100 DOYLE PARTNERS
“‘Veritas’ was created for an op-ed piece for The New York Times about the ousting of then-President of Harvard Lawrence H. Summers,” explains Stephen Doyle. “The essay described him as being hung out to dry, and it also touched on Harvard ‘airing its dirty laundry,’ so the idea of hanging Harvard’s motto on a clothesline was irresistible.”

Doyle long ago gave up on the notion of keeping his own personality out of his design work, commenting, “Why have one if you’re not going to employ it?” The biggest challenges surrounding the op-ed page were time-related. “Often there is just one afternoon to submit an idea and a finished piece,” Doyle says. “For me, these pieces are like a pop quiz, to see if I still have the stuff. It still turns my stomach every time Brian Rea [Times art director] calls. It makes me wonder: Am I up to it?” Yet Doyle loves coming up with word pieces for The New York Times: “Not only is the art director satisfied,” he says, “but the editors—these word people —are always delighted because they just don’t relate to images like the rest of mankind. Nothing makes them happier than a nice word!” by Romy Ashby