Terms of Reference: Layout and Production Designer

NESsT is seeking an independent consultant or design studio to develop the visual concept, editorial layout, and final production files for a premium, photography-driven coffee table book featuring human-centered stories, enterprise profiles, and impact data. NESsTwill provide the approved English manuscript, publication structure, pre-selected photography, impact data, and brand assets. The selected designer will transform these materials into a cohesive publication for print and digital distribution. 

Assignment type: Independent consultant or design studio 
Location: Remote. Applicants based in Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe are particularly encouraged to apply. 
Contract period: November 2–December 11, 2026 
Submission deadline: October 18, 2026 

Objective 

The designer or studio will develop the visual concept, editorial layout, and final production files for an approximately 80–120-page publication. The design should be photography-driven, human-centered, contemporary, and appropriate for donor, investor, partner, and institutional audiences. 

Scope of Work 

• Develop a cohesive visual and editorial design system, including representative layouts.

• Design the complete 80–120-page publication, including covers, front and back matter, chapter openings, longform stories, profiles, photo-led spreads, and impact pages.

• Integrate NESsT-supplied photography, captions, credits, impact data, and brand assets.

• Create a limited number of simple publication-ready charts, maps, timelines, statistics, and callouts using approved NESsT data.

• Flow and copyfit the approved English manuscript and incorporate revisions through formal review checkpoints.

• Prepare final print-ready and digital files.

This assignment excludes substantive writing, copyediting, translation, photography commissioning, extensive image research or retouching, printing, physical proofs, shipping, and interactive digital formats. 

Key Deliverables 

• Approved visual and editorial design system and representative layouts.

• By December 1: a release-ready digital package containing the introduction, ten longform stories, associated impact pages, and supporting front matter.

• By December 11: the complete publication layout, one print-ready PDF, one optimized digital PDF, and organized editable source files.

Required Qualifications 

• At least five years of professional publication or editorial design experience.

• Advanced proficiency in Adobe InDesign and relevant Adobe Creative Cloud applications.

• Strong experience with complete, long-form, multi-section print publications.

• Demonstrated ability to use typography, photography, pacing, and page composition to create a cohesive editorial narrative.

• Experience with photography-intensive publications, information design, commercial printing, color management, prepress, and production-file preparation.

• Strong attention to detail, file management, quality control, deadline management, and ability to work with a distributed international team.

Applicants must demonstrate substantial experience designing complete, long-form print publications. Experience limited to brochures, one-pagers, websites, presentation decks, social media assets, or short reports will not be sufficient on its own. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience with nonprofit, foundation, social entrepreneurship, international development, ESG, or impact-investing organizations.

• Experience designing donor-facing impact communications and stewardship materials.

• Experience with coffee table books, museum publications, foundation reports, premium annual reports, or comparable publications.

• Ability to translate complex social, environmental, and economic impact narratives into compelling visual experiences.

Proposal Requirements 

Applicants should submit a complete proposal that includes: a brief statement of interest and approach; three to five completed editorial publications, including at least two publications exceeding 60 pages and at least one photography-driven publication for a premium audience; portfolio details for each example; team composition, if applying as a studio; a fixed-fee budget with assumptions, exclusions, taxes, reimbursable costs, and third-party expenses; and confirmation of availability to meet the December 1 and December 11 deadlines. 

Anticipated Schedule 

Applicants must be available to complete the assignment between November 2 and December 11, 202…