A Year in Illustration

As the art director for NYT Open, I have the privilege of working with artists and designers from all over the world to illustrate for The New York Times. Every piece that is published on Open is led by a unique illustration that is commissioned specifically for that article — and sometimes our articles have<a href="https://open.nytimes.com/innovating-from-home-maker-week-at-the-new-york-times-50ecfa38aca1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> a closing illustration</a>, too. At The New York Times, we use illustration to add layers of humanity and emotion, and to convey ideas that build upon our articles through visual metaphor, narrative storytelling and thoughtful design. At Open, our approach to illustration is conceptual. Before I assign an illustration, I talk with Sarah Bures, Open’s editor, about the ideas behind the article; I then think about ways to complement those ideas with the unique voice of an outside artist. When we’re ready to assign an illustration, I look for not just a technical hand to illustrate our ideas, but a conceptual partner who can bring their own perspective to the piece. I like to hire artists who have never worked with The Times because they bring diverse visual approaches and voices to the column. This year as we adapted to the <a href="https://open.nytimes.com/how-the-new-york-times-works-from-home-e86be507a707" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">new normal of working from home</a>, we published 38 articles, including a new interview series called “<a href="https://open.nytimes.com/meeting-shay-culpepper-software-engineer-at-the-new-york-times-5dedb47389fe" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Meeting…</a>,” which is illustrated by Claire Merchlinsky and features Times colleagues from different parts of the company. Reflecting on a year like no other, we chose five memorable pieces to highlight from 2020. <a href="https://open.nytimes.com/a-year-in-illustration-d23ed37f1831">Read More</a>