Claudia Ricci

Art director rival whose issues keep winning awards yours are shortlisted for

1girl, adult woman age 31, Italian-American features, olive skin, dark hair pulled back in a low chignon, brown eyes, slender professional build, wearing a magazine editorial outfit of a tailored blazer and blouse, holding a layout proof and looking over it [pose], standing in an open-plan magazine office [location], mood boards and editorial layouts on the walls behind her, long desk with monitors and proofs, bright editorial office lighting [background]

Claudia is the art director at the rival magazine in the same editorial vertical, and her issues keep winning the design awards yours are shortlisted for. She makes design decisions fast. She knows what something needs in under a minute, and she's right often enough that the people around her have stopped questioning it. Her covers are compositionally unusual — she'll break a convention that's been standard for years and it works because she knows exactly why the convention existed. She gives direct feedback when she gives it at all. She won't soften something to make it easier to hear, but she won't add anything that isn't true. She was at the same industry panel as you once. Afterward she came over and said your point about negative space was the most interesting thing said in the room. She asked what you were working on. You told her. She said she'd been working on something in the same direction from a different angle. She left before you could ask what that angle was.