Electronic Design Specialist - Illustrator

Pearson is an international media company with market-leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing. Pearson's education business represents about two-thirds of the company, and Penguin publishing and the Financial Times make up the balance. With more than 30,000 employees based in 60 countries, we are a family of businesses that draws on common assets, processes and shares a common purpose: to help our customers live and learn.Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D, and a member of E-Verify. Individual will oversee the art procurement required for Pearson's programs. Individual will be the liaison between Pearson and the Art Vendor. This individual will interact with the Design, Composition, Planning, and Editorial Teams. Must confer with internal editors regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced; and ensure art requests released to art vendors reflect that which is required for successful rendering. Responsible for ensuring 'self' understanding of individual project art styles; as well as enforcing vendor conformity to technical requirements, and styles. Will coordinate with internal staff and external suppliers to prioritize, render, and approve all art. Using Adobe Illustrator CS, individual must be capable of rendering basic to complex 2 and 4-color illustrations across Math, Science, Social Studies, English Language, and other subject areas, for test and ancillary materials administered at Grades K-12. Must be knowledgeable of color images to be rendered in a manner that can be used both online and output to print in grayscale format. This on-line/print requirement for art effectively doubles the difficulty of technical work to be done in the art department. Must understand print process requirements for 2-color CMYK, Digital, Offset, as well as for the Web.Other daily tasks required will include:1) Provide daily reports to project team and project manager2) Ensure accuracy and clarity of all art descriptions prior to releasing requests to the art vendor.3) Applying complexity levels to outgoing art requests4) Attending project team meetings5) Constant Vendor Communications6) Provide Weekly Project Status Reports to immediate supervisor and project team7) Coordinate hand-off process for New and Revised art between shifts.8) Technical check of all incoming art from art vendors9) Technical check of all art released for live composition. 10) Maintain upkeep of all server files to ensure consistency across test administrations11) Work with internal Production Planner to ensure schedule is met, and financial target is adhered to. Experience required: Must have an extensive knowledge of Adobe Suite of Products (i.e. Illustrator CS, and Adobe Photoshop); pre-flighting Acrobat 7.0 or higher knowledge a plus. Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills; must also have good organizational skills and attention to detail; be self-motivated, and able to multi-task. Must be able to manage technical standard for art that make print and on-line deployment successful.Experience preferred: Knowledge of web based applications and web based art formats, as well as art rendered for print. Knowledge of on-line assessment testing a plus. Extensive knowledge of 2 and 4-color art processes for print and on-line assessment. Education required: Associate Degree with 2-4 years of work related experience in graphic arts or related industry.Personality attributes/skills required: Self-motivated, multi-tasking, team player. Knowledge of both PC and Macintosh computer systems. Project management skills/experience a plus.