Jay Layman decided to come to Northeastern after a recommendation from his high-school art teacher. A Massachusetts native, Jay says he learned both the technical and artistic sides of the profession while he majored in graphic design at Northeastern.
As a student, Jay excelled at Information Design, a class taught by Professor Isabel Meirelles. He says that his favorite project was one that involved mapping out a complicated movie (he chose the German film “Run, Lola, Run”) in a visual display that made it easy for a general audience to understand. He also produced a “visual archive,” comparing a set of data in at least three different categories (he worked with films starring, written by, produced by, and directed by Clint Eastwood). It was projects like these, along with challenging experiences in co-op positions, that prepared Jay for interesting work after graduation.
Jay’s co-ops were at newspapers, first at the Quincy Patriot Ledger and then at the Boston Globe. By the summer of 2006, he had already designed the front-page cover for the Globe’s Sunday edition. While working at the Globe, he worked freelance designing books commemorating the championship seasons of both the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox. He subsequently produced a commemorative book for the 2008 Celtics as well.
A day before graduating from Northeastern, Jay landed a position as part of a three-person design department for the magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. (The biggest plus of the job, he said, is eating the leftovers from myriad recipe experiments.) He also works on Cook’s Country, currently producing eight annuals a year. In addition to his design responsibilities, Jay directs all in-house photography.
While Jay is happy with what he has accomplished so far, he says he has “not made it yet.” His dream job would be to design for the film industry, which he intends to pursue next.
His advice for current students is, “Don’t limit yourself to doing only design work that’s assigned to you. Design on your own, do projects beyond schoolwork. Keep designing, make new art, and take advantage of the co-op program.”