Freelance Visual Communication Design Jobs in Chicago, IL

We are looking for a Visual Communication Design Lead who can guide teams and clients through complex design challenges, setting the visual direction and elevating storytelling across engagements.

You'll work collaboratively to bring our voices, stories, and concepts to life through exceptional visual craft. The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in graphic design and experience applying practical and conceptual design across brand systems, interaction and digital product design, motion, and environments. We're looking for designers who bring a distinctive visual voice, raise the bar for quality, and help others do the same. 

As a Design Lead, you'll own the visual direction of engagements and lead multidisciplinary teams through all phases of the design process from early research and exploration through prototyping, refinement, and client-facing storytelling. 

You'll contribute across a diverse portfolio of work spanning brand, experience, interaction, digital product, and service design. Your work may take many forms, including brand strategy and expression, storytelling systems, interaction and digital product design, data visualization, packaging, and environmental design.

• Lead project teams and collaborate with multidisciplinary designers
• Collaborate closely with clients, using storytelling and design to make complex ideas clear and actionable
• Turn research and open-ended questions into visual systems and stories that build empathy for people and bring their experiences to life for both teams and clients
• Create and guide looks-like/works-like prototypes at different levels of fidelity to explore ideas and align teams
• Support and grow other designers through thoughtful critique, collaboration, and hands-on craft leadership
• Hold a high bar for visual quality while staying open to exploration, iteration, and learning
• Champion visual communication as a powerful way to make ideas tangible and meaningful

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology Brand
• Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
• The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Berkeley
• Cities United Rebrand

• Relevant experience and/or educational background required in visual communication, brand expression, interaction, and digital product design
• Bachelor's degree or higher in graphic design, interaction design or an equivalent degree
• Strong, versatile portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft, visual storytelling, and leadership across complex work
• Fluency in tools such as Adobe Creative Suite and Figma, with experience using motion and design prototyping tools
• Comfort shaping and delivering client-facing narratives using tools like Google Slides and FigJam/Figma Slides
• Ability to balance hands-on making with direction-setting and mentorship

• Experience establishing and expressing brand identity-from strategy through execution-across systems, touchpoints, and mediums
• Experience leading visual work across interaction and digital product experiences, not just static artifacts
• Experience leading client work and multidisciplinary teams through complex, often ambiguous design challenges
• Experience working across industries and project types, adapting craft to context and audience

• Confident and collaborative-able to lead teams and clients while remaining open, curious, and human
• Comfortable with ambiguity-able to push work forward without having all the answers
• Growth-oriented-embraces critique, experimentation, and learning through making
• Proactive and accountable-takes ownership, follows through, and supports the success of the whole team

IDEO is a place where you can solve diverse, complex challenges for our clients and their organizations, alongside thoughtful, intelligent individuals who lead with curiosity, empathy, and humility. We intentionally craft moments that allow our community to pause, create, and connect. We encourage our community to bring their whole selves to work, respect the need for work-life balance, and allow for autonomy in the design process and your career.

IDEO is committed to paying its employees, contractors & vendors equitably, regardless of gender identity or race/ethnicity/cultural identity.

The salary range for this role is $100,000-$120,000 USD. Final offers may vary based on candidate experience, location, and other factors. As a full-time position, this role is eligible for employee benefits.