Before joining The Times Jon went to Kingston university and on to a short series of design jobs at various levels incluging being self-employed. In 2006 a man named Neville Brody was tasked to redesign The Times from a Broadsheet to a Tabloid size. Brody, however, was more accustomed to contemporary designs such as those of The Face, so he subcontracted Jon.
The Times has a traditional and middle class reputation, so it came as a pleasant surprise when Jon turned out to be a very nice man, coming across as genuine and down-to-earth. He suggested that you should always do little bits of work for free here and there to begin with as it's good self-promotion and it gives you experience of brief and clients.
The Times does occassionally have an illustration on the front cover, for which Jon likes an illustrator with their own "vibe", rather than someone just trying to jump through hoops and be able to do anything. "If i have to tell the illustrator the idea...i fire them." Jon will give input and feedback but if he feels he has to spoonfeed them, he may as well do it himself. The lecture felt quite like my first portfolio viewing with the night editor of The Star. It was aimed more at the graphic design students than at the illustrators, however it's still nice to hear what "the otherside" think of illustrators and how to behave. His was a true success story, and coming from such a nice young man makes it seem that much more achievable.
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