With SND 45 in the books, board member Martina Ibáñez-Baldor set out to ask this year’s winners about their portfolios and tips for the rest of us. Tim Oliver, Art Director for the print sports section at The New York Times, won a Silver print awards for individual portfolio in the SND 45 digital competition.
What is your current job title, and how long have you been in that role?
I am the art director for the print Sports section at The New York Times. I have been in this role for the last several years. This is the second time in my career working at the Times.
What do you love about designing for print?
I love the beauty of print. I love telling stories, or as the legendary designer Saul Bass once said, “Design is thinking made visual.” I am a visual journalist.
Which of these projects was the most challenging?
Every day is challenging, which makes the job so interesting. With daily sports, many things you can plan ahead, like an Olympic preview section, which the Times throws a lot of resources into. Other days, unexpected breaking news occurs, like the death of Willie Mays, and you have to react. That’s when your journalistic and design experience takes over.
What do you feel is the most important part of your design process?
In my design process, I strive for clarity, simplicity and beauty. I want to send a message to a reader: “Stop and take the time to read this.” If I do that, I’ve done my job.
What is your favorite piece in your portfolio from this year?
My favorite piece in my portfolio is the page showing a closeup of a beautiful Samoyed dog, Striker, who came in second at Westminster Dog Show two years in a row. When I was going through the photos, I wanted to show his playful side that comes across in the story. This photo captures it perfectly. He doesn’t care about dog shows and awards but rather he is a happy-go-lucky fella. I was just hoping not to screw up the page. Sometimes the easiest pages are the hardest.
What advice would you give to designers who are looking to improve their portfolios?
The best advice I have gotten as a designer that I can pass on to others looking to improve actually comes from legendary designers like Bass, Lindon Leader and Tom Bodkin (my boss).
Bass says: “Where do ideas come from? From looking at one thing, and seeing another. From fooling around, from playing with possibilities, from speculating, from changing, pushing, pulling, transforming, and if you’re lucky, you come up with something worth saving, using, and building on. That’s where the game stops and the work begins.”
Leader says:
“I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.”
Bodkin: “I believe that everything we do should be delightful in some way.
I see the role of design as primarily supporting the journalism.”
From me: Immerse yourself in the story you are designing. There may be a word, sentence or quote in there that sparks a great idea. Draw on your life experience. Keep your mind and heart open. Ideas can come anywhere and at any time. The page starts out blank. You make it a design. The computer can’t do that. Only you can.