Jim Ireland retires

James Ireland and Associates has been, for 25 years, the incubator of consistently good design and of consistently good designers. Many of those associates honed their talents in his shop and went on to run their own shows. Always, there was a strong "Ireland" look to whatever publication he touched: particularly clean, unfussy typography and illustration and a constant emphasis on readability. He was also known for being able to work within the constrained budgets of smaller regional and specialty magazines.

Now, according to a story in DesignEdge Canada, Jim is stepping back after a 42-year career into what might be described as semi-retirement, to have more time to do the painting that he loves.

He has sold his company to Dean Mitchell, former art director of TV Guide, and his wife Susan. The staffs of the two companies have been merged and will go forward as Fresh Art & Design, which the Mitchells launched in 1991. Ireland continues in a consulting role, but his full-time interest is now painting.

Mitchell and Ireland had previously collaborated on the redesign of Rogers's Marketing magazine.

Ireland has been responsible for the ongoing design and the redesign of many of Canada's better magazines (he has been a longtime friend of the Ryerson Review of Journalism and the result has been its very professional look), including the U of T magazine, Rotunda, the Imperial Oil Review , Opera Canada, Imperial Oil Review and so on. His shop completely made over the Western Standard.

In 1997, Jim received the coveted outstanding achievement award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation, the first designer to do so. He has been a regular lecturer to the students in the Ryerson journalism program and a frequent judge in magazine and design competitions, including the National Magazine Awards and the International Regional Magazine Association awards.

Previous to going on his own and opening the Adelaide Street studio, Ireland worked as art director and designer for a cross-section of Canadian titles, including Report on Business, Toronto Life, Canadian Business, Maclean’s, Canadian Art and Chatelaine. He was, for a time, Art Director for Saturday Night Publishing Services, having a hand in various aspects of contract publishing, with magazines ranging from CBC Radio Guide to the Royal Bank Reporter.