Ghastling Towers is looking for a freelance graphic designer to join our team!

The Ghastling is a magazine paying homage to the penny dreadful of yester-year and is renowned for its vintage aesthetic, illustrative detail and stories that creep. We are a niche magazine with a worldwide readership. We are looking for someone who can bring a distinctive flair to the magazine and who has a love for vintage typeface, pulp classics and vintage magazine and book design.

You will be required to design and typeset two magazines a year, plus, for the right candidate, there is an opportunity to design our very first book in our novella series.

This is an ideal opportunity for somebody wishing to develop a career and really make their mark in book and magazine design.

What you will be responsible for:

Layout, typesetting, cover design and ensuring the magazine is print-ready and on time.

Essential Criteria:

• Have some experience of working in publishing (or publishing/design degree) using Indesign, Photoshop or Quark software. (You must have your own software.)
• Must have experience of typesetting and layout.
• Understand the sanctity of a deadline and the importance of meeting this.
• Must be able to work as part of a team adhering to the requirements of the editor.
• Must be resourceful.
• Have a shrewd eye for detail.

Very Desirable Criteria:

• Knowledge of printing platforms such as Ingram Spark.
• Experience of working with small indie publishers.
• A love for Gothic, Victoriana, Horror, Ghost Stories, Folk Horror, Macabre, Uncanny Literature and tales that are just plain weird!
• A demonstrable love for vintage typeface and book design.
• UK based would be an advantage. Wales based – even more so!
• Illustration skills.

Paid: Please include your rates in your application.

Timeline: Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by (or before) early January 2021. The successful person will be expected to deliver a print-ready file by the beginning of March.

Please apply via email entitled ‘Graphic Designer application’ to Rebecca Parfitt: editor@theghastling.com with an example of your portfolio – shared folders such as Google Drive are acceptable. Links to websites and Instagram pages are also fine. Please don’t send attachments. Please include a brief covering letter telling us a little bit about yourself and your previous relevant experience and future career ambitions. A CV outlining recent relevant jobs or work experience would also help.

Please also tell us whether you are a reader of the magazine!

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: midnight on MONDAY 7th December

Thank you!