Closing a chapter

After seven years as Art Director of AFR Boss I am moving on. I want to take a moment to reflect on my journey in that role.

When I started in 2001, AFR Boss was only about a year old. At the time it was a nicely designed, if slightly worthy, business journal but founding Editor Helen Trinca and the then Advertising manager Nancy Veart wanted to take it to the next level. The goal was to turn it into a more commercial magazine that would have a greater reach and start making real money for Fairfax P/L, without compromising the integrity of the editorial.

We changed the size of the magazine, the quality of the paper was improved and the design of the magazine was made more contempory. Within the five year mark AFR Boss was turning a (small) profit. Ad sales were up to about 30% and readership had increased by about 400%. I believe this was due to great ad sales and editorial teams and a more glamorous, accessible design.

The average reader of AFR Boss is a slightly older, time poor, design literate corporate-type. With the design I tried to make it modern and interesting whilst maintaining its readability and authoritative tone. I was criticised other designers for being somewhat boring and safe but whenever I tried to “funk” it up I got negative feedback from the readers. At the end of the day my commitment had to be to the readers, not my design peers.

The way I was really able to put my stamp on the magazine was through the photographs and illustrations used.

To get the “Boss” look in the photographs used I briefed my house photographers (I have had a very limited art and photography budget the whole time I have been with the magazine) to shoot simple, clean, well lit, colour portraits that make the subjects look like leaders you would respect and who you would aspire to be. The entire team on the AFR photographic desk embraced this concept and has been very supportive to me over the last seven years. Thank you.

I’d like to take a moment to thank a few of them individually. In Sydney: Andrew Quilty; Louie Douvis, who has made all the really hard shoots seem easy; Rob Homer; Louise Kennerley; Jessica Hromas, who “got” Boss from the very start, and Anthea Russo, whose organization on the desk made the whole thing run smoothly. I’d also like to thank Jessica Shapiro and James Davies in Melbourne, Glen Hunt in Brisbane and Erin Jonasson in Perth.

The second way I was able to give AFR Boss its unique identity was through the illustrations.

I have probably commissioned about 350 illustrations over the last seven years – not including cartoons in the regular pages – and I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every single one. Sometimes we have wrestled an idea out of the driest of stories and made it look like an attractive read.

Through AFR Boss I have met (mostly via the internet) many great illustrators, working all over the world. I would like to thank you all for agreeing to work for a free little business insert  in Australia for a fee that for many of you would have been fraction of those you usually command.

I would also like to thank a few of you individually: Reg Lynch who as our resident cartoonist has produced many a laugh over the last few years. Greg Roberts, the man behind all those weird and wonderful caricatures. Christopher Nielsen, who can always be trusted to come up with a beautiful solution to a boring business story. The Rinzen collective, who have done some amazing work for me. All of the Frank sturgess guys for their wonderful art and Frank himself for convincing them to do the jobs in the first place. Dane Flighty whose work I admire greatly. Edwina White and Nigel Buchannan, who I believe are two of Australia’s finest illustrators, and last but not least John Yates, who has also contributed many lovely illustrations to AFR Boss.

You are all probably thinking, ‘she does go on’, but it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to!

Bare with me just a couple of paragraphs more.

I want to thank Rose, the hair and make-up artist who has dulled many a shiny balding head over the years, all the guys in production and the advertising sales team.

I want to say a huge thanks to Shireen Nolan, my assistant for the past three and a half years, who never ever seems to be without a smile, and of course all my other colleagues on Boss – Catherine Fox, Deirdre Livolsi, Rose-Anne Manns, Brad Hatch, Hannah Tattersall and Narelle Hooper.

And finally Tony Rice, my friend and art director on AFR magazine , who I have used as a bouncing board for some of my crazier ideas (he was the one that suggested this blog in the first place).

Anyway that’s all from me. Watch this space for the next exciting adventure from me!

P.S. Most of the weblinks for the Boss illustrators are on ths Blog