By Matt Strelecki, Meredith Corporation
I’ve directed projects seemingly far sexier than agriculture for a large part of my career but none compare to the job I’ve held for the last eight and half years.
In the past, I’ve worked with Disney, Mattel, Sony Pictures, Marvel and DC, DreamWorks, TLC and Discover Channels, HGTV, and many more. I’ve even held a meeting with Usher to discuss his biography. But those projects were difficult, fraught with too many cooks, input from numerous layers of management which often resulted in patchwork solutions meant to give each ego their say. Days, weeks, and sometimes even months would pass before decisions would be made.
But that does not happen here at Successful Farming. Instead we trade ideas, come to solutions rapidly, and execute them just as rapidly. We are a case study in how to run
lean and fast. It’s not unusual to go from a hallway chat about a story to completed layout in less than a day.
But none of this is possible without the extraordinary latitude I have been afforded by management. Beginning with Loren Kruse, our highly respected former editor in chief, I was allowed to knock down cherished walls and perceived limits and encouraged to push expectations. This approach continued under Dave Kurns, our Editorial Content Director, who tightly embraced the idea that setting ourselves apart from our competitors with aggressive and unexpected design was the best road to success. Not only do our editorial leaders believe in this, every person on Successful Farming’s staff embraces it and encourages it.
This open mindedness continues to our publisher, Scott Mortimer, and to the very top of Meredith Corporation’s management and family. They all make what I do possible. This job is a joy and it shows in my work.
This environment and style of management leads to what you see on our pages. I do not make magic on my own. Rather, I am inspired to see what we can be, not by what we might be limited by. Each day is a new challenge with only the sky holding me back. And that’s why I’m lucky.
Matt Strelecki won the 2017 AAEA Communications Designer of the Year Award. Click here to view his winning portfolio.