How I bought right here: Nicholas Blechman
The New York creative director talks about his first job in the industry and how to avoid predictability in editorial design
The designer and illustrator Nicholas Blechman has been the Creative Director of the New Yorker since 2015. Prior to that, he was previously the art director of the New York Times Book Review and The Times Op-Ed site. Since 1990, Blechman has also published, edited and designed his political underground magazine Nozone.
Blechman is known for his distinctive minimal style and this approach also feeds into his illustration practice, which uses clean lines and simple geometric shapes. His drawings have graced the pages of GQ, Travel + Leisure, Wired and the New York Times. He has also co-authored a number of books, including a series of limited edition illustrated books with Christoph Niemann entitled One Hundred Percent.
Here Blechman talks about his illustrator father, his first job in the industry, his everyday life at the New Yorker and the challenges of editorial design.
Above: Long Island Bar, illustration by Nicholas Blechman, Art Director: Matt Willey. Above: Blechman's home office. Photo by Stephen Kent Johnson