Newspaper Designer, Kids' Print Publication (Remote)

Designer wanted: give a new printed newspaper for kids its look

We’re launching a small, printed newspaper for curious kids (roughly ages 7 to 11), and the mission drives everything: get kids off their electronics and back to reading something physical, true, and hopeful, written and edited by real people instead of machines. You can see the live project at thejuniortimes.com. This is a real, launching publication, not a content farm: real pay, a live product, and a genuine plan to grow. We need one designer to give them a look worthy of them, every single month.

What you would do:

• Build the master template first: a nameplate with real personality (warm and smart, never cutesy or corporate), a page grid and column system, and a typographic system covering headlines, subheads, body, captions, bylines, pull quotes, and sidebars
• Design page styles for the kinds of content we run: a front-page feature, standard story pages, a short current-events page, an activities and games page, and a back page
• Lay out each monthly issue from there: flow in the stories and images the editor hands you, make it sing, and deliver a print-ready file to our printer's exact specs
• Keep the look consistent issue to issue, and keep each issue on schedule

The format: 11 by 17 inches, full color, printed on newsprint. Newsprint is a real constraint and we want a designer who treats it as one rather than fighting it. Ink spreads, fine hairlines disappear, and heavy solid coverage turns muddy. The papers that look great on newsprint are the ones designed for it: strong contrast, generous white space, type that holds up. If that sounds like a fun problem rather than a compromise, we will get along.

Who we are looking for: someone who has designed for print, ideally editorial: a newspaper, a magazine, a newsletter, or a kids' or education publication. You know how a grid holds a page together and how type sets a tone. Reliability matters more than a famous CV or resume, and a real portfolio matters more than either.

On tools: We would like the paper built in Affinity, which is now free. It keeps the template open to the team and keeps us off a subscription. If you work in InDesign and would rather deliver that way, say so in your note and we will talk. The template and its design belong to The Junior Times, LLC, and we will put that in the agreement so it is clear and fair to both of us.

The kind of place it is: this paper is self-funded and mission-driven, not corporately owned, so you would have genuine room to shape it. The look of this paper is not a template someone hands you. It is yours to make. We want collaboration and we are open to your direction, as long as it serves the central mission of giving kids something true, hopeful, and worth reading. If you have wanted real creative latitude instead of corporate constraints, that is exactly what this is.

The offer: this is a fully remote, work-from-anywhere contractor role (1099). $400 per issue to start (monthly), growing as the paper grows, plus a one-time $500 fee for the template build, since that first month is real work that every issue afterward runs on. While the paper is mission-driven, it is for profit, and keeping costs low helps us reach breakeven faster, build readership and advertising, and get to profitability. For the right person who believes in the mission, this is a chance to define the look of something built to last, in print, with your name on it.

To apply, send:

• A line or two on why this appeals to you
• A link to your portfolio, especially any print or editorial work
• A note on what you would design in (Affinity, InDesign, or something else) and rough monthly availability

How to apply: Email [email protected] with the items above.