Delineators welcome!
 
New York Review of Architecture reviews architecture in New York. Buildings and places, as well as culture and politics, all fall within the periodical’s purview. Serious and smart, NYRA publishes reportage and criticism that’s substantive but doesn’t shy away from the occasional gossipy tidbit or side-eyed pan. If, as Ada-Louise Huxtable encouraged, you can kick a building, then you can drag one—and you should, given what passes for “good architecture” these days. Because NYRA is supported entirely by subscribers, supporters, and donors, we have the luxury of being opinionated. Humor, sound arguments, and withering criticism set us apart from the airless discourse found in the trade press. If we spot a putrid idea, we aren’t afraid to yell, “Back to the drawing board!”
 
But as much as we like words, we also like the challenge of communicating knotty ideas in images. Not glossy photography, but pithy illustrations, with a sketchiness that could signal unseen possibilities or unintended readings. If, as an obscure Italian journal once proclaimed, we are indeed “the New Yorker for architects,” then we are looking for our Rea Irvin.

NYRA is making some big plans for the year ahead and looking for an illustrator comfortable channeling, and further defining, our identity. Specifically, we’re looking for one person to design eight issue covers. We’re looking for covers that are evocative (of our city, the buildings in it, the way we live and think in it), witty, and playful. Ours is a conversational, chatty publication, and we are looking for figurative and humorous covers that reflect that vitality.

The pay would be $1,800, and you would work closely with our editors and art director Laura Coombs. We hope it will mark the beginning of a longer working relationship.