Matt Strelecki

Creative director for Dotdash Meredith Agrimedia, where I am the creative director for Successful Farming magazine, Ageless Iron Almanac, and FFA New Horizons magazine.

Since assuming this position in 2009, Successful Farming magazine has been nominated for more than 210 national design awards from Folio, Media Industry News, ASME, and the American Agriculture Editors’ Association (AAEA). AAEA named me Designer of the Year in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and honorable mention for Designer of the year in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

I was inducted into the Media Industry News Hall of Fame in 2016.

A Successful Farming cover I designed was included in an exhibit on food production at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2019.

1991 Maximizing art director and editor in chief working relationships. Co-presented with Melissa Huey, editor-in-chief, Sunset Magazine. Conducted as a presentation and question and answer session for the City and Regional Magazine Association national conference, Atlanta, GA.

May, 2003. Best practices for time constrained book publishing. Presentation of a case study of Trading Space, Behind the Scenes to 140+ Meredith staff members, Des Moines, IA.

September, 2003. Redefining art director roles for today’s publishing. For the Georgia Magazine Association, Atlanta, GA.

June, 2007. Design basics for non-designers. Conducted on behalf of Successful Farming magazine to the American Agricultural Editors Association Midwest conference.
Des Moines, IA.

August, 2007. Redefining art director roles for today’s publishing. For the Florida Magazine Association’s annual conference, Orlando, FL.

September, 2007. Building the editorial/artist powerhouse. For the Magazine Association of Georgia, Atlanta, GA.

October, 2014. Panel member, Maximizing output with minimal resources, MediaNext trade show, NYC.

October, 2015. Panel member, Creating Iconic Covers, Folio trade show, NYC.

May, 2016, How And When To Use Infographics, TOCA, Omaha, NE, toca.org

July, 2019. Panel member, Creating Iconic Covers, Ag Summit, Mineapolis, MN.

Appointed to assist in the relocation of Readymade magazine from California to Des Moines. Assisted in transitioning the magazine to local producers and created design directions for a redesign.

Meredith Corporation. Appointed to newly created department specializing in Better Homes and Gardens food related magazines, book-a-zines, cookbooks and two food websites. Responsibilities include visual direction for all food related product lines, budget creation and management, design approval, interaction with internal and external clients, staff management, and overall coordination and presentation of the Better Homes and Gardens branded food related product lines.

Meredith Corporation. Responsible for all art direction, user experience, information architecture and visual appeal of BHG.com, the website of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Duties include building and maintaining relationships with internal and external vendors, staff management, directing photography, aligning goals and daily tasks with the EIC to produce web layouts, widget interfaces and all related needs.

Responsible for visual quality of all book products. Directed a staff of four art directors, four associate art directors, and 15-30 freelance designers. Extensive face time with external and internal clients, directing prototypes, creating and managing budgets, and overseeing visual quality of all book titles.

Categories included decorating, gardening, cooking, crafting, do-it-yourself home repair and a large children's line. Yearly page output increased from just under 7,000 to 36,000 from 1996 to 2008.

Notable licensors and brands included Better Homes and Gardens, Disney, Sony Pictures (Spiderman 1 & 2), Dreamworks (Madagascar 1 & 2, Shrek and Over the Hedge), Marvel Enterprises, DC Comics, Mattel (Polly Pockets), Warner Bros. (Batman Begins, Superman Returns), TLC and Discovery Channel (Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, American Choppers, & Monster Garage, among others), HGTV, Nickelodeon (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!), Home Depot, Stanley Tools, Scotts Lawns, Miracle-Gro, Food Network, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Universal Pictures (Peter Jackson's King Kong). Semi-Homemade, Rocco Dispiroto, Denzel Washington for Boys and Girls Scouts,

Responsible for all design and art direction of the monthly magazine & complete in-house production.

Design assigned stories and art directed photography and illustrations for those stories.

Designer on noted projects for the Atlanta Olympics, Time-Warner, and The Wall Street Journal.