Overview

The Creative Design Team is responsible for maintaining the Rainforest Alliance’s visual identity and producing communications materials by request to fit the needs of other departments across the organization. Our objective is to prepare professional, visually attractive materials that clearly convey the intended messages to a desired audience in a timely manner, all while upholding and strengthening the Rainforest Alliance brand.

Strong editorial design, page layout, and data visualization skills—in addition to experience working within an existing brand system—are critical. A thorough understanding of fundamental graphic design principles, including color theory, typography, and hierarchy is expected. Prior experience working with nonprofit clients is preferred but not essential.

Consultancy Scope of Work

Main Objectives

The Freelance Graphic Designer’s objective is to support the Creative Design team, primarily by taking on editorial design-related requests submitted by other departments.

Activities

Typical assignments will involve using existing templates and provided assets to create different types of Rainforest Alliance-branded documents. Documents will range from 1–20 pages, and will include short informational factsheets, marketing flyers, scientific reports, and slide decks. Documents may need to be prepared for printing, online distribution, or both. Depending on the proficiencies of the designer and the kinds of requests the team gets, there is the possibility of additional assignments that may include social media graphics, signage and physical display materials, promotional items, or illustration.

Expected turn-around times will range from 2 days up to 2 weeks, depending on the project scope. The Freelance Graphic Designer may set their own hours, but must be available for scheduled check-in calls at least once a week during European or US business hours.

Deliverables

Specific deliverables will depend on the organization’s needs at the time. See the Activities section above for more information about typical assignments.

General Terms and Conditions for Request for Proposal

• Applicants must provide all requisite information under this RFP and clearly and concisely respond to all points set out in this RFP. Any proposal which does not fully and comprehensively address this RFP may be rejected.
• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by RA.
• Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.
• RA reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.
• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.
• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.
• It is the responsibility of every bidder to identify any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in its proposal so that it may be handled accordingly. However, RA cannot guarantee confidentiality.

Selection Criteria and Qualifications

The consultant or consultant firm should comply with the following minimum qualifications:

• High level of expertise with the Adobe Creative Suite (especially InDesign and Illustrator)
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office software (especially Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
• At least 1 year of experience as a professional graphic designer
• Experience with editorial design and page layout for print and the web
• Experience working within brand identity systems and using existing templates
• Fluency in English (written and spoken)

The following qualifications are not required, but preference will be given to candidates who have:

• Experience working with nonprofit clients
• Special proficiency in data visualization (charts, graphs, and diagrams)
• Familiarity with Canva
• Familiarity with Figma
• Fluency in a second language (especially French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, or German)