Lindsay Ballant is an art director, designer, imagemaker, occasional writer, and educator. Her professional practice is concentrated in editorial and messaging; her personal work centers cultural and aesthetic criticism through the prism of politics and activism. She is currently open for freelance opportunities of any size and scope, as well as full-time and contract opportunities.

With over two decades of experience working at editorial titles both large and small-scale, Lindsay has overseen and/or ushered in a number of redesigns and launches (and, at least once, designing a cultural artifact of journalism history). She has regularly been brought on either to work on a redesign or to implement one.

She cites two formative experiences early in her career that have shaped her approach to design as a practice: the first was living in New York City as a college student when 9/11 happened and the aftermath that unfolded, which led to a fervent passion and healthy dose of media skepticism in following the response. The second was being the beneficiary of a prestigious design program with well-connected faculty, which led to a position at a magazine that covered the creative industry and hosted design competitions. This provided a front row seat in observing how class, privilege, insularity, and gatekeeping runs rampant throughout the design industry as a whole. Witnessing the elite pipeline led to an interest in challenging the inherent biases of the creative class. She has sought to challenge and decontextualize the media and how it shapes public opinion, and hierarchies within her own industry, ever since.

Her personal work is informed by a passion for historical vernacular and typographic aesthetics, which is reflective of her ongoing interest in learning about the history of revolutionary leftist movements, the labor movement, the red scare, and other forms of propaganda.

When not being asked to write about her favorite baseball team (that one time), she resides in Baltimore with her boyfriend and rescue pup.

“During the height of the primary battle, Lindsay Ballant, a Bernie Sanders supporter, wrote a perceptive critique that compared the graphics of the two campaigns. ‘While Hillary’s visual campaign is inarguably successful by all traditional design principles, it’s also calculated, expected, and contrived,’ Ballant wrote. ‘It reinforces the perception of establishment status, which is one of the main criticisms of her as a candidate. One of the consequences of a campaign so tightly controlled is the campaign feels so tightly controlled.’ In contrast, the design of the Sanders campaign had the homespun charm one associates with do-it-yourself craft sites like Etsy. They looked and felt authentic. When I read this in the spring of 2016, I had to admit she was onto something.”
—from “I’m With Her”, by Michael Bierut, 2017

Contact:
︎︎︎ lindsay.ballant (at) gmail.com
︎︎︎ instagram
︎︎︎ twitter

photograph by Sasha Nialla

Capabilities

Creative direction, editorial strategy, brand design, brand strategy, art direction, design, illustration, writing, curation, messaging, promotion, teaching, speaking

Select clients

Condé Nast, Pitchfork, The New Republic, The Baffler, The Lever, The New York Times, Opt Out, African American Policy Forum, Kinderhook Books, Penguin Random House, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Butterscotch Records, Nonesuch Records, Bedroom Community Records

Experience

The Forum, art director
The New Republic, design director
The Baffler, art director
Foreign Policy, creative director
Newsweek, design director
Newsweek, art director
The New York Times Magazine, freelance designer & art director
Print magazine, associate art director
Paper magazine, designer
Studio/Agency work: BBH, Collins:, McCann, SS+K, Buchanan-Smith, PictureBox Inc.

Teaching

School of Visual Arts, Undergraduate (2008-2012) 
︎︎︎ Senior Portfolio Thesis

Maryland Institute College of Art, Undergraduate 
︎︎︎ Advanced Graphic Design 1
︎︎︎ Typography 3
︎︎︎ Publication Design
︎︎︎ Information Visualization
︎︎︎ Graphic Design 2
︎︎︎ Flex Design Studio

Maryland Institute College of Art, Graduate
︎︎︎ Advanced Publication Design
︎︎︎ Film Branding