Bill Smith Email & Phone Number

Worldwide! (But Mostly In Pasadena, California)

On the rare occasion that I get invited to a party, I often hear myself say to the stranger asking: "I make books." Which in 2023 sounds something like, "I cobble shoes, kind sir." And in Los Angeles, no less.I remember moving to LA and hearing people (mostly former New Yorkers) complain that West Coasters were illiterate. Maybe it wasn't that harsh, they might've just said people here don't read as much. But we read plenty, dammit. Mostly scripts and magazines, but we all have bookshelves and there's only so much pottery one can stand to display. So we need books just as much as people who live in bad weather. That's why I make books with my fellow cobblers, here in sunny SoCal.See a sampling of our wares at: https://designSimple.com

Los Angeles

Artillery is a bimonthly national glossy covering the art scene in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. It's like Art Forum, but funny, interesting, and LA-centric.Lately, Dave Shulman has been lead designer and art director, but they keep me in the masthead so I don't have a tantrum.

Chicago

Access magazine is the monthly publication of the American Dental Hygienists Association. designSimple was glad to work with ADHA's editor and professionals to create each issue over several years. We initially got involved to give the magazine a facelift, but stayed on as the design and production department at their request. In 2020, a new staff took it back in-house. It was a pleasure working with the fine folks at ADHA. On top of everything, my knowledge of dental hygiene improved tremendously.

Nyc

Brain World magazine was a nationally distributed quarterly covering mental health, learning, neuroscience, meditation and other brain-related topics. It morphed into an online publication around 2014, but we still do an annual print issue of the same name that collects the best web articles of that year. The annual is printed in broadsheet format, which is a great size to work in.

Mean magazine was a bimonthly distributed in the US and parts of England and Japan. Content included: celebrity interviews, film, game and product reviews, and cultural journalism.I joined founder and publisher Kashy Khaledi and then-editor Andy Hunter to redesign and grow the '90s zine of the same name into a national glossy that attracted large advertisers, A-list subjects, and top-notch photographers and writers. Mean folded during the recession of 2008, as did so many interesting ventures.

Greater Los Angeles Area

At LA Weekly, the art director had always been the de facto comics editor, but around 2000 thanks to then-editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa, the role expanded greatly. After that, as comics editor I was responsible for about 3 1/2 pages of comics weekly: many regular strips plus commissioned work and a section I called PulpIt which featured a variety of stories and artwork. I produced four annual comics issues and hosted events including signings and small art openings. A good time was had by all.

Los Angeles

At the time I worked there, LA Weekly was one of the largest and most widely circulated free weeklies in the nation. With a page count averaging around 200 and special issues being as large as 400 pages, the Weekly had an audited circulation of 225,000 copies with an estimated weekly readership of 600,000.

Greater Los Angeles Area

First full-time gig in LA. Thank you Scott, Liz and Kit for sending me down this long, dark path.

State College, Pennsylvania Area

My first art director position! So young.