- Purpose of the assignment
The Ocean Sustainability Foundation (OSF), under the aegis of Fondation CNRS, is seeking to appoint a communication and design service provider to provide ongoing graphic design and light editorial production support for the TEST-IPOS project.
The provider will support the quality, consistency and responsiveness of IPOS communication materials.
The service will complement the work of an internal communication officer, who will remain responsible for publication, community management and day-to-day social media activity.
The assignment is expected to run for 13 months from the signature or notification of the contract.
- Background
IPOS is an emerging demand-driven ocean knowledge-to-policy mechanism designed to provide timely, credible and policy-relevant support to States and regional actors for the implementation of ocean sustainability commitments.
During the TEST-IPOS phase, IPOS will test its services, governance arrangements, methodologies and communication approach in operational conditions.
The communication materials produced under this assignment must be scientifically sound, accessible, visually coherent and adapted to institutional and international audiences, including public authorities, scientific organisations, philanthropic partners, civil society and specialised media.
- Objectives
● Ensure visual and editorial consistency across regular IPOS communication materials;
● Produce clear, professional and reusable graphic and editorial outputs for recurring communication needs;
● Support editorial planning and content preparation without replacing internal community management;
● Provide templates and adaptable formats that enable the internal team to produce materials efficiently;
● Ensure a responsive production capacity for regular needs and selected institutional highlights.
Job responsibilities
- Scope of services
4.1 Creative and graphic production support
The provider will produce and adapt communication materials for digital and light print use.
This may include:
● Visuals for LinkedIn, Instagram and other channels, to be published by the internal communication officer;
● Carousels, thumbnails, banners, event visuals and multi-format adaptations;
● Simple infographics based on data, messages, reports or service outputs;
● Presentation materials, slides, covers, briefing notes and short PDF documents;
● Graphic adaptations for newsletters, web pages and institutional documents;
● Updates or adaptations of existing templates and visual guidelines.
4.2 Light editorial and content support
The provider may provide light editorial support in English, including:
● Drafting or reformulating short titles, subtitles, captions, taglines and introductory texts;
● Adapting scientific or institutional messages into clearer communication formats;
● Aligning tone, terminology and format with IPOS editorial guidance;
● Proofreading short content prepared by the internal team.
Scientific validation, specialised translation and long-form content production are not included, unless specifically agreed in advance.
Deliverables should be provided in editable formats to allow translation or adaptation by the IPOS/OSF team.
4.3 Planning, coordination and advisory support
The provider will support the internal team in organising the flow of communication production.
This includes:
● Contributing to a quarterly editorial and production plan;
● Identifying graphic and editorial needs linked to key moments, including reports, events, international days and institutional announcements;
● Proposing suitable formats for different messages and audiences;
● Participating in a monthly coordination meeting and providing short operational advice on readability, layout and visual hierarchy.
- Expected deliverables and service capacity
6.1 Start-up phase
At the start of the assignment, the provider will deliver:
● A kick-off meeting;
● A short review of available visual identity elements, templates and existing communication materials;
● A proposed workflow for briefs, production, validation and prioritisation;
● A first quarterly editorial and production plan prepared with the internal communication officer.
6.2 Recurring deliverables
On a monthly basis, the provider will deliver a combination of:
● Graphic outputs, templates or adaptations for regular communication needs;
● Short editorial copy associated with the materials produced;
● Layouts of short documents or presentation materials;
● A brief status note on completed outputs, ongoing tasks and upcoming priorities.
6.3 Indicative monthly capacity
Candidates must specify the level of service they can provide within their offer.
As an indication, the expected monthly capacity may correspond to 8 to 12 simple materials, or 4 to 6 more complex materials, or a combination of these formats depending on the priorities validated by OSF/IPOS.
Requests exceeding the agreed monthly capacity will be handled through reprioritisation, a specific quotation or an amendment, subject to prior written approval.
Job requirements
- Services excluded from the assignment
The assignment does not include community management, publication or moderation of social media content, partnership management, outreach, press relations, paid advertising, SEO/SEA, advanced analytics, web development, complex video production, full brand redesign, certified translation, scientific validation or legal/regulatory expertise.
- Working arrangements and quality requirements
● The provider must appoint a single reference contact person.
● The work will mainly be carried out remotely through collaborative tools agreed at the start of the assignment.
● The provider will work closely with the internal communication officer and submit all deliverables for validation before use.
● Candidates must specify their proposed turnaround times for simple, intermediate and complex deliverables, and their approach to urgent requests.
● Outputs must be clear, readable, visually coherent, adapted to the relevant channels and suitable for institutional and scientific communication.
● Accessibility principles should be taken into account where relevant, including readability, contrast and visual hierarchy.
- Intellectual property, files and confidentiality
● The provider must grant OSF/IPOS free, lasting and worldwide rights to use the final approved deliverables for institutional and communication purposes.
● Final deliverables must be supplied in ready-to-use formats and, where necessary for continuity or reuse, in editable/source formats.
● Any use of fonts, images, icons, illustrations or other assets subject to licence must be clearly identified before integration.
● No external cost may be incurred without prior written approval from OSF/IPOS.
● The provider must treat all non-public information, documents, data and projects accessed during the assignment as confidential.
● Any public reference to the collaboration or to the deliverables requires prior written approval from OSF/IPOS.