Positions in: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, or anywhere else in Africa
Do you want to create compelling visual storytelling and infographics for watchdog media and digital democracy initiatives across Africa?
Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for an Infographics Illustrator to join our Data Academy team, to create distinctive infographics, interactive maps and other visual stories.
The candidate may be based at any of the StoryLab’s primary hubs in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa. We’re also open to exceptional applicants from elsewhere in Africa.
CfA’s StoryLab is part of the Data Academy, which spearheads our training partnerships and data analysis and storytelling initiatives. It also includes CfA communities such as the WanaData women data science/storytelling network and the africanDRONE civic drone community, as well as the sensors.AFRICA sensor journalism initiative, with a network of more than 50+ newsroom and university partners across Africa. In addition, the Data Academy is custodian of other major CfA public infrastructure, such as the continent’s largest open data portal, open.AFRICA, and Africa’s largest census data portal, HURUMap.
The ideal candidate is an experienced designer, who is passionate about using illustrations/infographics to tell compelling stories, and who has a demonstrated ability to produce work that is simultaneously imaginative, appropriate, and responsible. They will be experienced in creating static data visualisations, infographics, maps, reports and dashboards.
The successful candidate will work with an agile transnational team of other data analysts, digital designers and data journalists in the Data Academy, with additional support from CfA’s software engineering and forensic research teams, in 20 countries across the continent.
Required: minimum requirements include:
- Bachelor’s degree in graphic arts, design, communications, or related field
- 3-5 years of experience in graphic design
- Knowledge of layouts, graphic fundamentals, typography, print, and the web
- Deep knowledge of data formatting software (Google Sheet, Microsoft Excel) and data visualisation tools (Rawgraphs, Flourish, Datawrapper, Tableau, etc).
- Deep knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, InDesign, and other graphic design software.
- Compelling portfolio of work over a wide range of creative projects, including illustrations, infographics, interactive maps and brand identities.
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent eye for detail
- Creative mindset and problem solving skills
Preferred: candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Multiple languages, such as Kiswahili and French, or other languages spoken in Africa
- Robust data visualisation skills (including the creation of charts, graphs and maps)
- Proficiency in HTML/CSS and/or Javascript/MapBox/D3JS
Language and Location Requirements:
- Location: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa or anywhere else in Africa
- Primary language: English
- Preferred but not required languages: French or Amharic, Arabic, and/or Kiswahili.
About the Role:
The successful candidate will join CfA’sStoryLab, on our Data Academy team, which produces data-driven tools and storytelling for the organisation’s internal projects, as well as supports data desks at a network of external partners across the continent.
Projects range from award-winning multimedia journalism such as the Sucked Dry investigation into land grabs in 11 Nile Basin countries, to data-driven tools such as the GenderGap calculator that gives insight into salary disparities across Africa and building/maintaining major infrastructure such as the continent’s largest open data portal, at open.AFRICA. The Data Academy also runs the continent’s largest online training portal for digital/data journalists, at the StoryLab Academy, and is custodian of the WanaData women data science/storytelling community and wider 35,000+ member Hacks/Hackers Africa network.
As the Infographics Illustrator, you will bring a strong perspective to your design work while maintaining a design point of view and the impact it can have at scale. You will synthesise the team’s quantitative and qualitative findings, observations, and analysis into convincing visualisations.
Responsibilities Your daily responsibilities will include:
- Create and design various materials for digital collateral, including graphic assets for social media, websites and online events
- Ensure projects are completed with high quality and on schedule
- Establish creative direction for the company as well as brand guidelines
- Prioritise and manage multiple projects within design specifications and budget restrictions
- Work in a team and with a wide range of media and use graphic design software
- Improve look and feel of CfA’s products, content and brands
- Improve and maintain the team’s design guidelines
- Occasionally take part in training and community events as a trainer and help review courseware created to teach data journalism
- Work proactively and think critically to improve design components of tools and stories created by the data and design team
- Coordinate and work with the team on Slack and take part in daily standups and weekly calls
What We Offer:
- A competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- A dynamic workplace, with a transnational team, occasional international travel, and generous vacation benefits.
- Ongoing opportunities to learn new cutting-edge skills and techniques/technologies to future-proof yourself in a rapidly evolving industry.
- A chance to shine on a global stage, writing for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.
How to apply:
Please fill in this form: by 15 December 2021
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 70 staff in 19 countries, who build digital democracy solutions that are intended to give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and that strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
This includes building infrastructure such as the continent’s largest open data portal, open.AFRICA, and largest open source civic software portal, commons.AFRICA, as well as the largest repository of investigative document-based evidence, source.AFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network that gives citizens their own ‘eyes in the sky’, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative in 12 African countries, and the sensors.AFRICA remote-sensing citizen science initiative to combat air/water pollution.CfA also incubates the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), as an association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional mainstream media to smaller specialist units. ANCIR member newsrooms investigate crooked politicians, organised crime and big business. The iLAB is ANCIR’s in-house digital forensic unit, with teams in east, south and west Africa. ANCIR uses its resources to strengthen newsrooms’ own internal