Job Title: Design Lead

Job Details

- Location: Fort, Mumbai
- Work Mode: Onsite Role
- Employment Type: Full time / FTE
- Experience: 8 to 12 years

About BCCL

Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL) is one of India's largest media conglomerates, with a legacy dating back to 1838 and a portfolio that includes The Times of India, The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, and Vijay Karnataka. Across print, digital, branded content, out-of-home, and experiential platforms, BCCL combines trusted journalism, audience insight, and innovation to shape conversations at scale.

About 1838

1838 is a cultural platform and community for creative entrepreneurs and cultural tastemakers. Its space, magazine, events and media bring people and ideas together, extending the creative life of the community beyond the physical space.

The Opportunity:

The Design Lead will shape and evolve the visual identity of 1838, a cultural platform and community for creative entrepreneurs and cultural tastemakers. Across its heritage space, magazine, curated events and digital media, the role will translate 1838’s cultural vision into distinctive visual experiences that connect people, ideas and creative disciplines.

Reporting to the Creative Head – 1838, the role will lead the development of visual identities, editorial design, digital creatives, event communication, motion-led assets and other design outputs across the platform. It will combine solid design sensibility and cultural understanding with AI-enabled creative capabilities to develop original concepts, accelerate execution and scale content across formats without compromising creative quality.

The role will also establish AI-assisted design workflows, reusable visual systems and creative standards that strengthen 1838’s identity, enable experimentation and ensure a cohesive visual language across its magazine, programming, community and digital touchpoints.

What You Will Do:

1. Visual Identity & Creative Development

- Lead the creation of distinctive visual assets across the magazine, digital platforms, cultural programming, events, community initiatives and partnerships.
- Translate creative briefs into compelling visual concepts by combining design aesthetics, cultural insight, storytelling and AI-enabled creative techniques.
- Build and evolve 1838’s visual language, ensuring originality, consistency and a premium, culturally curious identity across touchpoints.




- Explore innovative visual treatments, typography, illustration, imagery and motion-led design to bring 1838’s stories and ideas to life.

2. AI-Enabled Design Workflows & Creative Systems

- Integrate AI-powered tools across image generation, visual enhancement, layout exploration, creative adaptation and asset production.
- Develop reusable design systems, templates, prompt libraries and visual asset repositories to improve creative efficiency and consistency.
- Identify opportunities to automate repetitive design tasks, accelerate iterations and scale content production while retaining human creative judgement.
- Experiment with emerging AI design tools and workflows to expand creative possibilities and improve production quality and turnaround.

3. Editorial, Digital & Multi-Platform Design

- Lead visual design for the magazine, digital content, newsletters, social media, presentations, event communication and other relevant formats.
- Adapt creative assets across platforms, formats and audience contexts while maintaining a coherent visual identity.
- Develop modular design approaches for content extensions, event promotions, community stories and partnership communication.
- Work closely with editorial and programming teams to ensure design strengthens the narrative, context and audience experience.

4. Creative Collaboration & Stakeholder Partnership

- Partner with the Creative Head, editorial, events and community teams to translate 1838’s editorial vision and programming calendar into compelling visual communication.
- Collaborate with contributors, photographers, videographers and external creative partners to deliver integrated visual experiences.
- Support partnership-led initiatives through design solutions that meet agreed briefs while preserving 1838’s creative and editorial standards.

5. Creative Governance & Quality Standards

- Establish design standards and review processes to maintain quality, originality, typography, layout hierarchy and visual consistency.




- Evaluate AI-generated outputs for relevance, accuracy, artefacts and creative integrity, refining them to meet 1838’s standards.
- Ensure responsible use of AI-generated and third-party assets, including appropriate attention to copyright, permissions and authenticity.

6. Innovation & Capability Building

- Track emerging AI design tools, generative visual technologies and creative trends relevant to 1838’s cultural and digital ecosystem.
- Drive experimentation with new visual formats and AI-enabled workflows that improve creative impact and production efficiency.
- Share tools, techniques and learnings with the wider creative team to strengthen AI adoption and continuously improve design practices.

What You Bring:

- 7 to10 years of experience in graphic design, visual communication, editorial design, digital creative or integrated design environments, supported by a strong portfolio.
- Proven ability to conceptualise and deliver high-quality visual identities and design solutions across editorial, digital, cultural, event or brand-led formats.
- Hands-on experience with AI-powered design tools, including generative imagery, prompt-led visual creation, image enhancement and creative adaptation.
- Strong understanding of design systems, typography, layout, visual storytelling and multi-platform asset development.
- Demonstrated ability to combine creative judgement with AI-enabled workflows to improve quality, speed and scalability.
- Exposure to art, design, culture, architecture, fashion, film, publishing or creative communities is an advantage.

Education:

A bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Fine Arts, Digital Media or a related discipline is desirable. Practical design capability, AI proficiency, creative thinking and portfolio quality will carry significant weight.

Equal Opportunity:

BCCL is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and consider applicants without discrimination based on gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, caste, ethnicity, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Candidates who need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process may inform the recruiter.

Note: The advertised role title is indicative. The final designation will be as per company norms.

📌 Design Lead (Mumbai)
🏢 Bennett Coleman u0026 Co. Ltd. (The Times of India)
📍 Mumbai