John J. Custer ('10) oversees the art for one of the most influential opinion pages in the world.
Custer, a communication design graduate, serves as art director for The New York Times' opinion section.
His biggest challenge? Time. He has six to seven hours to finish the page, from finding an illustrator to designing the page. He asks himself if the article's artwork should be created by an artist of a specific culture or identity. He also has to make sure the art works with the copy and decide if the text can be art itself. And if breaking news happens, the whole page can be replaced.
His favorite part of the job? Collaborating with the writers, editors and artists.
"To work with individuals who are simply seeking to better educate the masses with trusted, thoughtful and considered local, national and international content sparks so much joy in me," he says.
