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Alexandra Zsigmond
leading a workshop
at the Wix Playground
in New York.
ART DIRECTOR ALEXANDRA ZSIGMOND
HAS MADE A CAREER OF TURNING IDEAS
INTO IMAGES. HERE, SHE EXPLAINS
TO WRITER SASHA FRERE-JONES JUST HOW
SHE APPROACHES THE ART FORM.
THE
Benevolent
EYE
magazine illustration is not, ultimately, just a represen-
tation of the article it is paired with. As the New Yorker 's
senior art director Alexandra Zsigmond knows, illustra-
tions bear the full burden, right out of the gate. Image
and text are psychic twins working di•erent sides of one
sur face. The tex t is the ocean—maybe you'll go in,
maybe not. The illustrations are the boats, though, that catch the eye
first. Think about any magazine or newspaper—the odds are good you
will remember a lot of the illustrations you skim, and a very slim chance
you will read all the articles they're attached to. Zsigmond's job as an art
director is particular, then. How do you find an illustration that gets
someone out onto the water and also makes sense to the person who has
no intention of going in?
"You're the middleman between all these parties—artist and editor
and w riter and reader," Zsig mond told me. " You're tr y ing to be an
advocate for the ar tist , because you have an understanding of how
A
132 BAL HARBOUR
