, refinement, and maintenance of Evo’s brand identity, ensuring the quality and consistency of its creative output across multiple mediums. Your ability to collaborate extensively with contractors, outside vendors, and brand partners will be integral to maintaining Evo’s vision across a diverse range of projects, productions, and products. Working closely with the Programming Director and Operations team, you will ensure the seamless integration of Evo’s brand across digital and physical media, while cultivating a culture of constructive critique, teamwork, and perpetual refinement. 

Given Evo's small team and environment, this role requires a hands-on approach to producing creative work. You will be actively involved in the creation and execution of visual and creative projects, directly contributing to the development of assets for various platforms. Possessing strong creative thinking and leadership skills, you will guide and inspire your team, while effectively communicating concepts and strategies. Your role involves not only overseeing but actively participating in the creative process. 

Reporting Structure:

You will report to the General Manager

Responsibilities:

• Creative Vision and Strategy: Develop and communicate a clear creative vision and strategy for event materials, marketing campaigns, and brand initiatives, transforming creative briefs into engaging solutions that unmistakably represent Evo
• Hands-On Visual Asset Creation: Directly create and produce visual assets for web, digital media, social media, and other platforms, showcasing Evo’s brand identity and messaging impactfully. This includes graphics, illustrations, digital and print layouts, and multimedia content
• Style Guides and Brand Standards: Create, manage, and maintain comprehensive Evo style guides, brand standards, and graphic strategies for broadcast, digital, and print media, ensuring consistent brand implementations globally
• Creative Services Development: Assist in the hiring, managing, and scheduling of freelance and full-time resources, including designers, motion graphics artists, and other creative professionals that will assist you in solving for all creative needs for Evo
• Leadership in Design and Aesthetics: Act as a leader and guardian of the design process, offering hands-on expertise in visual aesthetics, layout, typography, and overall design principles across multiple projects and partner relationships to impart wisdom while establishing vision alignment 
• Brand Integrity and Quality Control: Vigilantly protect the integrity of Evo’s brand and maintain a high standard of quality and consistency across all projects and collaborations, both internal and external. This includes reviewing and approving creative work to ensure adherence to brand standards, relevance, and quality in all visual and creative outputs. 
• Website: Manage the the evo.gg website vendor and visual refreshes of the website
• Merchandise Program: Create and manage the Evo Merchandise program, including GTM, contractor/vendor selection, and product design. You will work directly with publishers and other IP licensors during design ideation and approvals
• Collaboration with Sales and Operations: Work closely with the sales and operations teams to find creative solutions that support their initiatives and resonate with Evo's fanbase
• Project Management and Prioritization: Set priorities, organize workloads, and manage multiple project deliverables, providing guidance, feedback, and direction from inception to completion
• Inspire Creativity that Achieves Results: Motivate Evo team members, contractors, and partners to push creative boundaries and achieve demonstrable results, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence

Key Questions To Explore In This Role: 

• How can Evo differentiate and mature its brand visuals, communications, and products to stand out in the competitive gaming landscape without breaking from its roots?
• In what ways can Evo establish a brand presence that effectively communicates its unique role in the market while paying homage to and respecting the fighting gaming community’s culture?
• How should Evo build and nurture cross-functional relationships that not only support our creative needs but also align with brand, operation, sales, and collaboration goals?
• What strategies and processes can be implemented to ensure that Evo’s designs and brand extensions maintain a cohesive and unified vision across all platforms, initiatives, and regions?
• How will you provide constructive guidance to Evo staff, contractors, and partners that enhances their understanding of Evo's brand and improves the quality of their work? 
• How can creative services establish and exemplify best practices that foster an efficient and harmonious working environment for all Evo team members?
• What methods can be employed to lead brainstorming sessions that are driven by creative problem solving, ensuring they are productive, inclusive, and conducive to generating innovative ideas?

Requirements:

• A strong, documented background in visual design, including experience with branding, campaigns, product marketing, and similar projects
• At least 5+ years of professional experience in live-event production and advertising-focused environments
• Exceptional skills across Adobe Creative Cloud applications, with additional proficiency in specialty software like Figma
• Strong artistic vision with an ability to generate innovative ideas and concepts, both visually and in written mediums
• Robust understanding of typography, color theory, composition, and the integration of motion graphics with live content
• Proven experience in conceptualizing and executing large-scale campaign work and video production for global brands
• A collaborative and action-oriented approach, coupled with a positive attitude towards feedback and iteration, aimed at producing high-quality work
• The ability to creatively tackle project constraints and adapt to highly variable project and brand needs
• Willingness to experiment with unproven ideas, explore new tools and precedents, stay on top of trends, expand industry knowledge, and develop new skills
• Excellent communication skills capable of engaging, persuading, and inspiring teammates, peers, and partners
• A natural inclination to build and maintain relationships with coworkers, peers, and clients

Bonus Points:

• Background in growing niche communities
• A network of esports and general gaming connections
• Japanese language proficiency 
• Clear understanding of the challenges faced in matches between zoners and grapplers

Perks:

• Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance
• 401(k)
• Generous PTO and remote work flexibility

Evo is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate and welcome diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment.