In short

Color has the power to shape our thoughts, moods, and emotions, influencing us both physiologically and psychologically. As a Color Designer at On, you play a pivotal role in shaping the brand's identity through the strategic use of color. This position involves crafting compelling color stories that resonate with consumers, aligning with brand values, and driving engagement across product ranges. Color Designers are storytellers, working collaboratively with various teams to create cohesive color proposals that cater to different product categories, consumer needs, and market trends. They maintain a deep understanding of industry trends, consumer behavior, and emerging demands, and ensure seamless integration of color across all product categories, from apparel to footwear.

Your Mission

  • Consumer focused color work - Strategize the use of color to evoke emotional connections, align with brand identity, drive consumer engagement and ensure commerciality
  • Great understanding of our distribution, channels and tiering - Maintain a deep understanding of consumer preferences, market trends, and competitive landscape across color design domains
  • Color proposal creation in alignment with all categories - Create cohesive color stories/proposals that translate across various product ranges to create head to toe moments for our consumer and align expression across at retail
  • Color CAD creation
  • Color palette build - Develop color palettes that pull from the CD color umbrella as well as create narratives tailored to specific product categories, consumer demographics and market needs
  • Connection to material designer and FTW designers in order to collaborate on product creation from start to finish
  • Connection to Apparel Color Design in order to ensure that color expresses as a total brand
  • Continuously monitor industry color trends, consumer behavior, and emerging market demands across color
  • Work closely with Design, Development, Product Strategy, and Merchandising teams to align color strategies with overall product goals and brand initiatives
  • Present color design proposals, concepts, and narratives in compelling ways to gain buy-in from internal stakeholders and external partners, ensuring seamless integration of color
  • Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment, encouraging creative exchange and cross-disciplinary collaboration
  • Keep up to date with color trends—how colors are combined, how often they’re used, and how they create impact in art, culture, and fashion to tell stories and convey emotions
  • Stay knowledgeable about contemporary art and new artists, paying attention to how they use color in their work
  • Regularly build and maintain a comprehensive color inspiration library that includes colors, combinations, patterns, textures, designs, mood images, materials, and shapes, both digitally and physically
Group of girls smiling
  • Man and woman sat at desks talking
  • Open planned office with men and women sat on a a large curved sofa
  • Group of runners talking outside the office
  • A team of people sat on the steps with a view of mountains outside the office.
  • Two women smiling at each other in a meeting room with large curved windows
  • A group of people sat around a table looking at large design papers
  • 3 men sat around with laptops smiling at each other
  • a large group of runners holding an On flag smiling at the camera
  • Man and woman sat at desks talking
  • Open planned office with men and women sat on a a large curved sofa
  • Group of runners talking outside the office
  • A team of people sat on the steps with a view of mountains outside the office.
  • Two women smiling at each other in a meeting room with large curved windows
  • A group of people sat around a table looking at large design papers
  • 3 men sat around with laptops smiling at each other
  • a large group of runners holding an On flag smiling at the camera
  • Man and woman sat at desks talking
  • Open planned office with men and women sat on a a large curved sofa
  • Group of runners talking outside the office
  • A team of people sat on the steps with a view of mountains outside the office.
  • Two women smiling at each other in a meeting room with large curved windows
  • A group of people sat around a table looking at large design papers
  • 3 men sat around with laptops smiling at each other
  • a large group of runners holding an On flag smiling at the camera

Your story

  • Bachelor's degree in Color Sciences or related field
  • 4+ years of experience in the footwear industry with a focus on color design
  • Strong understanding of merchandising methodologies, strategies and the analysis of selling data and the role that color plays within these
  • Solid understanding of color science processes as it relates to footwear materials, with a preference towards performance footwear
  • Proactive and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment, with a demonstrated ability to solve complex challenges
  • You possess proficiency in Pantone and other color systems as well as design tools such as: Adobe Creative Suite, PLM, etc
  • Passionate about sustainability and experience in integrating sustainable practices into color creation and materials sourcing
  • Strong understanding of competitor brands and distribution channels, with a knack for gaining insights that drive product differentiation
  • Fluent in English, written and spoken, any other language would be a plus
Three On colleagues eating lunch together

About the Team

Our Color and Materials Team plays a pivotal role in shaping the visual identity and aesthetic appeal of our products across all categories. Comprising talented professionals with diverse backgrounds in color theory and material science, our team collaborates seamlessly to deliver innovative and trend-setting designs that resonate with our consumers and elevate our brand presence in the market. In essence, our Color and Material Design Teams serve as the creative powerhouse pulling together the past, present and future perspectives to drive the visual and tactile experience of our products. Through a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach, we craft compelling color and material design solutions that captivate consumers, differentiate our brand, and inspire lasting connections in the competitive marketplace. This role requires someone with a balance of creative vision, technical expertise, and the ability to collaborate seamlessly across different teams. If you are passionate about color design in footwear and want to help shape the future of product aesthetics, we’d love to hear from you!

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Two woman having a talk at a table

Athlete

Athlete

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The difference is in the detail. So we push boundaries. Mark those marginal gains. All in pursuit of designing ever better looking products. That’s what we do – what’s best today, can be improved tomorrow.

Learn about our Spirits
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What we offer

On is a place that is centered around growth and progress. We offer an environment designed to give people the tools to develop holistically – to stay active, to learn, explore and innovate. Our distinctive approach combines a supportive, team-oriented atmosphere, with access to personal self-care for both physical and mental well-being, so each person is led by purpose.

On is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a work environment that is fair and inclusive, where all decisions related to recruitment, advancement, and retention are free of discrimination.

Build the better you

What to expect

We want to set everyone up for success, so here’s the lowdown on how we hire. Our process is a two-way street – bringing you into our culture, while helping us learn how you think.

Our full process can last about eight weeks from application to offer, because we care about getting it right. These steps explain how we usually do things.

Before you get started, feel free to consider if you want to work with us. Strange question? Well, we give people a lot of space to navigate their day-to-day and that style isn't for everyone. We want you to be passionate about what you do and be sure this is the right fit. Because when skills and passion combine – it creates that 'Wow' moment.