Meet Our Judges: Len Small, AD

Len Small is the art director for Columbia Magazine. He was the founding art director at Nautilus magazine and previously was the art director at Tablet Magazine, a Jewish news website. In 2018 he served as co-president of ICON10: The Illustration Conference.

He recently received the prestigious 2019 Richard Gangel Award from the Society of Illustrators. Established in 2005, the Richard Gangel Art Director Award honors art directors currently working in the field who have supported and advanced the art of illustration. This award is named in honor of Richard Gangel (1918–2002), the influential art director at Sports Illustrated from 1960 to 1981.

Small earned his his BFA in Fine Arts from Washington University in St Louis and MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts.

He grew up in Moline, Illinois, his mother is a librarian and his father,  a newspaper man, so there was always plenty of reading material around, and “we were encouraged and rewarded for enjoying books”. 

Small’s first break came in 1997 by cold-calling the art director of Matador Records, Mark Ohe, who gave him a job. “I spent my first decade in design on the agency and commercial side, with pockets of freelancing until I decided that I wanted to be part of the making of stories, not just building a better website to sell a product”.

Small originally planned to be an illustrator, but quickly found that he was more interested in what was happening on the other side of the conversation. His approach to editorial illustration: “will it advance the article’s premise without being too literal?” As a big advocate for illustration he realizes that illustrations can bring the connection and wonder that you can’t always find in photography.

His work has been recognized by Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Society of Publication Designers, The Webbys, ASME, Society for News Design, and Communication Arts.

www.lensmallisanartdirector.com

3x3 International Illustration Awards Show No. 16
Deadline: March 22, 2019 (late deadline is March 29)
Show Chair: Melinda Beck

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