Contract Graphic / Brand Designer

Who We Are

TasteMakers is a curated network of designers, creative technologists, frontend engineers, and AI-native makers working on projects with leading AI labs, tech companies, and brands. Our work sits at the intersection of design, human judgment, and AI research.

Who You Are

• We are seeking experienced Mid - Senior Graphic Designers, professionally trained with a degree in Graphic Design, Advertising Services, BFA or similar who understands not just how to execute, but why certain creative choices resonate.
• Designers who thrive in this role have hands on experience not just in design execution, but providing direction - art and creative direction is a given, but verbal and written direction like sharing design feedback to fellow creatives or briefing clients and guiding creative decisions.
• You consider yourself an analytical storyteller - twofold - via your creative output and in your briefs, creative direction and instruction.
• 5+ years of professional design experience
• Strong eye across traditional design disciplines: graphic design, editorial, brand, digital(social/web).
• You don't need to specialize in one - you need to evaluate all of them credibly and have an impeccable eye for creative.
• Comfortable with professional design vocabulary leading, tracking, kerning, cap height, color relationships, grid systems, visual hierarchy.
• You should write the way you would speak to another senior designer.
• Experience giving design feedback in a professional setting - creative direction, design reviews.
• You need to know how to structure feedback that is specific, grounded in design principles, and actionable.
• Extensive experience conducting structured high-level design critique (e.g. leading critiques evaluating work against clear standards or contributing to research systems or design quality frameworks).
• Experience providing design feedback and direction (e.g. mentoring designers contributing to team critiques or guiding creative decisions).

What we offer

• Remote-first — work from anywhere
• Creative Community — You will have access to TasteMakers - a global online community of fellow creative technologists and an opportunity to collaborate and network with like-minded creatives across the world.
• Flexible engagement — We are seeking true consultant / freelance Designers. We offer 20-40 hrs / week for project work load and we have a revolving door of new projects coming in frequently. The idea is to continue to utilize our creative experts from one project to another. All work is async and can be done on your own time - we set deliverables - you pick your schedule.
• All work is paid via independent contractor (1099).
• Highly competitive rates - We determine rates marked to market. This includes project execution & deliverables, level of subject matter expertise & experience, along with location. Mid to Senior level designers typically will fall in the average of 45 - 80 /hr for candidates in the United States.
• Interesting, cutting-edge work — design systems, creative tooling, AI evaluation, frontend applications, visual generation, and interaction design

Our Process

• Apply and share your portfolio so we can see your craft.
• If there's a strong fit, you'll be connected with a member of our team and given access to TasteMakers Community and all Current Opportunities.
• Once you're in, you're in — You'll have the freedom to choose which projects you want to pursue. Typically each project comes with a 45 minute assessment to gauge your critical design thinking - like how to prompt / create a brief, provide critique on an existing asset, or provide feedback and direction on how to elevate a design.
• This is an unpaid assessment but it comes in lieu of an interview. You can consider it a skills-based interview.
• Projects you could work on: Vote & rank for preference data — compare outputs, pick what's better, and help train models on what "great" looks like Critique & evaluate assets — structured reviews, QA, and clear reasoning that teaches models how to judge quality Design from scratch — brand guidelines, design systems, decks, and visual assets across styles and mediums Design & build frontend — from UI and prototypes to polished, production-ready frontend apps

Specializations We're Hiring For

• Visual Design & Illustration — SVGs, icons, diagrams, infographics, visual systems, editorial graphics, and data visualization
• Brand & Identity — logos, typography systems, visual identities, and scalable brand expression
• Design Evaluation & QA — design critique, accessibility review, structured evaluations, pixel-level UI analysis, and quality assurance

Benefits

TasteMakers is committed to building a diverse community of designers and makers. We encourage applications from designers of all backgrounds who share our commitment to exceptional craft and genuine taste.